Blood Moon by M. J. O'Shea - 2.5/5
Summary from Goodreads:
There’s something different about Noah…. Zack Parker met his best friend Noah at his lake cabin when they were only five years old. He realized he felt more than friendship for him by the time they were in junior high school. One fateful night when they were eighteen Zack couldn’t take it anymore. Fueled by love and lust and need, he finally kissed Noah like he’d wanted to for years…and Noah kissed him back, returning every drop of Zack’s passion. The next morning, Noah ended their friendship for what Zack believed was forever. Now twenty-one, Zack resents being dragged by his guilt-tripping mother every summer back to the lake cabin where every leaf and rock and turn in the road reminds him of Noah and the love he felt for him three long years before. He hates being reminded of what he lost and more than anything he wants his best friend back. But this year things are different. Noah has returned, apologetic and more gorgeous than ever. Amazingly, he seems to want Zack as much as Zack wants him. He’s sweet and attentive, sexy enough to make Zack’s thighs quiver, but there’s something not quite right… What secret is Noah hiding?
Review:
*** I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. ***
Zack Parker has a problem. His parents are forcing him to leave the city in order to go on vacation to his family’s cabin for the summer. He’s reluctant because his best friend/first crush, Noah, will be there, and last time he spent time with Noah, things didn’t end so well.
Zack spends a few days at the cabin before he runs into Noah. They begin talking again, and everything seems good until Zack realizes that Noah has a secret — he’s a vampire!
Okay, so to begin, I have to say I probably would have enjoyed this more when I was young. I used to love vampires (didn’t everybody go through that phase?) and think that they were absolutely the best mythical creature EVER. I’ve since distanced myself from said vampires, and it’s been a welcome change. That being said, the vampires weren’t what turned me off of this novel… it was the poor timing.
I so wish Zack and Noah would have danced around awkwardly a bit more before Noah spilled his guts about the whole family business/vampire dilemma. It happened so quickly! Zack’s near-instant acceptance of Noah’s vampire-ness was also a bit strange. He’s way too chill about the fact that the love of his pre-pubescent life is a blood-sucking hellion. In fact, his biggest concern is his jealousy over Noah hanging out at blood bars to get his nightly fix.
I wasn’t a fan of Zack’s instant request to be turned into a vampire — I get that he’s young (17) and dumb, but holy cow, it happened so quickly! Noah’s acceptance of his request bothered me even more, even if he refused to turn him right away. It was like they didn’t even consider any of their options — how would such a big decision affect the rest of their undead lives? They don’t know because they didn’t bother thinking about it. -.-
Beyond those weird aspects of this novel, it wasn’t actually bad. I enjoyed pieces of it. I think the plot was alright — just too fast. As this is a first novel, I would have liked the beginning to be more drawn out — honestly, I could have handled an entire book about Zack and Noah becoming reacquainted before Noah dropped the vamp bomb. I thought they were a cute couple, but I wanted more backstory and more build up before the big shebang.
I’d be interested in seeing where this series goes, and I appreciated the LGBT+ representation.
