Moonless: Book I: Maiden of Time

Collier, C. (2013). Moonless. Apopka, FL: Raybourne Publishing.
YA / Romance / Paranormal Series

I gave this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Is this not the most gorgeous cover?  I can't help it, but I judge a book by its cover. Well, initially I do. Thankfully, this book is awesome inside and out!

Moonless grabbed me from the first few paragraphs and kept me reading to the very last page and then AGONIZING that I'd have to wait for the next installment, (Soulless, coming Fall 2014) to get much wanted insight and answers.  The writing is beautiful, descriptive, and appropriate to the period and a delightful change of style from others in this genre.

Collier's story reminded me of a YA version of A Discovery of Witches, but to me, Moonless worked much better by having a seventeen-year-old protagonist, Alexia, and a setting in only the 1700s. Alexia's teenaged insta-love behavior towards Kiren was understandable and expected, though I felt like Kiren's feelings needed to be better explained. We're not told much about why he is so drawn to Alexia in this installment; it really didn't make sense to me and was even a little odd. In any case, the romance element will satisfy readers, and Kiren is truly swoon-worthy in his manner and mystery. There are some pretty electrifying kisses and some serious sexual tension building, so I'm not sure how Collier will be able to keep future installments clean, like this book.

Readers will enjoy the building-up of the three parallel worlds that exist at any given moment and the resulting plethora of characters and sub-plots that are spun as a result of the second world of the Passionate and the Soulless. (yes, I said three parallel worlds! you'll never see it coming.) There are some fabulously memorable characters - good, evil, and undetermined - and hints we'll be finding out more. Short chapters help readers to manage it all, though be prepared to have MANY questions that may or may not get answered. And that's the main reason I'm rating this a 4 and not a 5.

With any paranormal storyline, there is an expectation that readers will have to suspend their disbelief, and I'm good with that; however, there were several times where I just couldn't do it and the "not knowing" created some plot holes.  The writing was beautifully done, with the exception of some pronoun use that caused confusion in trying to figure out who was speaking or being spoken about.

Despite these minor flaws -- which I anticipate will be corrected in what I expect to be a smashing-good follow-up -- I really enjoyed this story and recommend it to high school readers and older. 

I received a free eBook copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review -- the only kind I give!  

Visit Crystal Collier's website and learn more about Moonless and Soulless.

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