Review: Handeland Two-fer

The What’s-It-All-About

Lori Handeland
Hidden Moon (book #7)
St. Martin’s
ISBN-10: 0312949170
ISBN-13: 9780312949174
Paranormal Romance
July 31, 2007

Claire Kennedy suffered horrendous abuse while attempting to build a career in Atlanta, Georgia. She heads home instead to Lake Bluff, a small, sleepy town at the foothills of the mountains and takes over her father’s role of mayor. While her old stomping grounds make her feel safer than Atlanta did, she still has to adjust again and find her place as town leader amongst her own insecurities and doubts. No sooner does she feel she’s getting the hang of things when the annual Full Moon Festival begins rolling into town. But who hired the eerily authentic looking gypsy troop as the entertainment? More importantly, why does their leader, Malachi Cartwright, make her feel things she’d rather not? Soon strangeness takes up camp in Lake Bluff and Claire needs all the help she can get to solve the mystery of the wolf sightings around the area, an animal with no bizz there. As Claire and Malachi form an irresistible attraction, it occurs to her that none of the sightings, – or bitten people turning up missing/dead/furry – began till the gypsies showed up. And as much as Claire longs for a dark haired gypsy’s touch, she cannot trust him. Ancient magic, terrible curses and the pull of the moon are all on the rise in this seventh book of Handeland’s Nightcreature series.

Lori Handeland
Thunder Moon (book #8)
St. Martin’s
ISBN-10: 0312949179
ISBN-13: 9780312949181
Paranormal Romance
January 2, 2008

Grace McDaniel, sheriff of Lake Bluff, Georgia, is cool, calm and collected under pressure. Her roots for the law run deep thanks to her father, the town’s past sheriff, and the blood of her Cherokee ancestors flows true thanks to her mother’s side. Small town life isn’t usually very exciting though, and maybe she likes it that way after a werewolf infestation the previous summer. Now, a year later, it’s almost time for the Full Moon Festival again when a new doctor comes to town. Ian Walker flouts traditional medicine in favor of a more natural path, blending what he learned of modern meds with that of his Native American roots. Grace has always longed for a real home and family, and though she has her suspicions, she cannot resist the too-handsome doctor. Lake Bluff is turning out to be a paranormal hot spot when residents begin turning up sans a very important body part. Something is preying on the dying citizens, but soon the young and healthy are in danger as well. Grace’s suspicions must be put aside when Ian turns out to be her only link in defeating an ancient evil that could well devour the town and move on to other places for more. Thunder hails its coming, and spurs Clair and Ian to fight.

Handeland’s Heroes and Heroines

Handeland’s romances up through these two have been heroine driven, first POV.

The leading men on Handeland’s novels don’t swagger, never bray about their male awesomeness and most assuredly do not become heavy handed with the heroine. Ever. Well, ‘cept for when they’re going at it on a wall perhaps, or some such lurve stuff. They are usually the “strong, quiet” type, men that have a kind of still, otherworldly presence about them that commands attention from those discerning enough to recognize power. These heroes are usually searching for something, a means to an end that is, you guessed it, always tied into the heroine.

The heroines of Handeland’s Native American lore-driven romances (and her non-Native American ones too) usually possess a strong, dry-roasted wit. They are more often than not as tortured as the hero in the sense of a haunting past or some such lingering hurt. They often bring an iron will to the table and an unrelenting drive to solve the dilemma. Sure, they’re good looking enough, but it’s not overbearingly so and they don’t flaunt their bodies or outer goods. Clearly, what makes or breaks these women, are what’s on the inside.

In Hidden Moon, Malachi and Claire make for a scorching couple. Claire needs to regrow some skin and become comfortable with herself again, not to mention men. Malachi is a bit rough with her at first, but he quickly realizes her situation and his alpha male need to care for her, when the bastard that hurt comes calling, just made me want to lick the page. Since the smell of the pseudo newsprint paper alone makes me kinda gag, I was able to restrain my fictional driven lust. But he’s just so dang gentle with her and yet firm *eyebrow wiggle* in all the right places that it’s hard not to melt all over the idea of his character. And at the same time, I just wanted to slap the back ‘o that Irish head when it becomes obvious he’s stringing her along for some reason. And Claire–Claire, honey, I feel for ya, but sometimes you really needed to resist those manly man hands and lilting brogue and hot flickering tongue and…oh..well, okay, so maybe it just really wasn’t possible to resist him. Good try though. A for effort.

In Grace’s book, Thunder Moon, she quite took me by surprise. I thought she had been as fully developed as she could get in Hidden Moon, this gruff, tough cop with a relentless drive to see justice done. Even though she hails from a somewhat supernatural background with her Cherokee roots, she’s not a true believer of their magic and folklore, not until Thunder Moon that is. Give her her own book, and suddenly we see a vulnerable spirit, one that craves a normal, white picket fence life and family. She’s weathered the trials in the previous book, so her eyes are open and her mind is too the the idea of “we’re not alone”. Pair Grace with Ian and we get a decent, attractive couple that clearly cares for one another, but I just didn’t feel the heat between them the way it ignites between Claire and Malachi. I think the problem (for me) is a bit too much of Ian’s past interfering, and too much of Grace’s as well, as she’s been burned by men one time too many. I found it a bit frustrating that they could work so well together to catch a supernatural baddy, yet don’t really develop any true trust till the very end of the book, not enough to turn mere attraction into love. I loved this installment for Handeland’s rich portrayal if Cherokee tales and legends, but the characters fell flat for me. I admit, I’d grown attached to Grace during Claire’s story and was disappointed to see her so two-dimensional in her book. Ian…well, his presence just cannot compare to Malachi’s. I still like Grace and Ian, they just won’t be amongst my favorite of Handeland’s characters.

The Stories and Writing

As disappointed as I was in Grace and Ian later in their book, I was ecstatic to be getting more tales from Handeland based on Native American and, new for her books, Romany mythology. I’m a bit of mythology whore and just lap up the chance to read a romance with some basis in a culture’s creative lore. The way it’s woven into the storyline is just wonderful. At no time is there any info dumping. We learn what’s what through the characters and their dialogue nine times out of ten. Usually one of the characters is more knowledgeable than the other, as was the case with the heroes of both books educating the ladies on the supernatural happenings. Werewolves (and other shifters) being the center of Hidden Moon, the gypsy spin gives it a fresh, uber interesting twist on the usual shifter lore. In Handeland’s tales, these myths and legends take on such vivid and believable light. What motivates the villains to such extremes is usually no more complicated than something average human beings might face, giving readers yet another level on which to relate. In Thunder Moon, Handeland brings a seldom (if at all) used supernatural element, a kind of Cherokee version of an Irish banshee, into the mix and once again has a recipe for a solid plot. Though not as rich in romance as the first, Thunder Moon is still on track as a romance book.

I’ve said it before in previous installment reviews – Handeland writes bare bones. By that I mean that filler is out. Paragraphs and dialogue are uncluttered by flowery purply prose and conversations sound like they would if these people were right in front of you. It’s natural and unforced. The pacing is great. From one scene to the next, things always make sense. There’s no “Why the flippity f***ity flip did she/he just do that?!!” In other words, Handeland gives her characters a wealth of common sense and good ‘ole plain levelheadedness.

In Thank-The-Lord-There’s-A-Conclusion…Conclusion

I love Handeland’s work. Always have and always will. Even though the main characters didn’t shine as much for me as I’d like them to in Thunder Moon, the book still held enough strong points for me to enjoy it immensely. I’ve heard throughthe grapevine that Handeland’s publisher may not be carrying on with the series any more. I emailed the author to inquire about this asinine possibility, but I only got a “stay tuned” . I do plan to stay tuned and hope like HELL that the publisher keeps their heads out their butts and keeps this series on the shelf.

Past books, in order: Blue Moon, Hunter’s Moon, Dark Moon, Crescent Moon, Midnight Moon, Rising Moon

Visit Handeland’s site to learn more about her books.

Ratings:

Hidden Moon: Five Scoops

Thunder Moon: Three and Three Quarter Scoops

(ha ha, just cuz I can)