Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Black Moon by Jessica McQuay


"Am I losing my mind?"

Paige couldn't help but question her sanity. What other explanation could there be for her hearing a conversation held barely above a whisper in the back of a classroom full of students? What about coming home to find one of those very classmates lying in wait in the darkness of her home, ready to attack her?

Confused, frustrated and feeling every ounce of her social ostracism, Paige confides in the one person she's always been able to count on: her mom. But when her mom reveals a deeply rooted, unbelievable family secret, Paige discovers her world is filled with more than she ever imagined possible. A world where fairytales live alongside nightmares and secrets are the glue that binds them together. Suddenly no one is who they seem and Paige is faced with more questions than answers. Can she survive in a world filled with creatures scarier than anything she could imagine and where deceit runs as thick as blood? Or will the truth send her over the edge?


Book description from Goodreads.com
My Review

                                  I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
    Paige was a typical teen just trying to get through high school. Her world begins to unravel when she starts experiencing strange occurrences. One day while sitting in class she overhears a classmates thoughts. If that isn't strange enough, Paige ends up getting attacked after school by another classmate and overhears strange thoughts from her mind that make Paige believe that something even stranger than just reading minds is going on. More than a little freaked out, Paige confronts her mom about the things that she is experiencing and her mom drops a bombshell. Her mom is not human. She is a fairy princess from another dimension called Varulean. Now not only is Paige trying to survive high school but she is having to travel to a new world, meet grandparents she never knew and learn all about how to be a royal fairy. Needless to say Paige has a little difficulty figuring out everything and is hurt by her heritage being hidden from her. Plus, just when she thinks all of the secrets have been revealed, there are even bigger and crazier secrets that come to light. Along with her tutor and friend Naialah, Paige returns home to face all of these secrets and the problems they have created.
    I definitely enjoyed this book. I thought the author did a great job of creating another world, which isn't always easy. The scenes from the fairy court were very descriptive and believable. I also enjoyed the author's descriptions of the various plants that were encountered when Paige arrived in Varulean. They were very creative and just different enough to feel like they were from another world without being too crazy.
    The characters in the book were all wonderful also. I really liked Paige, even though her personality seemed to jump around a lot depending on the situation. Paige's grandparents were also wonderful because you could never quite tell what was going on in their minds. They were the perfect royals; seemingly loving and nice to Paige but very deceitful and dangerous behind her back. My favorite character in the book was Naialah. She is very mysterious and powerful and it was great to learn little bits of her story as the book goes along. I am just hoping that the next book reveals more about her.
    There was only one thing about the book that I did not like and that was that the relationship between Paige and Naialah was a bit strange at times. Most of the time I was trying to figure out if the author was trying to take their relationship in a romantic direction but then it would seem like it was just simple friendship and that Paige was just in awe of Naialah and her powers. It was just a bit weird to me that their relationship was just never really defined one way or another. Maybe in the next book I will be able to finally figure it out.
    Overall the book was really good and I enjoyed reading. It will be interesting to see what the next book will bring. Hopefully there will be more revealed about Paige's heritage and all of the secrets that so many people are keeping. 

Parent's Guide:  There is moderate swearing throughout the book.  As I mentioned above there is also a question about the relationship between Paige and Naialah.  It is not necessarily a romantic relationship even though at times it seems like it may go that way.  Since this is a conservative blog I feel like I need to mention that.  As for a 'movie' type rating I would say it is PG-13.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for the wonderful review, Alisa. I truly appreciate it. I'm thrilled that you enjoyed the story.

    I'm so sorry that I am just now seeing this. I had a bit of a hiatus on goodreads and missed your review posting.

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