Moonburn by Alisa Sheckley - review

Moonburn
Alisa Sheckley
fantasy, urbanish (U.F.)
2009
****
cover - it's fine, interesting.  You have some wolves running there, some trees, a woman and THE MOON...

Quite a while ago I read a book called The Better To Hold You.  It was an interesting take on werewolves, cheating husbands and other things.  I liked the book - enough to think I would enjoy a sequel, just to see where the main character ends up.  

Just about a year ago I saw Moonburn at the store, and thought - wow!  there's the sequel!  I was so surprised to see that it's been out since 2009!  Especially since I didn't hear about it at all, or even see it in stores until recently.  And I KNOW I've been browsing the shelves from A-Z in both Borders AND Barnes & Noble in the last three years.  Weird.  Anyway, I bought it and stuck it on my shelf and kept reading other novels.  So finally, after reading many very good books, and then deciding I needed to read a 'palate cleanser', I tried a palate cleanser and went right over to Moonburn after a chapter of 'palate cleanser' book.  What can you do?  Just go with it. :)

**the following review does contain some spoilerish words**

Moonburn was interesting.  I'm not gaga over it, but it definitely kept my interest long enough for me to finish it, and that was AFTER reading the most amazing novels in the last month or two.  That's saying something.  

Abra (Abs to her friends) has been living with Red in the small town (or rather on the outskirts) of Northside, where things are a little different.  Otherness, with a capitol O, is tolerated, though not always spoken of.  However, Abra isn't quite sure of her relationship with Red, which is understandable, having been burned in her previous marriage to Hunter.  Hunter, is the man who not only cheated on her, but infected her with the lycantrhopy virus.  Not only is she dealing with fallout from the breakup, a new relationship, and her virus which causes her to turn Wolfy once a month - she also is living next door - or rather on the property next to (in the country next door is different than in the city, after all) Hunter AND his new woman, who happens to be an alpha wolf.  An alpha wolf who really wouldn't mind seeing Abra dead.

But that's not all - nope.  Red is acting different.  Kind of secretive and odd.  Red also wants more from the relationship than Abra is prepared or ready to give.  Remember, she's newly divorced.  From a cheater.  Abra is also feeling different, more aggressive and downright....lustful.  Then there's her boss.  Her boss is getting skinnier and skinnier, looking like he's wasting away.   Weird things are happening...and it all comes to a churning burning raging head that almost leads to the demise of the town, of Abra and others.  

Though I did find myself a little frustrated with Abra's indecision and mistrust of Red, really, it fit with her recent past.  Any normal person would be wary of a new relationship after dealing with a cheating husband, and Abra has many abnormal things to contend with.  So it all fits.  Sheckley does a pretty good job with all the events leading up to the end of the novel - doing a find job with dialogue per character.  I was a little put off by the almost stiff narration of Abra - almost too formal, especially when she's first noticing that she's losing her inhibitions and seems to be gaining charisma - but after a while, the narration seems to 'settle down'.   

While I was a little put off by Abra's tone in the beginning, the further I got into the novel, the more I enjoyed it.  Her confusion, the way she began even having a hard time thinking, the new characters, learning more about some of the characters, other supernatural myths and legends... - it all added up to a fun read with a hell of an ending. 

It's Monday...once again :)

According to my book list page, I'm in the process of reading at least 19 novels.  That's not including the  five that I've decided to give up on this year.  Only five...though there are at least five more that I'm on the fence about - whether to give up or try again later.  Problem is, once I decide I'm not sure about a book, it can take up to a year for me to go back to reading it - sometimes longer.  Then there are the novels that I have started, that I want to read.....but cannot find or remember where I had them last.  Then I start wondering if I've loaned them out, given them away for some weird reason;  why would I give away a novel I still want to read?  I give away books I've finished - especially if I'm sure they won't be rereads.   Anyway, I can see at least 10 books that I want to finish but cannot find.  Here's to finding lost and runaway books (those little devils)

And here's to ...
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Hosted by Sheila of Book Journey, It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is the weekly meme where we catch up on what we're reading, what we've finished reading...the works.

It was another slow reading week for me.  I did manage to finish reading one novel;  I started about three other novels.  Can't seem to settle on one novel over the other at the moment.  But it's all good - sooner or later, one of the novels will end up being the ONE that I finish for the week - hopefully. :)

The one novel I did finish reading was Moonburn by Alisa Sheckley.  Moonburn is the sequel to The Better To Hold You, about how Abra becomes a werewolf after being infected by her faithless husband.  Moonburn is the novel where she comes to terms with what she is, decides whether or not she wants to remain with her current man, and the danger their little town is in from supernaturals.  It's a decent read.

That's the one novel I finished.

Now for the novels I've started.  Not sure which will be the ONE - but we'll just have to see which one holds my interest

I tried reading Hasta La Vista, Lola by Misa Ramirez.  And cannot get past the first chapter.  Can't put my finger on why, but just not holding my interest at the moment.

I've also tried Moon Dance  by JR Rain from the omnibus edition Samantha Moon.  I've actually read close to 100 pages, and it's interesting - a mom turned vampire who happens to be a P.I.  Her challenge is to run her business during the later hours of the day while still picking up her children from school.  She has to  slather on the sunblock to get to her car, and has come up with a sun condition to explain her pale complexion, the reasons why she doesn't go out in the sun, etc.  In this first novel, she's dealing with an increasingly distant husband as well as trying to take care of her kids, and run her business.

For my SciFi fix, I'm trying out A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge.  Have never heard of Vernor Vinge, but the book blurb sounded good.  Space ship crash lands on a planet.  Two survivors are children who are now at the mercy of a lupine race of people on this planet.  I haven't gotten very far yet - but what I've read so far is interesting.

Library Reading for school:
I've just started a few of the classes for Library time at the school I work in.  So far, we've had Kindergardeners (my granddaughter's class - she was a little excited!) and first graders come in. The two books I've read so far were...

Russell the Sheep by Rob Scotton (who did his own illustrations) and The Cow Who Wouldn't Come Down by Paul Brett Johnson (who also did his own pictures)       

Speaking of illustrations for picture books; I love when there are little special surprises or extras in the illustrations of a children's book.  In Russell the Sheep, there is a frog that is in just about every page - he seems to be Russell's friend, or pet.  Not only is the frog in many of the pages, but he is usually doing something interesting.  Ex; 'Russell pulled up a pillow.  The pillow hopped away, hopping mad'  So cute.  Then there are all the sheep.  Each of the sheep in the book are doing odd things for sheep.  One is knitting a scarf - using wool straight from another sheep, who is now missing half his wool.  Another has a blanket, one reads a newspaper, one usually has a cup of some hot beverage, and the older sheep has false teeth.  Best of all is the one sheep that is always hiding behind a skinny tree - and oddly enough, you can't see the half that's hiding, even though the tree is very skinny.  It's great.  When I read to my grandchildren, we try to find as many weird and fun things in the pictures as we can.  When I read to a class, I encourage them to look at the expressions in the pictures, and we like to find things like the frog that appears through out the Russell book, or the mouse that is in The Little Critter books.  I love when an illustrator (or author) inserts little surprise bonuses like that in their work.

Anyway - enjoy the week, hope to visit some of your blogs to see what you're reading.  
I leave you with one of my most recent captioned LOL Cats. (captioned by me, *g*)