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A review by kathydavie
Mona Lisa Eclipsing by Sunny
2.0
Fifth in the Monere erotic urban fantasy series about a race of children of the Moon who have lived on earth for millennia. (GoodReads lists this as #7; they are including two short stories.)
The Story
Mona Lisa regrets kicking Dante out…even if he did kill her and her family in another incarnation. So she goes with a small contingent of guards to bring him back from Cozumel where people have sighted a sabre-tooth tiger.
Then a crisis occurs in Washington D.C. when a partially-shifted Monere man rescues a girl from a burning building and the Queen Mother requests that Mona Lisa become the Monere ambassador to the world.
The Characters
The Monere are aliens who used to live on the moon before their planet exploded and they came to Earth to live amongst us. Think vampire. They mostly feed through the actions of their Queens calling down the moonlight and spreading that light out to their people. They are a savage race in many respects and the Queen Mother of the Monere has done what she could to help her race survive and now she sees another opportunity for their evolution through Mona Lisa.
Lisa Hamilton is Mona Lisa, a one-quarter human and three-quarters Monere. Enough that she is a Monere Queen and in charge of her own territory in Louisiana.
Her people include Lord Amber, who has his own territory now; Dante and his brother Quentin along with their parents, Nolan and Hannah Morell; Dontaine; Chami, who plans to stay behind with Lord Thaddeus Schiffer, Mona Lisa's brother who will take over running the Louisiana territory while Mona Lisa acts as the Monere ambassador; Tomas, the new master-at-arms for Louisiana; and, Aquila are all staying to protect Thaddeus.
Jarvis Condorizi is the birdman Monere caught on a live television news feed rescuing Kelly Rawlings from the 19th floor of a burning building. Jarvis is a rogue. In Monere culture, he would be killed on sight as no rogue Monere is allowed to roam free. It's his plight that the Queen Mother uses to persuade Mona Lisa to take on the role as ambassador. For she will issue a blanket pardon to all rogues who will come in and help form the new embassies for the Monere.
Prince Halycon is the Demon Prince of Hell and Mona Lisa's mate. He loves her dearly and will do anything to protect her.
My Take
This is more of a bridge and rescue novel. Mona Lisa brings Dante back into the fold and a possible disaster proves an opportunity for the Monere community to embrace new changes by coming out to the rest of the world.
On the whole, this was terrible. The further in I read, the worse the writing got. There's the bit where she and Dante have escaped Mona Sierra's people and she's riding commando on top of a sabre-toothed Dante discussing how wet she's getting from the friction of Dante's pelt. Oh, please, "honeyed wetness starting to drip down his sides…"?
For a Mixed Blood Monere who spent some 20 years and 6 months surviving in the human world, Mona Lisa is an idiot. What? Was she living under a rock all that time? For one, the Queen Mother is sending Mona Lisa out with a briefcase filled with a total of $1 million in cash and expects her to rescue the birdman and come out to the world. Hullo! Banks anyone?? Security issues? Besides, how can they only have a million bucks available for such an important mission when they all seem to have private planes and such.
Then there's the rescue in D.C. Mona Lisa and her people hang out to a Residence Inn when they're expecting that the FBI and Homeland Security are likely to take them in charge. Um…duh?? Hey, why not just save some money and go for a Holiday Inn or Motel 6. They both have just as much security. Just before heading to the hospital to see what the situation is with birdman, Mona Lisa doesn't understand why her people want her to change out of her old jeans, comfy T-shirt, and sneakers? When she's about to expose her people to the world?
Surprisingly, there's not much sex in Mona Lisa Eclipsing…at least in comparison to the previous stories.
The only real value to this particular story is in the opening salvo of revealing the existence of the Monere. I am so hoping that book six is better written as I am curious as to how Mona Lisa and her people will survive out in the visible world. Especially if this idiot continues to run around.
The Cover
The cover is lovely with its profile of Mona Lisa gazing down her bare arm with a body of water with leafless trees along its banks anchor the bottom and a bloodred moon eclipsing is the focus just above the title.
The title itself, Mona Lisa Eclipsing, is confusing. To eclipse is to hide or obscure, to block when this story is more about revealing.
The Story
Mona Lisa regrets kicking Dante out…even if he did kill her and her family in another incarnation. So she goes with a small contingent of guards to bring him back from Cozumel where people have sighted a sabre-tooth tiger.
Then a crisis occurs in Washington D.C. when a partially-shifted Monere man rescues a girl from a burning building and the Queen Mother requests that Mona Lisa become the Monere ambassador to the world.
The Characters
The Monere are aliens who used to live on the moon before their planet exploded and they came to Earth to live amongst us. Think vampire. They mostly feed through the actions of their Queens calling down the moonlight and spreading that light out to their people. They are a savage race in many respects and the Queen Mother of the Monere has done what she could to help her race survive and now she sees another opportunity for their evolution through Mona Lisa.
Lisa Hamilton is Mona Lisa, a one-quarter human and three-quarters Monere. Enough that she is a Monere Queen and in charge of her own territory in Louisiana.
Her people include Lord Amber, who has his own territory now; Dante and his brother Quentin along with their parents, Nolan and Hannah Morell; Dontaine; Chami, who plans to stay behind with Lord Thaddeus Schiffer, Mona Lisa's brother who will take over running the Louisiana territory while Mona Lisa acts as the Monere ambassador; Tomas, the new master-at-arms for Louisiana; and, Aquila are all staying to protect Thaddeus.
Jarvis Condorizi is the birdman Monere caught on a live television news feed rescuing Kelly Rawlings from the 19th floor of a burning building. Jarvis is a rogue. In Monere culture, he would be killed on sight as no rogue Monere is allowed to roam free. It's his plight that the Queen Mother uses to persuade Mona Lisa to take on the role as ambassador. For she will issue a blanket pardon to all rogues who will come in and help form the new embassies for the Monere.
Prince Halycon is the Demon Prince of Hell and Mona Lisa's mate. He loves her dearly and will do anything to protect her.
My Take
This is more of a bridge and rescue novel. Mona Lisa brings Dante back into the fold and a possible disaster proves an opportunity for the Monere community to embrace new changes by coming out to the rest of the world.
On the whole, this was terrible. The further in I read, the worse the writing got. There's the bit where she and Dante have escaped Mona Sierra's people and she's riding commando on top of a sabre-toothed Dante discussing how wet she's getting from the friction of Dante's pelt. Oh, please, "honeyed wetness starting to drip down his sides…"?
For a Mixed Blood Monere who spent some 20 years and 6 months surviving in the human world, Mona Lisa is an idiot. What? Was she living under a rock all that time? For one, the Queen Mother is sending Mona Lisa out with a briefcase filled with a total of $1 million in cash and expects her to rescue the birdman and come out to the world. Hullo! Banks anyone?? Security issues? Besides, how can they only have a million bucks available for such an important mission when they all seem to have private planes and such.
Then there's the rescue in D.C. Mona Lisa and her people hang out to a Residence Inn when they're expecting that the FBI and Homeland Security are likely to take them in charge. Um…duh?? Hey, why not just save some money and go for a Holiday Inn or Motel 6. They both have just as much security. Just before heading to the hospital to see what the situation is with birdman, Mona Lisa doesn't understand why her people want her to change out of her old jeans, comfy T-shirt, and sneakers? When she's about to expose her people to the world?
Surprisingly, there's not much sex in Mona Lisa Eclipsing…at least in comparison to the previous stories.
The only real value to this particular story is in the opening salvo of revealing the existence of the Monere. I am so hoping that book six is better written as I am curious as to how Mona Lisa and her people will survive out in the visible world. Especially if this idiot continues to run around.
The Cover
The cover is lovely with its profile of Mona Lisa gazing down her bare arm with a body of water with leafless trees along its banks anchor the bottom and a bloodred moon eclipsing is the focus just above the title.
The title itself, Mona Lisa Eclipsing, is confusing. To eclipse is to hide or obscure, to block when this story is more about revealing.