The Moonstone Series by Marilee Brothers

Summary:

Imagine a teenage Sookie Stackhouse dealing not with vampires and shifters, but with psychic powers, prophecies, evil Trimarks, and her fairytale family tree -- in smalltown Washington State people think she's just a nobody and a geek; highschool is no fun. But then . . . her past, present and future collide in a destiny that takes her to other realms, and also sets her up to save the world right here. Fun, romantic, quirky and different, this YA fantasy series is a good read for young and mid-teen readers, but also for older teens and adults.
Four books in one special review set only for NetGalley members.

Reviewer: Fashionta
Moonstone
The first book Moonstone introduces us to Allie Emerson a freshman in high school who is the heroine of this series. What she doesn’t know is that she's part of a mystic prophecy and is the keeper of the light and a Star Seeker who hold the keeper of the light as the savior from their arch enemies the Trimarks.

I liked the concept of this series and the first book is an excellent example of how any young adult series should start off. It's not just a fantasy book that will be an ordinary light read. It’s interesting reading and it's hard to put the book down until the last page. The way the book is written and formatted added to the story and the characters, who personalities add to the magic of the book.

The character of Allie is interesting, she's more a young woman in some aspects while remaining childlike in others. Her mother Faye is basically a child, as she's immature and lazy. We get more insights from her then anyone and will become important in the next three books as we see both growing in different ways. The strong mothering figure is Kizzy, the one who is a descendent from the original twins of the Star Seekers and Trimark.

I have to give this book 3.5 stars because I don’t like how we are introduced to a number of young boys and their backgrounds. We don’t know who she's going to be with until she literally falls in to a relationship after a series of events. And Junior is much stronger character then her father Mike who is a fellow Star Seeker and should be seen as a more important character.

Moon Rise
The second book is Moon Rise and it starts a few months after the events of Moonstone. Things have changed and there are new problems. As we discovered in the previous book, Allie had telekinetic power but it's gone after the climatic events in first book. Now she's got a new set of problems and a hunky new pretend boyfriend named Beck, who is an half demon and a healer. Junior has disappeared to Mexico with his mother and hasn’t been heard from since.

I have to give 3 stars to this book. I was disappointed in the lack of action but it's still a great book. This one is more about the characters introduced in the first book and the new additional characters in this one. The author has tried to cover the loss of Junior in this novel but the antics of Faye is nothing new. Faye in this book tried to act more mature but in other areas is still lacking. In addition, I found another character to be too annoying, Miss Yeager. I know she was meant to be annoying but it was too over the top and the reason why Junior was still in Mexico sounds too much of a cliché. I wish could of given this story a higher rating but I feel it lacked the style the first book did.

Moon Spun
The third brings the simmering tensions from the previous two books. Junior's back and Beck healing another girl. Faye is her usually mess and has new boyfriend but that's nothing new. We do learn more about the family background of Allie. In the previous novel, we were introduced to her grandfather who's short scene left questions about her family. So the introduction of new male characters and a very minor character from the previous novel now upgraded to a important character give us the answers to these questions but I don’t get the three boys being interested in her. I would love to see just two boys fighting over her. The current boyfriend and Junior who's grown since we last saw in him person in book one. I have to give this book 3 stars.

Shadow Moon
So the secrets of the previous novel has lead to the events happening now, it's summer time and Allie has sorted her boy troubles but now we are on another journey to discover her other half. She has a twin and many questions will be answered in this novel and new ones as we take a journey into past and present as Allie tries to sort out her family and new friends. I may have said she sorted out her boy troubles but Junior has a different agenda and it clearly shows in this book. The introduction of Sam was a nice touch that I welcomed. It was good to see a female character that Allie could relate too because of their powers. I’m don’t have anything against the other girls in the series but they have been more secondary characters like Nicola, twin sister of Beck, or Mercedes her best friend who she talks about everything in her everyday life. I have to give this book 3.5 stars it’s an improvement from the previous two books.

Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Review Courtesy Of: NetGalley