The Hunter's Moon

Faeries. Ireland. Quests. Sacrifice. All good stuff. All in O.R. Melling's The Hunter's Moon.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):
The Hunter's Moon, follows two cousins, Gwen and Findabhair, as they backpack around Ireland in search of the country's magical past. When she arrives in Ireland to visit her cousin Findabhair, American Gwen expects a fun backpacking trip to sites of the fairy lore they're both fascinated with. What neither cousin knows is that it's the summer of the Hunter's Moon, a dangerous time for mortals to meddle in the kingdom of Faerie. The girls camp out, and deep in the night Finn is kidnapped by the handsome Faerie king! In Gwen's quest to save her cousin, across beautifully evoked settings of modern-day and mystical Ireland, the spunky heroine's biggest challenge may be convincing Finn she needs to be saved!

We know how much I dislike insta-love between beautiful people one of whom is magically powered in some way the other the only mortal girl who can make him abandon his bad boy supernatural ways to worship forever at her feet. Vampire. Werewolf. Faerie. Don't care. I was really nervous at first this was going to be one of those stories. But it wasn't. YAY! Except really it was, but the reader is far removed from those shenanigans as the story actually follows said mortal girl's cousin who has a great deal of sense (and is more inclined to fall for kings of the human variety), and who realizes that not all is on the up and up with his beautiful Faerie King and his court of giddy revelry. Gwen is determined to "rescue" her cousin from the clutches of the Fae who have her ensnared and as a result pits herself against the wits of the King of Faerie. He is playing a game far more dangerous than she realizes though and things go from complicated to more complicated quickly. The story has Gwen running all over Ireland in a race against time. As a result Ireland seemed more the main character of this story. The setting is beautifully and vividly described, and the way Melling wove Celtic legend through the plot made it all the more tangible. It is a fast paced and action packed read that sped up my journey during a Saturday road trip immensely. That being said, I wasn't a big fan of the end. It felt rushed and rather pointless. I did enjoy the writing enough that I will be looking for the sequels.

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