This is the first book in the Moonstone Bay series by Amanda M. Lee and is a paranormal, cozy mystery set on the island of Moonstone Bay. It was first published 2017 and I listened to the audiobook narrated by Angel Clark. A overall good narrator though she kind of missed the mark on some of the more sarcastic dialog which just came across as bland or screamy. The male characters all sounded the same as well so I missed who was who sometimes but that can also has to do with the male characters being pretty much the same.
Now, the story starts with our main character, Hadley Hunter, coming to Moonstone Bay for her inheritance from a grandmother she didn’t even known existed. Well there she not only learns that most of her new neighbours is supernatural, she is as well along with her grandmother being murdered. It becomes worse when she seem to be the next target and she has no idea to why.
Now, there are four characters that is in the focus. Hadley, of course, is one of them. She is the sarcastic, hysterical one who is mostly there to be a damsel in distress. We have the bubbly new friend who is mostly there to gossip and ask her if she has gotten laid yet. Then we have Galen (sorry if I didn’t spell that right) who is the sheriff and the main love interest, mostly just described as a hunk with abs, and Booker, who is mostly just a misogynistic hunk with abs.
All of the characters fall under stereotypes and it becomes even worse by bad dialog and one dimensional characters who becomes even more nonsensical when the author tries to force in a joke that makes no sense for a character. An example of this is when Hadley is attacked by a man with an axe at night. Galen comes in and ask if she is okay and she starts shouting about her bedhair. First time it was funny, then it just became nonsensical as there is no one someone would ignore almost being murdered because she is afraid to show her unruly hair.
Another thing is dragged out plot points. It took almost half the book with Hadley going back and forth about believing in the supernatural. That is too long to keep the readers interest, especially since forcing this is put the murder mystery on halt. It simply didn’t balance the supernatural with the murder mystery well.
In this case, I think it would have been better with starting off small. The first book should have just focused on the supernatural and the mystery should be why the grandmother never contacted her. The second book could have been about the murder. Instead, the book tried to be too much and failing on all accounts.
I also had a problem with some of the writing. It felt like it was written by a teenager in that it was simplistic. For example, Hadley thinks she slept with Galen and some other girl get’s jelaous and calls her a slut. That is childish. Now it might just have been that girl being written as childish but every other characters do the same so if not all the characters are childish in this story it’s a problem with the writing. Another thing is how the guys is written in this story. It’s very much from a woman’s perspective in that she believes that every man is just thinking about sex and is unnecessarily “buff”.
Then again, the book itself seems strangely sexist as well, throwing in women only thinking about appearances, having cat fights over boys, and being unable to do anything other than put themselves in danger. I mean, in one point of the story Hadley is pretty much told that the murder is coming and when a person shows up, she can’t put it together.
That is also something I would warn against. This is labeled as a cozy mystery but the mystery is pretty much just introduced at the start, barely explored and the answer is spelled out at the end while the main character won’t even think about it. There are also some plot holes, such as (spoilers) the murderer apparently trying to find something in Hadley house. Considering their motivation, it was most likely the deed but what could they possibly to with it? I doubt some random person showing a deed to a murder victims house would look good. This incident is never explained and just ignored.
So, is there anything good? The concept is fine. The thought of a girl coming to an island filled with supernatural beings and explore her witch ancestry is interesting. The mystery could work if some of her gift might be connected to solving that mystery, such as only she can communicate with the dead, or she has the ability to see the past when touching an object. Here it feels like the author pressed in too much, not really focusing on anything which harms the book in the long run.
All in all, it was okay but had a rough start. I wasn’t horribly offended by it but I cannot say it was well written. I would give it a 3 out of 10, maybe a 4 if I was kinder but it just was a mess. A bad introduction to a magical world filled with potential, to flat characters who was forced to act unnatural for the author to tell jokes or have sexist dialog. I couldn’t enjoy it and I cannot see others doing it either. But what do I know, most seem to have given it the highest rating so maybe I just have high standards.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
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