BENEATH A DARKENING MOON by Keri Arthur

Beneath a Darkening Moon
Keri Arthur

Rating: A+
Synopsis:
Keri Arthur, the New York Times bestselling author of the Riley Jenson Guardian series, returns to the Ripple Creek werewolf reservation of Beneath a Rising Moon—where the past has come back with a vengeance to haunt a beautiful ranger.
 
Savannah Grant still harbors deep secrets and carries emotional scars from a love affair gone bad many years ago. She has tried to bury her heartbreak in her job as chief ranger of the Ripple Creek werewolf reservation. But now someone is murdering humans on her turf, and the pattern matches a series of deaths she witnessed a decade ago: the same year that she met—and lost—the love of her life.
 
The murderer seems to have risen from the grave. Then Savannah’s old love appears. Cade Jones is an Interspecies Investigation Squad officer, determined to catch the killer he let slip through his grasp once before—in part because of a bewitching young werewolf. Now, as moon heat reignites their desire for each other, Savannah and Cade are forced to come to terms with long-buried secrets—not only to stop a monster from killing again . . . but to give their promise to the moon one more chance.

My thoughts on the book:
I absolutely adored the first book in this series, but Beneath a Darkening Moon completely blew me away! I could not put this book down. I was up until 6am finishing it. Arthur is a fantastic writer, and her characters are believable. The narration is split between Savannah and Cade, and it works well. I liked seeing what each of them was thinking. The murder mystery really added to the suspense of the novel, and I had to figure out what, exactly, was going on. This is one book, and series, that can't be missed!

Savannah is a flawed, but wonderful leading lady. I really enjoyed reading things from her perspective. She has some trust issues, but her character evolves nicely over the course of the novel. She's not clingy and dependent on men, and I liked that. Cade is swoon-worthy, of course, and a great love interest for Savannah. He, too, is incredibly flawed, and sometimes I wanted to smack him. However, his heart was in the right place, and he really grew on me as the novel progressed. 

The plots, both romantic and mystery, were seamlessly interwoven. Arthur kept me guessing, but all of the events made sense. Between wanting to know who was really involved in the murders and wanting to know what was going to happen between Savannah and Cade, I couldn't put this book down. The pacing is super fast, but nothing feels rushed. The ending wrapped everything up nicely. The writing was top-notch. I have no complaints about this novel. 

Overall, I'd recommend this book, series, and author to everyone. If you want a sweet and steamy romance mixed with an edge-of-your-seat murder mystery, then look no further than Beneath a Darkening Moon. 

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