Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Blood and Moonlight

I actually picked this book last year from my TBR jar, but I was in the height of my audiobooks, so much so that when I realized I had been carrying this around for a month without opening it I deleted it from my “currently reading”. Since I’ve finally relaxed with my audiobook addiction and I had finished my book club book and a book I just wanted to get over with because I knew it would be bad, I finally decided to try again.

With that said I’m not sure if my last two books were just that meh or bad to me that this one shone or if I just really really liked this a lot.

I was super scared I wouldn’t like it because the beginning was giving “meh” vibes and Catrin is so unbelievably stupid at times. Like when she realized who she was I had to put it down because I got so mad at her. It was about 50% through and I thought she had already pieced it together like way back in chapter five or something. It would’ve been one think if this book was third person, but this was first person so she was telling the story and explaining the Sun and Moon religions so her extremely delayed realization made no sense to me because she said it a few times, maybe not as blunt, but she said it.

At that point I considered stopping but continued on and I thought I knew who the killer was, then they said it was someone else and I was confused but went with it. When they tried blaming another later I knew that wasn’t it because it was too obvious and it went back to my original guess. Even though I was right I felt a lot of validation with it. But again, Catrin girl, the motives were so obvious why did he have to tell you?

Catrin didn’t even feel relatable, just dumb. Which fits for the setting, her being an orphan with limited education, and her age but come on.

Then the book was very exciting and I almost started crying from the bittersweet ending. Now I’m excited to eventually pick up book two and read it.

This book got a lot of feelings for me and to talk about the setting I did like it and I felt like the world building was flushed out and it was naturally done. I liked the relationship between all the characters, even if I didn’t understand why all the boys liked her.

The writing was well done and I didn’t feel like this was too young for me like most YA. It really felt like a good middle ground of YA and adult without the spice.

My only critic on the writing was that the chapters could’ve been combined. The chapters were very short, like 2-4 pages max and I think there were many that could’ve been combined to be one. I’m not saying the author needs dramatically long chapters, just not as many mini ones that cut off awkwardly.

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susanpevensie's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

a few things off my head rn:

— interesting world building. i loved the concept of light versus dark, sun versus moon worshipper. i’m a moon child after all.
— i liked the author’s writing style. kept me engaged.
— the fmc is great although, she is seventeen so i didn’t understand some stupid shit that she did.

for starter, hiding her knowledge about the key evidence because she wanted to protect magister thomas. i didn’t get it at all. wouldn’t it better to fess up early so he could be absolved of any wrongdoing? since she was so sure that he didn’t do it. i wish the story had properly established her relationship with magister thomas better because the whole time i couldn’t understand why she would go through all these hassles just to save him. we only got a one sentence explanation about how he was like a father to her but that’s it. idk.

also for the love of god, how did this kid manage to get not one, but three men vying for her attention? simon i could understand because their relationship did progress properly. remi well he was her childhood friend but lambert??? freaking lambert?? that was so random and felt like it was shoehorned there to make catrin the centerpiece because she’s the fmc lol.

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princessrory's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

I loved the medieval setting of this serial murder mystery! An orphan raised in an abbey, Catrin’s job as a teen is to inspect the scaffolding of the ever-evolving Sanctum, the house of worship of the sun. In a nearby community, ostracized moon-worshipers lead their lives at night. When an encounter with the moon sends her reeling, Cat finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation that will test her loyalties, and she just might fall in love along the way. With representation of mental illness and neurodiversity, this thrilling novel is full of twists, magic, and derring-do!

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