Moonstone by Marilee Brothers

Title: Moonstone
Author: Marilee Brothers
Release Date: August 1st, 2008
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Pages: 236
Format: Electronic Copy
Acquired: Netgalley Special
Interest: Series
Age Group: Young Adult

A sickly mom. A tiny house trailer. High school bullies and snarky drama queens. Bad-guy dudes with charming smiles. Allie has problems. And then there's that whole thing about fulfilling a magical prophecy and saving the world from evil. Geez. Welcome to the sad, funny, sometimes-scary world of fifteen-year-old Allie Emerson, who's struggling to keep her and her mom's act together in the small-town world of Peacock Flats, Washington. An electrical zap from a TV antenna sets off Allie's weird psychic powers. The next thing she knows she's being visited by a hippy-dippy guardian angel, and then her mysterious neighbor, the town "witch," gives her an incredible moonstone pendant that has powers only a good-hearted "Star Seeker" is meant to command. "Who, me?" is Allie's first reaction. But as sinister events begin to unfold, Allie realizes she's got a destiny to live up to. If she can just survive everyday life, in the meantime

I wasn't sure how to set up this review, since four books in the series came to me as a Netgalley special offer for the reviewers. Finally, I just decided to do each book separately and put it together on Netgalley as a very long review.

Now, for the review. I didn't find Allie the most remarkable character in the world, and the beginning had me a little confused. I kept wondering just what was going on, and that alone almost made me want to stop reading it and just give it one star. But, just when I thought there was no hope the story actually picked up a little.

It became very suspenseful and there was a lot that was going on. I would get a little lost here and there, but the story at least, for the most part, kept it together. It didn't disappoint in the way that it lived down to my expectations; in fact, it went exactly how I thought it would go. It would be a little predictive here and there.

The story starts with Allie, a young fifteen year old girl who discovers she has powers. When she's given a moonstone necklace everything in her world turns upside down, and a series of events occur.

For the most part, the characters were very well developed and I couldn't help but like the way things between Allie and Junior were going. I was let down by the way things went down between the two. I am a little excited to see the way the rest of the series developed.

Aside from the powers, Allie is a very real character. She's a poor girl who isn't very popular at her school, and on top of that she has a crush on her step-cousin (no relation whatsoever) and reader's went along with the characters very smoothly, so it didn't feel like the novel was being rushed at all.

I would recommend this book for sure. It was well written and for the most part, held me captive. It was a great start to the rest of the series.