Review: An engaging litle tale
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 12, 2010
"Demon Moon" is the first book of a genre-crossing series centering upon characters associated with the Hawkins Ranch in Montana. The series is genre-crossing in that the stories range from straight supernatural romance to gay romance without supernatural overtures.Connor, Cabel, and Cain Hawkins are three brothers that own a range in Montana. Unknown to everyone, the three brothers are not blood relatives, and they're not even human. They are demons, but not Heaven or Hell or fallen angels, they're just a separate species of beings that appear human but can shapeshift into a form that history eventually termed "demons". Each man comes from a separate clan, and Cain is a different species of demon from Connor and Cabel, but they each were disgusted with their clans' penchants for frightening, deceiving, and playing with humans. At some unexplained point in the past, the men joined swearing brotherhood to each other, and they are as loving and devoted as any three brothers could ever be. They are almost 200 years old and have been concentrating on their ranch with the hope that one day, they could give up their demon blood and actually become human.Cassie lost her mom when she was young. When she was 15, her father died suddenly of a heart attack while working as a ranch hand at the Hawkins Ranch. Having no other family, Connor, Cain, and Cabel took her into their home and raised her as their sister. She's now in her early twenties and is a strong, self-assured spitfire of a woman. And she is hopelessly in love with Connor. Connor himself is harboring feelings for Cassie, but he's almost 200 years older than her (though she doesn't know this), and cares too much for her to subject her to his demon form.Cassie finally convinces Connor to come to the Halloween party, and she's determined to make her feelings known to Connor, and even has a very sexy costume for herself to help make her point known. What makes this particular Halloween special though is that there's a full moon (which is rare), and if a certain ritual is performed for a demon by a woman who truly loves him, he can shed his demon forever and be fully human, a desire of all three brothers.The characters main to the story are nicely developed. The story has good pacing and speeds along. It's a bit on the short side when compared to some of the other stories later in the series (Cain's and Caleb's, for instance), but the entire events within the story happen in a very brief period of time, and the length of both the book and the events seems appropriate here. I would've liked to have learned more of the history of the brothers and their people, but this story is specifically about Connor and Cassie, and only enough of their information is given to keep the tale speeding along.What I enjoyed most was realizing that this is the first of a series, and while I didn't get as much information and history of demons and their abilities as I would have liked, the other books took more time to fill in the details. Caleb and Cain's stories give a much more detailed look into their species. Those two stories are male/male romances, with Caleb's being especially interesting as both men are straight. ReneCade deviates from this by being a male/male romance, but having no supernatural elements, instead using the Hawkins Ranch as a backdrop for two other very human (and flawed) characters.This story is interesting and fun. The pace is good, the characters interesting, and the language is straightforward, illustrative, and enjoyable. A surprising strength is that it starts off a series featuring a wide, colorful range of characters that is overall very fulfilling. "Falling", "ReneCade", "Ride", "Knowing Caleb", and "Becoming Three" all have their own colorful, lovable, and unique characters and examine different types of relationships with different obstacles.I do recommend the entire series and fun, sexy, and enjoyable.