Review: Seriously smokin' and romantic PNR
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 21, 2013
I'll start by saying that most readers can safely tack on another star to my rating (reason explained below).DRAGON MOON, the debut novel by Nulli Para Ora, offers a different take on the paranormal shifter romance by incorporating both an international setting and an inter-racial mating--a Chinese man/shifter and an African-American human.  Refreshingly, few of the more common tropes are present and the main characters behave and react like mature adults.Overall, this book was well-written and engaging so if you love PNR, especially with wolf shifters, I say give this book and new author a try.  But beware the smokin' love moments and high angst factor!I mulled over my reaction to DRAGON MOON for over a week and even re-read some sections.  When I read it, I was probably more in work mode than "pleasure reading" mode.  Which resulted in my reading this book with more than the usual critical eye... perhaps even a mild case of the "cranky book fussies" (a term stolen from a very witty friend ^_^).Whatever the reason (and taking into account my personal baseline), certain things didn't work for me.  For example:(1)  I couldn't completely buy into the near 0-to-60 speed re: shift in Angelique and David's relationship.  I understood that it was necessary for one of the plot threads but for me, it happened too abruptly--which was problematic because it then lessened the impact of subsequent events.(2)  I had a hard time warming up to Angelique.  Some would say that her character was Mary Sue-ish but given that I have a friend who is incredibly smart, kind-hearted, talented and beautiful (the miserable wench!), I could accept that in a fictional character.  However, other things were added to this which I thought were questionable under the circumstances and info given (or not given, as the case may be).(3)  I thought that certain key moments in the story were a bit contrived, serving to further the action or plot thread but without logical explanation or basis.(4)  I wished that there had been more/stronger world-building re: the werewolves, especially because they are so long-lived.  I never felt that I had a good sense of their secret existence.  I also thought that there were some inconsistencies or holes as to certain aspects of the werewolf nature.(5)  On the technical side, random but persistent inconsistencies re: use of italics to denote telepathic thoughts (vs. spoken dialogue) and mixing one character's dialogue with another's POV in the same paragraph were distracting and slowed my reading pace.  The intermittent intrusion of an omniscient narrator was also a bit disconcerting.Again, I think that my mood while reading DRAGON MOON had an impact on my overall impression.  So I'll definitely be doing a re-read before the next book in this series.  Oh yes, I'm already planning on reading the next one because Ms. Ora shows a lot of promise, especially for a first-timer, and I'm curious as to how and where she takes the Dragon Moon series.*  My thanks to the author for providing a copy for an objective review.