Moonshadow
By Thea Harrison
Publisher: Thea Harrison
Release Date: December 13,
2016
The heroine, LAPD witch
consultant Sophie Ross takes a leave of absence and goes to England to seek
answers about her mysterious childhood.
Adopted at age five, she knows she’s part Wyr but doesn’t know what kind
of creature is the nonhuman part of her.
Her trip is spurred by an offer from the daughter of the man who rescued
her after her parents’ deaths. If Sophie
can get into a house long owned by that man’s family, she’ll own the house and
a substantial annuity. Never having had
a place to call her own, Sophie is doubly intrigued by this offer.
Getting into the house is not
as easy as one might think, however, because it’s magically out of phase with
this world. No one has been able to
enter it for a long time.
While in the UK, Sophie meets
Nikolas Sevigny, a knight of the Dark Fae Court. He and his handful of comrades are all that
remain of a troop that was stranded on our Earth when a Light Fae sorcerer
shattered the crossover passageway that led to their home of Lyonesse, a
passageway that runs through the house Sophie has come to see.
Under attack by the Light Fae
court, Nikolas and his friends can’t gather in one place for very long without
creating an energy surge that allows their enemies to track them. He’s
naturally domineering and brusque to the point of rudeness and doesn’t approve
of people getting in over their heads, which he is sure Sophie has done. He’s inclined to walk away--but she has
skills that can be useful. And may be able to gain access to the passageway he
needs.
Moved by Nikolas’s plight,
Sophie agrees to help him and his friends, bartering for the magical skills she
teaches them. As she and Nikolas work
together, the attraction that sparks between them from the beginning grows ever
stronger. Unfortunately, Nikolas feels
he has nothing to offer any woman while he and his friends are on the run from
the Light Fae and can’t get home.
Brusque, domineering heroes
are not my favorite kind. I can’t warm
to them unless they have some sort of saving grace. In Nicholas’s case, his willingness to risk
himself for the people in the nearby town, his loyalty to his friends, and his
acceptance of Sophie’s calling him on his bossiness are endearing. So is the humor in Sophie’s reaction to him,
as she continually reminds herself not to kiss assholes but then can’t resist
kissing him. Such feelings require a deft authorial hand to avoid coming off as wishy-washy and
inconsistent, and Harrison pulls that off beautifully.
Sophie finds an unusual ally
in a stray dog she rescues her first night in the UK. She also displays courage Nikolas finds
foolhardy but has to admire when Light Fae agents attack the pub where she’s
staying.
Nikolas’s comrades come off
well though only one, Gawain, has a large role to play in the story.
Presumably, they’ll be heroes in future books.
The pace at the beginning of
the book is a bit slow, but it picks up on Sophie’s arrival in England. Overall, an engaging, entertaining story with
lots of emotional conflict and a nice balance of action.
~Nancy
