Title: The Mayfair Moon
Author: J.A. Redmerski
Series: The Darkwoods Trilogy #1
Publisher: J.A. Redmerski
Publication Date: February 6, 2012
Pages: 352
Format/Source: Ebook/Received from author for review
Age Group/Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy, Paranormal
After a nightmarish encounter with a werewolf, seventeen-year-old Adria Dawson loses her sister, but gains the love of a mysterious young man and his legendary family.
Strange and tragic things begin to happen in the small town of Hallowell, Maine: residents come down with an unexplainable ‘illness’ and some disappear. In the midst of everything, Isaac Mayfair is adamant about keeping Adria safe, even from her sister whom he has warned her to stay away from.
As unspeakable secrets unfold all around Adria, impossible choices become hers to bear. Ultimately, no matter what path she takes, her life and the lives of those she loves will be in peril. As she learns about the werewolf world she also learns why her place in it will change the destinies of many. (From Goodreads)
Bonus Points…
Right off the bat, I found some bonus points for J.A. Redmerski:
- Adria’s sister, Alex, plays pool! I’ve been playing on a pool team for eight of the past ten years now, and I love it! 50,000 bonus points!
- Alex tries to set Adria up with a guy who looks like Ian Somerhalder. Any mention of Ian Somerhalder deserves like a million bonus points.
Lots of Action…
I love how this story starts with action right away. Adria and Alex see a werewolf right off the bat, and I was expecting them to happen to be friends with someone who comes out of the lupine closet or something. Nope! Bam – werewolf!
The rest of the story has lots of great action scenes thrown in, many of which are really suspenseful. There was one part (not going to go into too much detail – don’t want to spoil anyone) where I was like, “Oh my God, CREEPY!” and it just got creepier! Redmerski really seems to have the action scenes down pat. And I love action and suspense and all of that, so it was great!
I also really love twists and turns in the plot, and there was a nice one near the end which made some of the characters a lot more complex. I love it when the lines are blurred between whether a character is bad or good – it makes the characters so much more realistic and multi-dimensional. And the ending was a cliff-hanger, but it was a good one! I actually really liked the ending – it left me satisfied yet wanting more, which I think really is a good thing.
The Drawbacks…
There were a few things that I didn’t particularly love about the story. For one thing it seemed kind of like Twilight without the vampires. A lot of things reminded me of all the characters and events in that series. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed the Twilight series, but it seemed like there were a lot of similar scenes. However, the overall story is quite different.
I also didn’t like the insta-love aspect of the story. I mean, Adria did have moments where she was really mad at Isaac, but she still felt totally drawn to him even though he was pretty much a jerk and a player in their first several encounters. And he tells her he loves her after them dating for like a week, and she comments on how it was the first time he had said it to her. I mean, I know that’s a big deal and when you’re a teen you often say it really early, but it was just a bit too instant for my liking.
This last beef is something that might not bother everyone, but it made it a little hard for me to read the story: the grammar and punctuation. I found lots of mistakes, and those things just really take me out of the story. However, I don’t claim to be the world’s best grammarian or anything, so I really don’t think I can complain too much. And I do think that the plot and the action scenes really made up for a lot of the errors.
My rating for The Mayfair Moon by J.A. Redmerski:
Really it’s more like 3 3/4 stars. (I think I may need to rework my rating system since I keep giving ratings with half stars and quarter stars!) I would recommend this book to people who love YA paranormal stories, especially those who love werewolves.
Find it: Goodreads │ Amazon │ Barnes & Noble
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not compensated in any other way for this review.
J.A. Redmerski
May 2, 2012 at 1:11 pmThank you so much, Andrea, for taking the time to read and review THE MAYFAIR MOON! I'm glad you enjoyed it, despite the few things you didn't like. :-) *big hugs*
Andrea @ The Overstuffed Bookcase
May 2, 2012 at 9:20 pmYou're very welcome! I'll definitely be interested in reading the rest of the series!
Jessie Marie
May 2, 2012 at 1:27 pmDespite your hang-ups, I'm still adding this to my TBR. I cannot get enough of werewolf stories right now. After Shiver and then Hemlock, I want to read them ALL! Thanks for your awesome review. : )
Andrea @ The Overstuffed Bookcase
May 2, 2012 at 9:21 pmAw, thanks! And yeah, you should read it if you really like werewolves. Some great creepy werewolf stuff!
fakesteph
May 2, 2012 at 1:57 pmI love when you're not sure if a character is good or bad! Those are my favorite kinds of stories! And creepy… yes please! PS– I love your bonus points section!
Andrea @ The Overstuffed Bookcase
May 2, 2012 at 9:22 pmYes! I love it when you first think a character is just horrible and then you find out why they act the way they do and it just makes them so much more of a person – so complex and realistic!
Thanks, I love my bonus points too! I think I'll have to do that as often as I can! ;)
Andrea @ Cozy Up
May 2, 2012 at 4:00 pmThere are a lot of werewolf books out there, it is kind of a drawback that it reminded you of Twilight, it seems like a lot of books are going that route, and the insta-love thing definitely takes me away from books. It's just not believable. I'm happy to hear that you still enjoyed it despite those drawbacks though. Great review!
Andrea @ The Overstuffed Bookcase
May 2, 2012 at 9:27 pmThanks! Yeah, I'm not a very big fan of the insta-love. But this one definitely had enough great aspects to override that!
Kate@Midnight Book Girl
May 3, 2012 at 2:20 amThe title definitely caught my eye, simply because I'm a huge fan of the Mayfair witches from Anne Rice's The Witching Hour (although the sequels kind of suck, the first book is awesome!) so I was a bit disappointed that the book was about werewolves. Don't know if I'll get to this, but I won't say no if it falls in my lap!
Andrea @ The Overstuffed Bookcase
May 3, 2012 at 6:44 pmI need to read some Anne Rice someday… Thanks for reminding me – I'll add The Witching Hour to my TBR list!
Bittner
May 3, 2012 at 3:27 amOne of these days you are really going to have to let me in on the secret to your points system. Because from what I can tell, giving a million points simply for one Ian Somerhalder reference…seems a little slutty! I'm just saying…
Andrea @ The Overstuffed Bookcase
May 3, 2012 at 6:55 pmWell, there actually were a few Ian Somerhalder references. But as far as my bonus rating system goes – it's like Whose Line is it Anyway – everything's made up and the points don't matter. ;)
But my star-rating system for rating books is structured.
Kimberly @ On the Wings of Books
May 3, 2012 at 10:48 amI don't really like werewolves (or really any animal shifting) books so I probably won't read this book. However, I do really like the bonus points and you should totally do that more often! I also like how you manage to write such long reviews. I can't ever get mine to be that long!
Andrea @ The Overstuffed Bookcase
May 3, 2012 at 6:59 pmThanks! I'm really liking my bonus points too! (Even if Bittner thinks my bonus system doesn't make sense!) :P And sometimes I think my reviews are a bit too long – and I guess maybe they are for some people, but I just want to be as detailed as I can in my reviews, you know? So it's good to hear that someone enjoys my long reviews! ;)
Bengal Reads
May 6, 2012 at 12:18 amHmm… idk if I would like it because it reminded you of Twilight. But I love your review of it :D I love the set up up your reviews and you bonus points and rating system! Your reviews are so organized, I love it :D Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this book!!
Andrea @ The Overstuffed Bookcase
May 7, 2012 at 3:30 amAw, thanks! I'm really liking my bonus points section, too! Unfortunately not all books mention Ian Somerhalder or Harry Potter or things like that so not all books will get bonus points, but I hope to do it as much as I can!