Book 70, 2019

[chez_jae]

Marked by Moonlight by Sharie Kohler

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



At work yesterday, I finally managed to slog through the rest of Marked by Moonlight by Sharie Kohler. It's a paranormal romance, featuring newly-turned lycan Claire Morgan, and lycan hunter Gideon March.

After she's bitten by a stray dog, Claire is accosted by an intimidating stranger who claims the dog was actually a lycan--a werewolf. Claire thinks the man is crazy, and she really becomes alarmed when he begins following her around, telling her that she's changed and that on the next full moon, she will become a thing of nightmares and go on a killing rampage. Claire can't deny that she is changing. Her eyes are now silvery, she's grown bold and assertive, and her libido has sat up and taken notice.

Gideon knows he should have killed Claire that first night. After all, that's what hunters do. They cannot afford pity, remorse, compassion, or (god forbid) attraction for their targets. Claire, however, is making him break all the rules in a desperate bid to save her. If the Alpha of the lycan who bit her is killed before Claire changes for the first time and makes her first kill, she can be saved. It would help if Claire believed what he was telling her.

I used to enjoy paranormal romances far more than I do now. I also used to like those aggressive, he-man male leads. This story just made me want to punch Gideon in the face. Repeatedly. He literally begins stalking Claire, breaking into her apartment, kidnapping her, and (of course) using his big, manly body to cage, pin, and/or intimidate her at various points. This is what passes for romance?! Be still my heart. *gags*


- Gideon's sister, Kit, wanted to become a lycan hunter, too, but females are forbidden. Why? Because they menstruate, and lycans can smell that. Er, can't lycans basically smell everything much better? Can you say 'discrimination for the most (stupid) plausible reason we can come up with'?
- Lycans have no control whatsoever? How do they function in society the other 30 or so days a month?
- They have no soul because they've killed when they turn? Would God not forgive them for something they had no control over, so long as they were remorseful?
- Lycans only hunt humans? Why wouldn't they hunt large animals in addition to or instead of?
- They don't put themselves into voluntary lockdown to avoid murdering people?
- Female lycans are valued only for breeding purposes, while the males fight over them. Wow. And, of course, they go into 'heat' on the full moon and just let any male jump them. Yuck yuck yuck.
- Finally, Claire learned to discern when another lycan was around, even the ancient and powerful Darius, but Cyril-the-insipid didn't set off her lycan radar? Good grief.

Favorite line: It was something he felt, something he could not control. Like the beating of his heart.
I had to work to find something that I could quote here...

On its surface, the story was interesting and the writing was good, but Gideon was an asshole, and Claire was too stupid to just up and call the cops on him, basically because she found him attractive. And, this is how women get murdered. Sex scenes were hot, if you can get past the fighting-as-foreplay aspect. Twu wuv in one month was a bit difficult to swallow, too. Also odd was the complete turnaround in attitude that Claire's father exhibited.

Two stars for this dreck.