Blue Moon

Linda Howard is one of my favorite authors, her books are usually full of mystery, adventure and romance, and holds your attention to the very end. For some reason, Blue Moon did not seem a typical Linda Howard novel. It was very predictable and just did not flow.

This is an older novella being rereleased as an e-book. It is fantastic. Romance, paranormal and a touch of suspense. I really wish Linda Howard would write more characters like Jackson and Lilah. LH sure can fully flesh out a character even in a novella.

Jackson is the Sherriff in a poor, rural county in Alabama. As the Blue Moon comes up the crazies come out. One crazy believes it is time to rid the county of the "witch". Jackson saves Lilah and is stranded at her remote primitive cabin. Lilah is no witch, she is a folk healer, sees auras and had flashes of precognition and what she sees when she looks at Jackson is all red and scares her to her very soul.

Like many other reviewers, I am very upset that nothing indicated this was a reprint of a much older novella. Considering I've been reading Howard for decades, it's not unthinkable that I wouldn't recognize a novella I'd read many years ago. I double checked and could find nothing in the blurb or publication data that indicated this was not a new release. Since I always read Howard, I didn't look at the reviews either. This publisher should take a page from Nora Roberts and Jayne Ann Krentz - their new books are clearly distinguished from reprints.

So I always approach Linda Howard with caution, because she can tick me off really alot, with her early stories usually involving some really unforgivable male behavior forgiven because he "wuvves her!". So I had the store send me a sample, to see if I could tell if it would be the good kind of Linda Howard, with feistiness and low tolerance for a-holes. I was allowed to read exactly 1 paragraph. I repeat, 1 paragraph....before I was prompted to buy the book to read more. Well, thank you , I don't think I will.

For a standalone novelette this had more than a decent story line. Things happened fast and wrapped up quickly, but I enjoyed Lilah's and Jackson's chemistry. The problem with this book was with the editing—I found EIGHT errors! Come on Simon & Schuster, clean up your act!