Guest Review: Kiss of Moonlight by Stephanie Julian

Posted May 15, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 1 Comment

Tracy’s review of Kiss of Moonlight (Lucani Lovers #1) by Stephanie Julian

Plagued by nightmares. Stalked by kidnappers. Tamra McMillan needs a safe haven. When tattooed bad-ass Kyle Rossini steps into her life, the last thing she expects to find is a sanctuary from her demons or steaming hot sex. In fact, everything about him screams danger. But appearances can be deceiving. The tender possessiveness of his touch, the hunger in his eyes, the scorching sensuality of his kiss—all of it sears him into her soul and brands her as his for life.

But otherworldly forces are afoot and death hovers…

Etruscan werewolf Kyle is a loner. The king’s assassin with a killer’s instincts. The last thing he needs is a mate who could be placed in danger because of him. Until he meets the one woman who needs him more than he needs his solitude. When Tamra, battered but not broken, stumbles into his world and tumbles into his bed, she captures his heart. And nothing—not kidnappers or visions of his possible death—will keep him from her.

Tamra McMillan has decided to rest, recover and hide in her great-grandfathers home. She’s running from her past that included an abduction, rape and abuse by an attacker. She is actually kind of happy when she finds a puppy on her lawn. She thinks she might be losing it but it’s so nice to be able to talk to someone – even if it is a dog. Then a larger version of the puppy shows up and she continues to bring herself some emotional relief by unloading even more information to the black dog.

The black dog isn’t a dog at all but Etruscan werewolf, Kyle Rossini. He is Tamra’s new neighbor and as much as he doesn’t want to get involved with Tamra and her life he can’t help but be drawn to her. When men show up at her home trying to kidnap her Kyle knows that Tamra will be staying with him while he and his Etruscan cohorts can figure out why Tamra, along with some other Etruscans, are being kidnapped. Especially since Tamra has no magic in her. What begins for Kyle as keeping Tam safe (at least that’s what he tells himself) turns into much, much more.

This was a great shifter story. I love shifter stories where the shifters actually, you know, shift. They did in this one and it was great. I also enjoyed the fact that the shifters had mates, as Tam ended up being for Kyle, but I didn’t get the impression that this was a fated thing. That the men and women had control over who their mate was and that was something that added to the story.

At first when I found out that Tamra had been raped and it only happened 6 months prior to meeting Kyle I wasn’t sure how this was gonna be pulled off. Let’s face it, rape is something that takes time to move on from. But I felt that Ms. Julian dealt with the issue in a way that made me believe that this was something that could happen. She was a strong heroine to Kyle’s strong hero personality and they fit together so well.

I look forward to reading Moonlight Menage which is book 2 in the Lucani Lovers series.

Rating: 4 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can buy it here in e-format.