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I think that it might be prudent if I went on a romance sabbatical. Lately, it seems that whenever I start reading sappy scenes, my eyes roll heavenward, as if pleading with someone up there to spare me from this silliness—especially when it’s too fast, too soon, and the hero starts acting all ooey-gooey. I’ve never met a man who acts ooey-gooey. And, unfortunately, J. A. Saare’s Crimson Moon has a lot of ooey-gooey.
A pack of werewolves rudely snatch Emma Johnson from the clutches of the walking dead, whose purpose was to kidnap her and bring her to Tristan for unspecified reasons. The moment Caleb touches Emma, he suspects that she’s his mate, and he must protect her at all costs—not only because she may bond with him later but also because her father (who abandoned her long ago) wants her brought to him for reasons no one knows.
Torn from her boring, small-town life and thrust into a world that she never dreamed existed, Emma finds herself longing for her simple home. But there’s no going back now—not until the danger from Tristan has passed. Even then, she has to face her father and learn of the legacy that she carries within her blood.
Caleb’s one purpose is to get Emma to Luca DeViard unharmed. But he starts to bond with Emma in days—not months. How can he ever let her go now? And, if he can, will she ever return to him?
The plot of Crimson Moon is stuffed with supernatural storylines—most of them unnecessary. When the story isn’t focusing on the romance between Emma and Caleb, another form of the supernatural is thrown in, in an attempt to add more thrills. Somehow, though, it just didn’t work for me. If the author had chosen to focus on just one or two aspects of the supernatural, Crimson Moon may not have seemed so scattered. Instead, it became too much like Twilight—which was frustrating for me, since I’m not a Twilight fan.
Emma often reminded me of Bella Swan, although I concede that she isn’t as manipulative as Bella with the two men in her life. At least, most of the time, Emma is entertaining, and I found myself laughing out loud at her wit. Caleb, on the other hand, caused me to do a lot of eye-rolling with his “Oh, God, I can’t possibly live without her” act. But then, later, he completely abandons her, and I didn’t feel as though he deserved her in the end.
At the risk of sounding prejudiced against romance novels, Crimson Moon would have been a much better read if most of the romance—along with the excessive supernatural parts—had been taken out of the plot. Emma could have been a much more fascinating character if the plot had unfolded around her, with readers learning about her abilities one at a time. Some novels don’t need a lot of romance to make the story interesting—and Crimson Moon has more than it needs.
