Customer Reviews

Marked by Moonlight (Moon Chasers)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In this fast paced tale of a newly infected lycan and a dedicated lycan hunter, Sharie Kohler has created an intriguing world that draws the reader in from the first page.

Claire Morgan is a teacher looking for a missing student when she's attached by a werewolf. Gideon March kills the beast but not before Claire's infected. He knows he should kill her too, but for the first time in his life he wants to save a lycan from the fate that awaits her at the next full moon. As Claire and Gideon race against time to find and kill the Alpha of the lycan pack and free Claire, they must learn to trust each other even as they fight the dangerous passion they both feel.

The book's world unfolds to the reader as Claire learns about the lycans and the secret society of lycan hunters who will kill her on sight. While Claire finds a new strength as a lycan to deal with childhood abuse, Gideon faces his own ghosts to heal the burning hatred that has driven him since he was a teenager. One of the secondary characters, an ancient lycan named Darius, is especially fascinating because he forces both Claire and Gideon to look beyond the stereotype and trust him

Although I had never read a werewolf paranormal before, Ms. Kohler's characters and their world were so skillfully developed, familiarity with the mythology was not necessary. My only disappointment was that the story ended. I sure hope Ms. Kohler writes Darius's story one day soon.

Marked by Moonlight is the debut novel in an exciting new series by Sharie Kohler. It is super sexy, the tension is incredibly palpable and it kept me thoroughly entertained from beginning to end. One thing I love about Sharie's writing is that it is so descriptive. I always felt like I was right there with Claire and Gideon ... feeling what they were feeling, seeing what they were seeing, smelling what they were smelling. Claire is such a believable character as she went from meek to aggressive. The way that Sharie described and showed the changes that Claire went through, made me feel like I was a fly on the wall ... or that I was her. I loved Claire. And Gideon, well, he is just hot! He was persistent with Claire and didn't give up on her which was completely endearing. He is a strong, sexy hero that could of, given his past, taken the easy route, but didn't. Sharie made Gideon's decision to save Claire completely understandable ... and that made me love him even more. These two were made for each other. And the secondary characters added so much to the story. Overall, I loved this book and am eagerly anticipating the next book in the series!!

STORY BRIEF:
Claire is a mousy, timid school teacher. She lets people walk all over her because she doesn't like confrontation. One evening she is bitten by a lycan (werewolf). Her eyes turn silver. She won't turn into a wolf until the next full moon. Meanwhile, she begins feeling strength, hunger and anger. There are a couple of great scenes as she shows her anger and threatens her abusive father and a sneering, drug-dealing student. The hunger she feels is for both food and sex.

Gideon is a member of an underground society of lycan hunters. They hunt and kill all lycans using silver bullets. Gideon sees Claire being bitten and follows her home. He is reluctant to kill her and is strangely attracted to her. After he enlightens her about her circumstances, he agrees to help her. Claire was bitten by a newly created lycan. If they can kill the alpha leader of that lycan's pack before the next full moon, Claire will turn back into a normal human. If they don't kill the alpha, Claire will turn into a wolf at every full moon and need to feed off of humans while in wolf form. Future killing of the alpha won't solve the problem. It must be before the first full moon after being bitten.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
I loved the few parts where the former mouse becomes aggressive and strong. I also enjoyed the character Darius, what he did and what happened to him. As to the rest of the story, it was ok. It was primarily Gideon and Claire trying to solve the mystery and find the alpha. They fall for each other along the way. The story is good with a different take on lycans - she can turn back to being human if they solve their problem. I had no major problems with it. I just wanted to be a little more surprised or delighted in order to give it more stars. My favorite parts were minor parts of the story rather than the main plot.

CAUTION SPOILER:
The author used the typical romance formula which is: the couple falls in love, has a conflict causing them to be apart, and then gets together again. I'm ok with this formula, but I did not like the method used to separate them. Claire made the inaccurate assumption (one of my pet peeves) that Gideon didn't love her or want to be with her, so she left him. The fact is they had just spent the night together. He never said or did anything to imply he didn't want her. I say forget the formula if you can't come up with something interesting. The story would have been fine without this brief separation. If you need to separate Claire and Gideon, consider using Darius or his housekeeper to cause it. They were intriguing characters.

DATA:
Story length: 346 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 6. Total number of sex scene pages: 17. Setting: current day Texas. Copyright: 2008. Genre: paranormal romance.

Claire Morgan is a skittish mouse of a woman who's dedicated her life to high-risk high-schoolers. She never imagined `high-risk' would involve a dark alley and the excruciating pain of a lycan bite. Assuming she's only been bitten by a stray dog and not a newly-transformed student, Claire is oblivious to the slow, inexorable transformation that will culminate on the next full moon, leaving her a fearsome, frenzied wild beast.

Gideon March has a long and vengeful history with lycans. A witness to Claire's assault, he kills her attacker, fully intending to murder Claire before she has a chance to change and feed. But inexplicably, he can't pull the trigger and instead finds himself in the unfamiliar position of trying to convince Claire what her future holds unless they can reverse the effects of the lycan bite before it's too late.

Thrumming with sexual tension and a thrilling undercurrent of suspense, Marked by Moonlight cements Sharie Kohler as a compelling new voice in paranormal romance.

Believe the reviews, this book is good! I read the reviews, and seeing all the six that were there at the time rated it at 5 stars I decided to give it a go, specially since the plot already interested me. And I didn't regret it! This books really lived up to my expectations!

All the characters are well described, are powerful in their way and they are lovely. For instace, I really enjoyed Darius, and I hopoe he feattures more and more prominently in future books!!!

The only thing that sounded a little forced was the fact of Giddeon not killing Claire when he first knows she's infected. He is a man that has suffered at the hands of werewolves and has been killing them for as long as he remembers, so it didn't make much sense when he goes all soft hearted over Claire when he walks in her apartment, pics a couple of photos and afterwards sees her sleeping and can't bring himself to do what he himself calls "what has to be done".
Afterwards, in the book, he says he's tired of vengenace. Maybe that and falling for her explains it.

The plot of the book is sound, and the only thing I missed when it ended was some mention to some other characters that had been playing on the book, as Nina or Darius. I thught they would get some sort of mention or something.

But all in all, the book is great, so... five stars it is, and to wait for the second one on the series!!!

Gideon is hot...... This book was extremely entertaining, I couldn't put it down. I can't wait for the next in the series. The writing in this book puts me in minds of Kelsey Cole/Christine Warren. If you like those authors, you will like this.

I just finished the second book in this series. After reading this one I wouldn't have started the second but I promised to give it to someone else.

This was good to OK, definitely not very original. The beginning and a bit of the middle seemed to drag on. I was wanting the story to progress or something to happen. The romance was marred by misunderstanding and general miscommunication. And the sex was marred by fighting the attraction and then kicking oneself once the couple gives in to the urges. Kind of typical in many romance to keep the sex scenes valid but didn't move me.

The one thing that redeemed the story was the twist and introduction of the lycan who controls his urges and doesn't feed, Darius. He was the most interesting character in the book. Unluckily you only get a little of him in the next book.

I did like Claire as she changes and grows out of her shell. She finally starts standing up for herself, though again she berates herself for it afterwards. Gideon seems real as he struggles with his conscience. But again this drags and repeats.

At the end, I had mixed feelings. The story was overall good, not great, with a definite dragging and then it seemed to end a bit abruptly. There were interesting points in the story but not enough to call it a great paranormal romance.

To read a great paranormal romance, look to Nalini Singh's psy-changlings, Kresley Cole's Immotals After Dark, and even really good Paranormal Romance like, Gena Showalter's Lord's of the Underworld, Alyssa Day's Atlantis Rising series, and Alexis Morgan's Paladin's of Darkness. This book is not up to the caliber of those at all.

Schoolteacher Claire Morgan is checking on an errant student when a dog attacks her, or so she thinks. When a strange man appears and instead tells her she's been attacked by a lycan, and will turn into one at the next full moon she thinks he's nuts. Especially when he tells her it's his job to kill her.

As an agent of NODEAL, a society of lycan hunters, Gideon March has killed many beasts in his day. So he's not sure why he can't kill Claire, even though he knows she's been infected. But he can't pull the trigger, and he finds himself in the unusual position of helping her.

As he spends more time with her, and their feelings for each other grow, Gideon knows there's only one hope for Claire. They must find the alpha of the lycan that attacked Claire and kill him, or else Gideon will have to kill her before she shifts, and hunts.

Marked by Moonlight is the first in a new, to me anyway, series called The Moon Chasers, and I'm happy to report that I enjoyed this book very much. Ms. Kohler has created a world that is fascinating and full of characters that will worm their way into your heart.

I loved Gideon, and his obvious concern for Claire, who didn't want to believe his tale of lycans but couldn't understand the changes coming over her. The way he convinces her shocked her, and me. Watching them come together after that was pure magic.

There is also a host of other characters I hope will be featured in other books, including Cooper and Darius. If you like a werewolf tale of good versus evil you'll enjoy Marked by Moonlight. I love finding new series, and I'm glad this one came my way.

Amelia
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Claire Morgan is a teacher who is looking for a missing student. On the day she went to find him she was attack and is not sure what had attack her. All she knows is she isn't the shy type no more and she is now dressing more sexy.

Gideon is a lycan hunter and his job is to kill Claire.

Will Gideon kill Claire or will he save her before the next full moon?

Marked by Moonlight was a fantastic read. I look forward to the second book in this series by Sharie Kohler.

This is a must read for those who love a great read that has alot of action on every page. This was a great page turner from the beginning to the end.

This was one I hated to put down and didn't want to end. Great story and characters. A real page turner. Terrific action and dialog between Claire and Gideon. The love scenes are HOT! I especially liked the character, Darius, an ancient lycan who survives without killing, giving Claire and Gideon hope for a normal future together...well, as normal as a lycan and human can be. Darius wants Claire for himself but when Claire is endangered, the two rivals join forces to rescue her. Darius has a wicked, rye sense of humor and I hope to see him again. You will be surprised at many points in this book.