Moon Rise by Marilee Brothers

Title: Moon Rise
Author: Marilee Brothers
Release Date: July 22nd, 2009
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Pages: 254
Format: Electronic Copy
Acquired: Netgalley Special
Interest: Series
Others in the Series: Moonstone
Age Group: Young Adult

Her mom's still dating losers. Her boyfriend's gone back to Mexico. Dad still hasn't told his wife and kids that she exists. At school, the drama queens and bullies still rule. But worst of all for Allie Emerson--aka the Star Seeker of an old Gypsy prophecy--is that her powers have taken a hike. She can't read minds anymore. She can't move stuff just by looking at it. The other Star Seekers are counting on her psychic gifts more than ever, and the evil Tri-marks are closing in, eager to snatch her magic moonstone necklace while she's helpless. The hot new guy at school is ready and willing to fight her battles, but he comes with some wicked baggage. Dear Diary: I'm a little worried. My new BF is a demon. Welcome again to Allie Emerson's funny, scary, amazing, and always unpredictable life, as the girl voted least likely to save the world from evil.

The second book in the series and so far everything is as I expected.

Everything in Allie's life has somewhat returned back to normal now that her boyfriend returned to Mexico, her mom is acting like her mom, and aside from trying to get a little help, Allie's life is more or less back to normal.

Honestly, I don't know what to say about this book. It felt a little uninteresting, like there was very little point to it. Or at least that's how I felt when I first started it.

There are some new kids on the block, who come with their own secrets and powers. More details are revealed about the prophesy that surrounds Allie.

Familiar faces return and new ones show up, and the Star Seeker and Tri-marks return to hassle Allie.

There really isn't much to say about this book that I won't reveal a little bit of the other ones as well. What I can share are some of my general feelings, which is simply indifference. For some reason I don't feel much connection with the character or the book. This is drastically different then the first book, which is why this book got a lower rating. Sometimes I wonder if Allie could just step outside of herself for a minute and see herself in true light, or at least what I think is true light. Maybe it's just my growing dislike towards her, but there are moments I have to wonder.

With some of these characters I feel like they are very plain. The bad guys try to be bad and a mystery and suspense tries to develop, but I feel like it just falls short of what is given. The way the other two books pan out isn't as great either, which makes me wonder how I even finished them all.

A simple, paranormal read that I don't feel has much body or anything to it, but at least the author, in a lot of ways, is trying, which is evident in the books.

In a lot of ways this book can either be someone's favorite cup of tea or not, depending how you take to Allie's character, which isn't very creative or whole, but...plain.

I would say go to the library for these books, they are not really worth the money.

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.