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REVIEW – Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews

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Bayou Moon

Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews

Title: Bayou Moon
Author: Ilona Andrews
Copyright: 2010 (Ace); 447 pgs.
ISBN: 978-0-441-01945-8
Series: The Edge #2
Sensuality: Warm
Genre: Paranormal Romance

After helping Declan and Rose defeat Casshorn, William Wolf, a.k.a. Lord William Sandine, has spent the last two years working in the Broken (the real world) and living in The Edge.. Though he has his freedom to come and go as he pleases, William is lonely. Hearing from Jack and George, Rose’s younger brothers, only re-enforces the fact. So when the Adrianglian secret service comes to him with a mission to take down an old enemy, known as Spider, William jumps at the chance.

Cerise Mar is a native of the Mire, a swampy part of the Edge that borders Louisiana. The sprawling Mars family has been feuding with another clan — the Sheeriles — for decades. With the sudden disappearance of her parents, Cerise is left in charge of the Mars clan. It’s her duty to find out what happen to her parents, and take action against the responsible parties. Cerise is strong and capable. She’s an excellent swords woman and can use her flash in conjunction with her weapon. She’s smart and resourceful, too. But as strong and capable as she is, Cerise also feels lonely. Influenced no doubt by the examples of her loving parents and grandparents, Cerise would like to find someone she could love and who would love her in return, despite her eccentric family and their Mire ways.

Cerise and William’s paths cross while traveling between the Broken and the Edge. Cerise thinks that William is a Weird blue blood and believes he doesn’t stand a chance in the Mire. When things go wrong on the trip, they end up having to cooperate with each other, and each learns there is more to the other than each initially thought. A mutual appreciation for each others’ skills and abilities develops and, from there, a deeper attraction grows. Their timing couldn’t be worse for exploring a relationship. As much as William wants her, he doubts whether Cerise would want to be his mate. It doesn’t help that she might misconstrue his motives — Spider has taken an interest in her and her family and William doesn’t want her to think he’s using her to get to Spider. As for Cerise, she’s been burned before, and carrying the burden of responsibility for the Mars clan isn’t making things easier.

Comments:  As much as I loved the other books written by this couple, I struggled with this one. “Struggled” may not be the right word. I went days without reading it, and then I would only read a few pages before putting it down again. It isn’t the characters. I actually loved both Cerise and William better than Rose and Declan, and my favorite parts of the book are scenes with just the two of them. Cerise’s family was interesting and I liked several of them. I thought Spider with a great antagonist and I wish there had been more of him in the book — in some cases, spending too much time with the villain is a bad thing, but I don’t think this would have been the case with Spider. Oh, and I absolutely loved the courtroom scene.

Ilona is a great story teller. Even when she’s just relating something funny about her family, the pets, or life in general on her blog, I enjoy her writing. It’s been a real head-scratcher trying to figure out why this one didn’t hold me like the rest (the only reason my thoughts on Magic Bleeds hasn’t been written up yet is that I have a very bad habit of either going off on tangents or reading the book, not writing anything coherent). I did have a hard time picturing what Spider’s henchmen looked like, so in my mind’s eye, William and Cerise were usually being attacked by vague-looking things — not the least bit scary or threatening. I’m sure that’s just me, though, because that will happen with other books that I love (still not sure if I’m imagining the warrior form correctly when I read the Kate Daniels series).

So, in the end, there were many little things I truly loved about the book, but I can’t really articulate what wasn’t working for me. I plan on reading the next book in the series.

Started: ??
Finished: 31 October 2010

Rating:

Enjoyed it!

Disclaimer: I purchased this book.
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