Reviews

Moonlight Love and Witchcraft by Micah Iannandrea, Vaela Denarr

annettenis's review

relaxing slow-paced

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

3.0

numinousspirit's review

emotional lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

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

4.0

teadancer's review

slow-paced

4.0

himalaya's review

3.0

 Well. first up this is so fucking long. I was mostly enjoying it but by the second half my patience was wearing thin. Like it very much says on the tin that this is 0 plot just cute romance (hence the 3* rating, I suppose it is what it says it is), but I feel like it could have been so much shorter, it’s so repetitive? There’s a few interesting background plot threads at times but it basically just turns into cuddling and going on dates and cuddling and going on dates and cuddling…. 

LOVE a 200yo beefy butch ace werewolf swordswoman who’s a big softie. Logan I’m mostly neutral about, they’re interesting enough, up until the point she starts getting interested in Nemo….. 

Nemo. She’s 24 but reads more like a 15yo than the actual 15yo lmao. I feel like there is a way to write a hyper bubbly character without them being so insufferably juvenile? I tried my hardest but yeah I just could not take her seriously. Like, adults with ADHD can act like adults sometimes....(having an author's note saying basically 'the character is like this, get over it' doesn't make her more tolerable)

I simply just do not buy either of the others having romantic feelings about her, lmao. And considering that’s 90% of the plot...well. Honestly all of the attraction and feelings are told to us, not shown why and how they actually work together.

It kinda feels like a teenagers idea of what adult relationships are like. You know when you read fics and you can tell it’s written by a teenager who’s never been in an adult relationship? Like granted I’m aromantic and have never and have no interest but…. the whole thing is just Going On Dates and having cutesy romantic moments. The couple who have been together for 60 years never seem to have a single neutral interaction without getting super lovey dovey? They can’t go 3 days without each other? The Official Title of Girlfriend is the only label used for their relationship. The ace character is the only one normal about sex (as in, she has no interest in it, who cares), the other two are so blushy and can't handle nudity and call sex 'that stuff' and im like. Either just don't bring it up because it's not relevant in the relationships or have them talk normally about the fact that it's not a priority for them yet, please. (of course some awkwardness is fine, but not acting like 12 year olds about it..)

The writing is a bit messy/rough in places (like I swear the same character’s skin and eye colour had been mentioned 5 times each when I was on page 12), but it was mostly easy to read. 

I consider myself to have a very high tolerance for cringe. I can handle a couple uses of the word bean (like, ‘they’re a cute sleepy bean’) but 18 times in one book is too much. Please, god, get me out of here, it's 2023. (And yes, Nemo is the culprit. a bit of ‘doggo’ stuff too) 

There’s some random moments like. Logan is 60 years old and everyone she knows is queer and she hasn’t heard of polyamory? it’s lampshaded (her girlfriend of 40 years' parents are polyam, and the fact she somehow didn't figure this out is pointed out.) but. why was that even written in there lmao. 

Also just dropping at the end that Kay's Indigenous, and didn't have a chance to learn about her roots growing up. And she's 200. I feel like you can’t just have an Indigenous character who apparently grew up in 1800s Canada and like. not have that come up. That certainly gave me pause and took me out of it for a second, lmao. (the werewolf thing isn't an Indigenous thing, she was bitten, so at least it doesn’t get weird weird in that way, but still.) 

I did only read this because it had an ace character, I kinda expected it was gonna be something like this. I’m glad the ace character was the only one I really liked, I guess, lmao. 

penguin_loves_reading's review

I wanted to like this book. The characters are so scattered, not much context is given (I'm still confused about Bloods and who knows what), I just couldn't do it anymore and gave up.

witheredflower's review

slow-paced

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

0.5

thenerdybookwitch's review

Have other books I need to focus on! Will return to this!

rachelgreenreads's review

3.0

This book was very cute, but needed heavy editing. The plot.. does not exist, and there are heavily redundant cuddling vignettes. HOWEVER, if you just want a cozy low stakes read with queerness and cuddling and cuteness in absolute abundance, this is a perfect.

If you dislike loose threads, LOTS of repetition, and very juvenile characters (mostly just Nemo, but again, in abundance), maybe skip this one.

colleenpalladino's review

This is a soft dnf, I have too many priority reads so I'll get back to this one probably June... for pride 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

meshell's review

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I was hoping for something with more depth. 

I think I could have loved this story if it was written with more maturity. The synopsis for me was intriguing, I was hoping for some nuance and grappling with identity and monogamy and polyamory but it just didn’t do it with any seriousness.