Reviews

Blood and Moonlight by Erin Beaty

samanthag3's review against another edition

3.0

*3.5

ladygeekface_'s review against another edition

5.0

A thrilling YA fantasy revolving around a serial killer, a young woman who is discovering her power, a detective with a tortured soul, and the family that surrounds them. Secrets will come to light as main characters Cat and Simon put their minds against the killer in their midst.

This book had me immediately hooked! The magic is neat - getting powered up by the moon! The love interest is right up my alley - a tortured soul with a mysterious past! Though there were several side characters in this first installment, they felt fleshed out just enough. I even felt bad for Oudin at one point.

I didn't care about the religious aspects, but the exploration of mental illness was done well, I felt.

I'm excited to learn more about the magic and community in the second book - as well as see what Cat is capable of. I'm definitely going to pick up a physical copy of this one.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

tarabrazee's review against another edition

Plot felt like it dragged, uninterested in the characters, felt like characters were running in circles simply to make the book go longer

scrummyb's review against another edition

hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

When I first read the description, I was a little suspect of what sounds like, "her superpower is super sight", but I was pleasantly surprised. I was able to see a few plot points early on, but the author did a good enough job throwing me off her scent, it was a fun reveal.

gidaehada's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

j_taylor's review against another edition

The writing style and the execution of the plot were not the best.

treatyoshelvesxo's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

emmmalibrary's review against another edition

5.0

Ce livre me faisait envie par sa couverture, parce qu’en plus d’être belle, elle est douce. Mais alors l’histoire ? Elle est tout aussi incroyable

kittybeemartin's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

Respectfully, ew. 

This is about a girl with an IQ of 4 who works with a man with the personality of a beige rag to solve a murder. When I wasn’t cringing, I was offended. I would have DNFed if I wasn’t invested in who did it and I’m glad I stuck with it because the murder mystery aspect was good (even though I guessed the killer early) and the second half was much better than the first. 

Get ready for a long rant because I had several problems with this book:

1) It was painfully sexist. The FMC blamed low-born women who gave into the charms of lords for unwanted girl children (no mention of the boys). They also pretended that feminine rage wasn’t a real thing.

2) Perceptions and portrayals of mental health were offensive and ableist. 

    a) one character just stops being an addict after escaping his circumstances and

having all the mentally ill members of his family die horrible deaths

    b) people with “confusion” should be at an institution where they will definitely be better cared for even though the person in question was intelligent and well cared for by others. I know the author’s note said that this was based off a real place, but that just isn’t the truth for most institutions 

    c) Inaccuracy: The onset of symptoms for the character in this book was too early even for most boys. While this isn’t true for everyone, most women with schizophrenia don’t develop symptoms until their mid to late 20s. 

    d) People with schizophrenia are not more inherently dangerous than people without schizophrenia. And yet those with mental illness caused the most harm to others in this book. 

3) The horrible tropes:

instalove and then third act (or really half way) breakup and then chosen one

4) The insufferable FMC:

    a) Everyone is in love with her and she has zero positive attributes 

    b) She assumes that the clever blind woman who raised her would be easily fooled JUST BECAUSE SHE’S BLIND… tf

    c) She aggressively doesn’t consider herself to be a damsel in distress yet every time she’s in distress she runs screaming for help…

    d) She was JEALOUS of the attention the MMC paid to his mentally unstable cousin

    e)

she insisted she was right and the DETECTIVE was wrong about the murderer but she was wrong and he was right

5) The narration: the narrator couldn’t stay consistent with how she pronounced the MC’s names 

6) At one point the MMC’s eyelashes are mentioned 3 times within as many minutes 

emmoeller's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75