Review: To turn or not to turn...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 2, 2013
I read the first three books in the Immortalis series by Katie Salidas and enjoyed them so I was interested in this companion novella, which expands on the story of Fallon and Aiden.  Unfortunately, I discovered after I started the novella that this story actually takes place after the fourth book, not the third. Argh, I hate reading out of order, but it was my bad.  Fortunately, the third book is when Fallon and Aiden first meet and start their relationship so there was some context for me to buy in to their relationship in Moonlight even if I did read it out of order. On the other hand, a few scenes referenced something that happened in Soulstone (Book 4). Nothing that would be too confusing to the reader, but I definitely felt I was missing some minor back story.  Therefore, I do recommend reading this novella after the fourth book.Aiden is the interim Alpha of his pack. Fallon struggles with her choice of whether to be turned into a werewolf in order to be his mate and be accepted as the Alpha female, or to stay human, which means either Aiden would have to leave the pack or she would have to leave him since the pack will not accept a human.  There is also a faction of the pack that does not want Fallon in the pack at all and wants to challenge Aiden's status as Alpha.  Aiden never waivers in his support of Fallon. He doesn't force her to choose one or the other, though he certainly hopes she will choose to turn. But if she doesn't, he doesn't plan on letting her go.  Awww, ain't he a sweetie?  Fallon stands up to her naysayers who express their disapproval in some violent ways.  She has really grown into quite the spunky, don't-mess-with-me, kind of person.  You can see this growth from what she goes through in the previous books and I would guess also that some of the events from the-book-that-was-not-read (aka Soulstone) would probably show more of this growth.  I'm just a-speculating here but I'll find out soon enough.I did have a couple of quibbles with the story. One was the constant use of the endearments "Babe" and "Baby" between Fallon and Aiden.  Seriously, I think I can count on one hand how many times they addressed each other by their actual name.  It kind of loses its effect when it is overused and it got a bit annoying.The other thing I didn't particularly like was some of the dialogue, especially during the sex scenes. It sometimes sounded a little cheesy and I admit to having a few eye-roll moments.  I don't recall having that problem with the novels in this series, but in this novella, it jumped out at me.Speaking of sex in the book, there was actually quite a bit of it compared to the first three books.  I can't speak yet for the-book-that-was-not-read but I think there was probably more in this novella than in books one, two, and three combined. No complaints from me on that count but someone expecting a certain heat level based on the earlier books may not be a particularly happy camper.Alyssa and Lysander actually make a brief appearance in this story, which I liked because it helps with the tie-in to the series overall.  Another secondary character I liked was Aiden's brother, Brady.  I wonder (hope) if he may be the focus of a future novella.As a companion novella related to an ongoing series I think it did its job in giving the reader a closer look at a side story from the novels.  I was happy with how the scope of the story fit the length. It felt complete to me. However, I am familiar with the series and someone picking this up as a standalone story might feel they are missing a lot.  If you enjoy the Immortalis series then I would certainly recommend giving Moonlight a try. I do enjoy this series and even though I may have a few issues here and there, I like the author's writing style overall and I'm now invested in the characters and the Immortalis world.  I will definitely be continuing the series.Word Count: approx. 30,000 (Novella)Kindle Locations: 1835 (story text ends at 96%)Epub Pages: 92 (story text ends at pg 87)Includes Table of ContentsTAGS: novella, paranormal romance, shapeshifters, werewolves