Book Review: Hunter’s Moon by Susan Laine

Title: Hunter’s Moon
Series: Lifting the Veil, Book 3
Author: Susan Laine
Genre: Paranormal Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: Review copy from publisher
Published: February 2013 by Dreamspinner Press

Ten years ago, the Great Unveiling revealed the presence of supernatural beings living on Earth, but not all humans know much about them—or care about them as anything other than a paycheck.

Kieran Knight is a freelance mercenary who hunts mythical beings for money. He abducts a man called Gabriel King, intending to turn him over to his client. But Gabriel isn’t any ordinary cowboy. He’s a powerful werewolf and the beta of his pack—and as he and Kieran soon discover, he is also Kieran’s mate.

Kieran knows next to nothing about how mating works, and he isn’t gay—but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel the chemistry heating up between them. To save Gabriel, Kieran orchestrates an escape, but his clients won’t give up their werewolf without a fight.

Reviewed By: J9

In a Nutshell: I really liked the world building here and the MM romance showed extreme promise but didn’t quite live up to it in the end.

The Set Up: Supernatural creatures were revealed to humanity ten years ago and the lives the supernatural will never be the same. Werewolf Gabe is kidnapped from his family’s ranch by mercenaries. Gabe doesn’t expect to scent his mate, a human mercenary, but can’t deny how happy this makes him. Kieran isn’t gay so his sudden physical attraction to Gabe alarms him but he knows he can’t leave Gabe in captivity. Now it’s up to Kieran and Gabe to save each other and possibly become mates.

Why I Read this Book: I love me some MM shifter stories.

What I Liked: I really liked the characters and the tension between Kieran and Gabe at novel’s beginning. Gabe is his lycan pack’s peacekeeper and has a calm assurance that perfectly juxtaposes with Kieran’s volatile personality. The tension between them is delightful at the beginning. Kieran isn’t gay so his intense attraction to Gabe shocks him. Gabe’s easy acceptance of Kieran’s needs pleasantly surprised me as a reader and I liked it. Kieran’s intense personality leads him to be obsessed with being Gabe’s sexual equal and provides the longest and most realistic first time oral sex scene I’ve read and it was an erotic gem.

Given that this is a mate trope I expected it to be a simple romance but I like that the novel offered a more complicated romance. In part this was because of Kieran’s very real quandary with his sexuality and being attracted to a man. I liked this as it offered a lot of emotional tension between Gabe and Kieran initially.

For readers knowing my MM tastes, I’ve been pissy with all the May-December romances and Kieran and Gabe’s isn’t that. Kieran isn’t a young twink and both men are mature, responsible adults with independent lives. I know it seems silly to mention this in the I like section but since I have to search these kinds of MM romances out, I figured it’s worth a mention.

What I Also Liked: The world building here is awesome. The supernatural reveal is called the Great Unveiling and offers plenty of plot tension. Some humans become groupies and obsessed with supernatural while others want them all dead. Then there is an agency for the protection of the supernaturals. All of this truly captured my attention and I will definitely be on the look-out for future installments in this series. I have to admit though that I’m not going to read books one or two because the first is a May-December MM romance and the second an MMM ménage.

What I Didn’t Like: The romance didn’t live up to my expectations from the beginning. Kieran’s issue with gay sex and how this affects his relationship with Gabe are set up so well but then cleared up way too quickly in the final 20 pages or so. This was such a huge tension in the book and so well layered initially that I wanted a conclusion as thoughtful as the initial setup. This book tricked me by promising unique and compelling romantic tension but wrapped it up too conveniently without the exploration I desired.

IMO: I loved this book’s setup but the ending didn’t live up to it and bummed me out. I still think it’s worth a read for MM fans looking for a slightly different romance even if it doesn’t quite do justice to itself at the end.

J9’s Rating: