amym84 's review for:

Moonshadow by Thea Harrison
4.0

Recovering from being shot on the job, witch consultant Sophie Ross decides that it might be a good time to take the opportunity to travel overseas and see what she can find out about her family. When she gets there, however, she stumbles upon a centuries long war between the Light and the Dark Court, and in particular Nikolas Sevigny, a knight for the Dark Court.

While Nik and Sophie immediately clash, Nik can't help but acknowledge Sophie's proficiency with her Powers and knows that he can use her to help his people in the ongoing conflict. At least, that's what he keeps trying to tell himself. Because regardless of there differing views and their penchant for opposition, both Nik and Sophie can't help being attracted to one another.

But when Sophie rescues a long missing member of the Dark Court, and when they're attacked by Hounds working for Queen Isabeau of the Light Court, Nik and Sophie know they're going to need to be ready to fight. The battle is coming to their front door.

Having myself only ready the first Elder Races Book [b:Dragon Bound|9637479|Dragon Bound (Elder Races, #1)|Thea Harrison|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1312822853s/9637479.jpg|14524855], of which Moonshadow is a spinoff, I didn't find it difficult whatsoever to get back into the story world and I don't think new readers will find it a hindrance either.

I loved the background storyline dealing with the conflict between the Light and Dark Courts. Having some classic mythology / characters woven into the story was clever. Thing are far from solved by the end of Moonshadow and it'll be very interesting to see where things progress from here.

I say the above is background because obviously the main focus of the story, being a romance and all, is Nik and Sophie. They definitely don't disappoint. Their antagonism toward each other just added fuel to the chemistry fire. I honestly loved the bickering and fighting between them especially as things turned heated. The fact that Sophie was loath to let Nik try to dictate her actions and she repeatedly called him on it was refreshing.

The only drawback for me was that the story started to drag a little towards the end once we were done with the major conflict of the story. But, again, the main focus is Sophie and Nik and essentially getting them to their HEA was the point so I understand why everything had to be tied up the way it did, I would have just liked it a bit sooner.

I look forward to reading the next book. There are plenty of male leads to choose from among Nik's fellow brother knights but the standout was of course Gawain, who's name itself sparks of legend. I guess we'll see in a few months.