4 November 2014

Book Review: By the Light of the Moon (Lakeside, #1) by Laila Blake

(Click image to take you to Goodreads)
Buy: Amazon UK | Amazon US 

Format: Kindle
Publishers: Lilt Literary
Published: 6th May 2014
Pages: 275
Genre: New Adult, Historical Romance, Paranormal Romance
Main Characters: Moira, Owain, 
Date Read: 18th October - 2nd November 2014
Rating Given:
 photo twofive.jpg

Synopsis:
Book #1 in the Lakeside Series!
Withdrawn and with a reputation for her strange, eccentric ways, young Lady Moira Rochmond is old to be unwed. Rumors say, she has been seen barefoot in the orchard, is awake all night in moon-struck rambles and sleeps all day. Some will even claim her ghostly pallor and aloof manner are signs of illness, of a curse or insanity.The hopes of the peaceful succession to her father’s fief lie in an advantageous marriage. When a suitor does show interest, her family pushes for a decision.Almost resigned to the fact that she has no choice but to play the part she has been given in life, Moira is faced with Owain. A member of the mysterious Blaidyn creatures and a new guard in her father’s castle, he is specifically tasked to keep her safe. He is different from other people she knows and when one night under the full moon, she makes the acquaintance of the wolf who shares Owain’s soul, her life starts to change and to unravel.

I was asked by the author if I would like to review the first and second book in the Lakeside series which with it being a new adult book I jumped at the chance the only thing was it didn't grab me like most other new adult books have done...

The cover for this book is absolutely stunning. It is completely different to other covers that I have seen around especially for new adult books. I love the use of colours especially the hint of red as it makes the cover pop more than what it would have if there was no red. For the most part this cover looks like its been drawn rather than using actual models which makes a huge change. I love that the cover could be a scene from the actual story as it helps to visualise what is happening.

This was a hard book to get into as it was far too confusing I just felt lost for the most part of the book, it didn't help that there was a change in whose point of view we was reading from and sometimes that would happen when I wasn't expecting it too. It wasn't until close to the end when this started to unravel making it easier to follow and more entertaining. What I liked about this book was that we knew Owain was a werewolf from the very beginning as usually it takes most of the first book for something like that to come out in the open. There was a bit of mystery with the female lead with a few surprises that came out near the end which also came as a shock to her too. I didn't really feel the romance as it felt like it happened all of a sudden and then something happened that just went to show how unreal their feelings came across. There was parts where there seemed to be some chemistry coming across but it just wasn't sizzling. I really started to enjoy this book towards the end and was even going to make it a three star book but the ending didn't out way the rest of the book. There was a bit of a cliff hanger which has me intrigued by book two so I am a little more excited about book two than what I thought I would have been.

I wasn't a huge fan of most of the characters but I did grow to like some of them for them to do something that had me changing my mind. There was so many different characters that it was hard for me to keep up. What really bugging me about Moira was that I had no idea how old she was so I couldn't tell if she was acting her age or anything. She did come of a bit bratty at times but then there was times when I really felt sorry for her. Owain was one of the few characters that I liked pretty much constantly even if there was one thing that he did that I wasn't happy about.

Overall most of this book was hard to follow but by the end I enjoyed it enough to actually want to read the next book.