Review: Under the Moon by Natalie J. Damschroder

Title: Under the Moon (Goddess Rising, Book 1)
Author: Natalie J. Damschroder
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Heat Index: 2 out of 5
Release Date: December 6th, 2011
Word/Page Count: 300 pages
Format: NetGalley

Their power gives them strength...and makes them targets.

Quinn Caldwell is the epitome of a modern goddess. Her power source is the moon, her abilities restricted only by physical resources and lunar phase. She runs a consulting business and her father's bar, serves on the board of the ancient Society for Goddess Education and Defense, and yearns for Nick Jarrett, professional goddess protector and the soul mate she can never have.

But someone has developed the rare and difficult ability to drain a goddess of her powers, and Quinn is a target. With the world thinking Nick has gone rogue (whatever that means) and that Quinn is influenced by "family ties" she didn't know she had, keeping themselves safe while working to find the enemy proves harder each day.

But not as hard as denying their hearts...

The copy of Under the Moon I am reviewing is a NetGalley copy, so some issues may be resolved in the final edition.

I waffled between 3 and 4 stars for this book. On the grading system, I'll still waffle between a C+ and a B-. Maybe I'm feeling generous because my first book of 2012 was a DNF and I was just pleased I could actually make it to the end of this one. Either way, it was definitely readable, but had a few possible issues.

Quinn is a "goddess." Note quotation marks and lowercase-g. In this storyverse, there are women called 'goddesses,' who are born with magical powers. Said magical powers don't really reveal themselves until the woman is 21. Then they're focused on something - some goddesses get their power from the ocean, some from the wind, fire, crystals, etc. Quinn gets her power from the moon. Well, the full moon. Which is problematic in that when the moon wanes, she becomes "normal." Oh, and also, she has to have sex to recharge her batteries or the moon powers drain her more, or something like that.

The problem I had with this setup is that, despite the little brochure-excerpts placed at the beginning of each chapter, the whole 'goddess' thing seemed kind of loosey goosey. I am NOT a reader who's big on tons of backstory or logistics. Yet I felt like this story needed some of that to tighten things up. Also, the entire "goddess" thing felt a little ridiculous and pretentious. Maybe that was intentional, though. I never saw anything that struck me as mythic or deity-like, and I found myself annoyed that they're calling themselves goddesses when they're really just witches. I know - that's probably a little ridiculous on my part, too, but I couldn't shake it off.

As the story went along, I also started to get a tiny bit of a marysue vibe from Quinn. At the story's end, with her newly acquired super-powers, that feeling really increased. This might actually be due to the fact that the whole story was 3rd person narrative but only from Quinn's POV. I totally respect that, but combined with the loose plot feeling, I just wasn't sure.

However, it's definitely a readable story. I usually like a little more romance, but all of the action in Under the Moon kept me reading and was paced really well. The romantic resolution felt a little bit rushed at the end, but not enough to really detract from things.

I think maybe the problem I'm having with grading this book is that it can't seem to decide if it's going to be a paranormal romance, or an urban-paranormal with romantic elements. I think Ms. Damschroder is clearly a competent enough writer with a good idea here, that it would be fine either way. But maybe that uncertainty is what led to the feeling that Under the Moon needed a little bit more tightening up.

Still, I'd recommend it based on the pacing and action alone. I'll be interested in the rest of the series.