ARC Review: Vicious Moon by Lee Roland

Vicious Moon is the third book in the Earth Witches series by Lee Roland. The story centers around Nyx Ianira. An ex-mercenary who found work in the field of private investigations. She’s also an Earth Witch, but not having much interest in devoting her life to mastering her craft as a child, and therefore a poor reaction from the local Coven leaving her with a sour taste in her mouth she tends to keep herself as far from that particular group of people as possible. All this however blows up in her face as out of the blue she finds herself being hauled home against her will by the Sisters of Justice. The police force of the Witch World.

Upon reaching her childhood home she learns from her Grandmother that her sister has gone missing. Gran trusting only her to locate her and bring her home safe she quickly makes her way to Duivel, Missouri. A town which keeps many secrets. Being home to a couple Sisters of Justice, a handful of Earth Witches, a troublesome gang, an organized merc unit, and oh...a demon. Just to name a few. Nyx struggles against the maelstrom of characters and obstacles thrown into her path fighting to keep her away from finding her. Eventually she discovers that if she wants to get out of Duivel with her sister safe and sound, she’ll have to work to master her magic use the tremulous ties she’s made in the community.

One of these ties is Etienne. Head of the mercenary group who had taken it upon himself to keep an eye on her, and try to steer her clear of danger. If nothing else he was there to help her out of perilous situations. Etienne was also the love interest of our heroine and though there were some steamy moments, for the most part what I witnessed was his non-subtle hatred and mistrust of witches, as well as cold indifference to our heroine’s plight. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy experiencing characters grow throughout a story. Transcend their scars from the past and become the better for it, but for me this didn’t happen here. The romance was seemingly an afterthought to the main plotline that drove this story. It didn’t seem to connect our heroine and hero in anyway other than being in the right place at the right time to itch a particular scratch. I would have liked to see these two come together a little more naturally. Maybe then it wouldn’t have been such a struggle for these two to find some common ground to grow from.

There were some really interesting aspects in this story revolving around the world this town exists in. Magical practices and beings, portals to other dimensions and the creepy crawlers that call those places home, and a feeling of much more to come from this author in the future. If you are a fan of Urban Fantasy of the magically witchy variety then I can easily suggest you pick this one up and give it a go. If you like your reads to rate a little higher on the romance scale then this may not be the one for you.

**ARC provided by NetGalley**

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