Title: Changeling Moon
Series: Changeling
Book Number: 1
Author: Dani Harper
Genre: Fiction - Supernatural Romance
Finished: June 15, 2011
Zoe Tyler is an editor with a unique gift that allows her to see things happening in her head. Desperate to start a new life far from her reputation and the stresses of the city, Zoey moves to a small Canadian town where she becomes editor for a tiny local newspaper. All is well until one night Zoey is attacked by a wolf, a werewolf. Enter Connor Macleod, veterinarian and werewolf, who rescues her, though not before Zoey is bitten. It is love at first sight, at least for Connor, who makes it his mission to ensure that Zoey does not become a werewolf. Problem is, her sire is insane and set to destroy the local wolf pack, which he has chosen not to join. The sire is out for blood, killing man and human without hesitation. He also wants Zoey. It’s a dangerous situation for wolf and human alike. Yet, even among the life threatening drama, there is still time for love to grow between Zoey and Connor. Dani Harper clearly knows her way around a word. She has a very clean but elaborate writing style that is both entertaining and accessible. Her book does not falter or linger too long in drawn out description, though it certainly does not lack in detail.
Unlike those who just seem to have just gotten lucky publising their books, Dani Harper clearly has a natural writing talent, so she well deserves the praise she receives. I will admit that romance is not my cup of tea or preferred genre. As a result, I tend to be a bit harder on it than romance genre fans. Problem is, I think that most romance tends to be contrived and fails to convince me. It is almost formulaic the way a perfect, rugged, handsome loner (or playboy) falls in love with an equally perfect but firey woman who is certainly the first to resist his charms or fight against his possessive/protective/etc nature. And of course, when they have sex, lightening sparks behind her eyes and she has screaming orgasms that leave her shaking. Sound familiar? I bet it does. Because it’s probably somewhat or in part true for 95% of the romance books you’ve ever read. And it to me, it all feels very forced. What was the point of the above rant? Because if I were to pin the one part of the book that I disliked, it was because it fit the formulaic and forced romance model outlined above. Because, as I said, I just do not like romance as it all seems to be like the above and I want something new, something real, something full of complications. Something about discovery, not love at first site with cookie cutter personalities. This is not meant to insult the book because I am sure romance fans would love it.
So you may be asking yourself: do I like the book? And the answer to that would be a definite yes. Here is why: because Dani Harper has created a believable preternatural world. I respect anyone who can approach an unexplainable situation and say simply, “this is how it is and we don’t know why” such as Connor did when he explained how during the shift their present clothes seem to fall into an invisible third dimension that return as soon as the shifter turns back into a human. Why? Because I think people over think things and sometimes fail to see that sometimes some of the best things are the things we cannot possibly answer. The world of the hidden wolf and normal human was also very believable. I also liked how Dani threw in her own little invention of silver suppressing the change as a way to control those who lack proper control. As a story of a supernatural world, I very much enjoyed reading Changeling Moon. The reader is neither flooded with a complex supernatural world, nor confronted with something that is impossible to believe or simplistic. Dani Harper fuses the natural and supernatural worlds together with flawless ease, and in that way convinces me that there just may indeed be hot werewolves veterinarians with a small auditorium full of brothers and a quaint, quiet farm out there.
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