Moon Child

Moon Child (By Blood, #2)
by Tracy E. Banghart

Published February 18, 2013

This book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Before Emma's adventures in Oxford, her best friend Diana came face-to-face with a killer...

Diana Calvert is so over high school. Who cares if Olivia hates her? And David needs to forget about having a crush on her STAT. Even Emma’s crazy fashion choices can’t keep Diana entertained. All she can hope for is a dance scholarship to a college as far away as possible from too-small, too-boring, too-nothing-ever-happens New Freedom, PA.

Then Diana meets Nicholas Woodhaven. He’s pale, angry…yet weirdly charming. The more time they spend together, the more she wonders who – or what – he really is. Because he isn’t anything like the other guys she knows. Not with the whole only-going-out-at-night thing. And living with his creepy aunt. And not going to school.

Just when Diana thinks she’s got Nicholas all figured out, people in her small, nothing-ever-happens town start dying. She has to wonder – can she trust him? And even more alarming – could she be next?

A murder mystery with a paranormal twist, Moon Child is best read under the covers with a flashlight...if you dare!

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While this is the second book in the series, it's not necessary to have read the first book before this one! In fact, since this book falls chronologically before the first book, some people may prefer to read this one first.

I have to say, I really liked Diana. I enjoyed the fact that she had much more of a healthy, typical family than so many characters in books - I found it rather refreshing. I say typical, but really the family has enough quirks to keep them interesting. . . .

Now, from the blurb, I'm guessing you jumped to the vampire conclusion. Well, it had been a while since I'd read the blurb when I picked up the book, so I got to the part where things were leaning in that direction. My response: Seriously, another vampire book? But then there was a fun twist that made it more interesting, and kept it from falling into the way-overdone same-ness that so many books these days have.

That said, I'm not big into spoilers, so I'm not going to say much more. I will say this: while Moon Child isn't one of my all-time favorite books (that list is very hard to crack into), it was interesting, and there's a decent chance I'll read it again. Ms. Banghart is a great storyteller, which means she could probably write a good book with any theme. I'm interested to see what she does next!

3.5/5 stars