Book Review: Under a Silent Moon by Elizabeth Haynes—and a Giveaway!

Under a Silent Moon
Elizabeth Haynes
Harper, April 2014
ISBN 978-0-06-227602-5
Hardcover
Also available in trade paperback and ebook

From the publisher—

In the crisp, early hours of an autumn morning, the police are called to investigate two cases . . .

A beautiful young woman has been found dead, her cottage drenched with blood.

A car with a woman’s body inside has been found at the bottom of a quarry pit, an apparent suicide.

As DCI Louisa Smith and her team gather evidence over the course of the next six days, they discover a shocking link between the two cases—a bond that sealed these women’s terrible fates one cold night, under a silent moon.

************

Recently, and still today, I’ve been dealing with some personal issues that have made reading difficult so I had trouble connecting with Under a Silent Moon at first. I’m glad I kept on, though, because I ended up enjoying it for the most part, enough that I plan to re-read it when I’m in a more receptive state of mind.

Multiple points of view can be confusing sometimes and I do think there were too many characters, some quite unnecessary to the story, but the author gave us a cast of characters that helped a good deal. The multiple POVs offered a broader look at things and I did like that; this style allows the reader to know more than any individual character and, while I wouldn’t want it in all books, it’s a nice change now and then.

Lou Smith has all the earmarks of a detective with some experience but thrust into her first major crime as a DCI. Some mistakes are made but she shows herself to be a contender and that her promotion was well-deserved. Her investigative techniques are valid and mostly successful; less successful are various personal relationships but the ending of this book leads me to think some of those issues will be resolved in the next one. Hopefully, those relationships will have more depth to them then.

On the whole, I did enjoy Under a Silent Moon and, as I mentioned before, I’ll be reading it again when I’m in a better frame of mind. I like Lou and want to spend more time with her.

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, March 2015.

************

Purchase Links:

             

************

About the Author

Elizabeth Haynes is a police intelligence analyst, a civilian role that involves determining patterns in offending and criminal behavior. Dark Tide is her second novel; rights to her first, Into the Darkest Corner, have been sold in twenty-five territories. Haynes lives in England in a village near Maidstone, Kent, with her husband and son.

Visit her at:

 

             

************

Follow the tour:

Wednesday, February 25th: I Wish I Lived in a Library

Thursday, February 26th: Dreams, Etc.

Monday, March 2nd: Wont to be Quilter

Tuesday, March 3rd: From the TBR Pile

Wednesday, March 4th: Vivacious Hobo

Thursday, March 5th: Buried Under Books

Tuesday, March 10th: Olduvai Reads

************

Leave a comment below to enter the drawing
for a very gently read hardcover copy of
Under a Silent Moon. The winning name will be
drawn on Sunday evening, March 8th.
Open to residents of the US and Canada.

************

Cover Reveal: Age of Blood by Shauna Granger

************
Title: Age of Blood
Series: Ash and Ruin Trilogy #3
Author: Shauna Granger
Publication Date: May 5, 2015
Genre: Post-apocalyptic

************

Synopsis

Hope is a dangerous thing, but powerful. Hope keeps
you going. Hope can keep you alive.

But hope can shatter your world.

Kat and Dylan have found a home, but the monsters are still out there.
The pox and plague still ravage the world. They have hope of finding a
vaccine, but their encampment isn’t equipped to develop it.

Dylan is still too weak from the pox to leave the encampment, so Kat
must decide between staying by his side and protecting her last remaining
family member as he leaves to find supplies. Separated for the first time
since they came together, Kat and Dylan will have to fight their own
battles to save what is left of their bloody world.

Kat will have to hold on to hope that she has anything
left to save and someone to come home to.

If she can survive.

************

Pre-order Links:

        

************

About the Author

Like so many other writers, Shauna grew up as an avid reader, but it was in high school that she realized she wanted to be a writer. She released the first installment of her Paranormal YA Series, The Elemental Series, Earth, on May 1, 2011 and has since released four sequels, with the series coming to an end with Spirit. In December of 2013 she released the first in her Paranormal Post-Apocalyptic trilogy (Ash And Ruin Trilogy), World of Ash. Be sure to also check out her newest series: The Matilda Kavanagh Novels about a spunky witch just trying to pay her rent in West Hollywood. Shauna is currently hard at work on one too many projects, trying to organize the many voices in her head. It’s a writer thing.

             

************

About the Cover Artist

Stephanie Mooney

I am a 25-year-old graphic designer, artist, and aspiring author currently living in Cincinnati, Ohio. I’m a renaissance girl — a lover of all things creative and artistic. From the moment I learned to use my hands, I was writing stories about princesses and sketching ballerinas. I guess I never really stopped.

Most of my training has been informal, and many of my skills are self taught. In 2006-07, I spent a year interning at a church in Louisiana where I worked in their art and design department. In July 2007, they hired me as one of their designers. I worked there for three years, gaining experience in graphic design, advertising, set building, event planning, and product design. From there, I began my career in freelance design.

Many of my clients are indie authors looking for affordable cover designs. I love working with authors and getting excited about their stories with them. I’m still building my web portfolio, but I really enjoy designing and developing websites as well.

Website  //  Twitter  //  Flickr

************

Book One: World of Ash

There are two inherent truths in the world: life as we know it is over, and monsters are real.

The Pestas came in the night, spreading their pox, a deadly plague that decimated the population. Kat, one of the unlucky few who survived, is determined to get to her last living relative and find shelter from the pox that continues to devastate the world. When it mutates and becomes airborne, Kat is desperate to avoid people because staying alone might be her only chance to stay alive.

That is, until she meets Dylan. Dylan, with his easy smile and dark, curly hair, has nowhere to go and no one to live for. He convinces Kat there can be safety in numbers, that they can watch out for each other. So the unlikely couple set off together through the barren wasteland to find a new life – if they can survive the roaming Pestas, bands of wild, gun-toting children, and piles of burning, pox-ridden bodies.

Barnes & Noble  // Kobo  //  Amazon  //  Goodreads

************

Book Two: Time of Ruin

Battered and bruised after barely escaping San Francisco with their lives, Kat, Dylan, and Blue press north – desperate to reach the possibility of a new home.

But strange, monstrous ravens are tracking the remaining survivors, food is becoming scarce, gasoline is running short, and people are becoming suicidal, making survival almost impossible.

And the Pestas are growing bolder. Somehow, their numbers are growing.

The further north they go, the harder it becomes to ignore the signs that they’ve made a fatal mistake. Kat must face the impossible truth that there is no escape, there is no safe haven, and their worst nightmares don’t come close to their new reality.

Barnes & Noble  //  Kobo  //  Amazon  //  Goodreads