Moonlight - Rachel Hawthorne

I see him and know what this turmoil inside of me means: He's the one. My forever.

KAYLA is the nature lover, the all-American beauty who can't understand why she's so drawn to distant, brooding Lucas. Adopted as a young child, she has no way of knowing that she's inherited a terrifying--and thrilling--gene that will change her life forever.
LUCAS is dangerous, gorgeous . . . and a werewolf. As leader of the Dark Guardians, shape-shifters who gather deep within the state park, he has sworn to protect his pack. But when Lucas finds his true soul mate, his love could put them all in harm's way.
As Lucas and Kayla struggle with their feelings for each other, a greater danger lurks: Humans have discovered the Dark Guardians and are planning their destruction. Kayla must choose between the life she knows and the love she feels certain is her destiny.

Title: Moonlight (A Dark Guardian Novel)
Author: Rachel Hawthorne
Genre: Young Adult, Werewolves
Publisher: HarperTeen (An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers)
My Rating: 4/5


I liked this book, but I found that the synopsis was somewhat misleading. I would have found the story more believable if Kayla and Lucas actually talked to each other more in the first half of the book, and spent time together more so than having "unsettled feelings" whenever they saw each other. The second half of the book sees them interacting more when Kayla finds out that Lucas is a werewolf. I am glad that this is a series though, because I found that the crisis with the "scientists" was a bit weak, and I hope that this storyline is developed further.

I don't agree that this is a "spin-off" of the Twilight series. Granted, I've only read the first book in that series so far, but I find it hard to believe that all of these books are supposed to emulate Twilight. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy reading Twilight, I just don't see what the big deal was with that particular book. There have been werewolf books, and vampire books long before Twilight ever graced the bookshelves, and there will be long after the hype dies down. Therefore, I think it is unfair to base all books against one book that happened to be in the right place, at the right time. (Just my $0.02 worth.)

All in all, I did enjoy this book, and I will be reading the rest of the series. I hope that the storyline is flushed out a bit more, but otherwise it was a great read.

This book counts toward the 2010 100+ Reading Challenge over at J. Kaye's book blog.