With a stunning cover and captivating synopsis, I was really looking forward to Moonblood by Jade Ambrosia. I was excited for a werewolf romance and a retelling of Selene and Endymion. Unfortunately, this left a lot to be desired. I couldn’t find much, if anything, of the myth and the story itself needed a lot of refining.
Pacing was one of the major issues I had while reading. The first quarter felt so incredibly slow. It was as though I was being told a story instead of experiencing it. It didn’t flow. Then, we start getting into the romance and things start feeling natural, but it’s constantly interrupted with this secondary plot. They never seem to mesh which makes this feel like two books forced into one. Alecks’ plot to find out who killed his father (not a spoiler, literally happens on the first page) is shortchanged and devoid of emotion or tension due to the constant switching of storyline focus. When we get to the climactic battle, it fizzled. The build-up to caring wasn’t there. The bad guy felt like just a name.
The romance was a strong positive factor. Alecks fell hard for Selena and worked to woo her. It did feel a bit like instalove, but that’s to be expected for fated mates. Selena’s character need a lot more work and depth to connect with. Considering there’s a second book that focuses on Selena, it makes sense that she was kept pretty vague. The spice was okay but I didn’t really get the primal play in it (at least not compared to other romances.)
I think Moonblood by Jade Ambrosia has a lot of potential and there are kernels of great ideas there. Unfortunately, the execution faltered a bit. Maybe with a stronger editor that can help streamline the story this would be amazing, but as it, I would say this is a pass.
