Ratings Overall: 10 Sensuality: 10 Paranormal Element: 10

This is a romance community Member Review

Review for Moon of Little Winter
Author: Margaret Marr
Date of Review: 05/06/03
Reviewed by: HAWK

Reviewer Comments: Chely Austin inherits a house in the NC woods from her grandfather. Strangely no one ever seemed to have lived in this house for all of the 20 years it has been sitting around. During one of her first nights in the house, intruder Ty Walker startles her. Ty, it turns out, is the neighbor’s grandson and he comes with an outrageous claim: half the house is built on his grandmother’s property. As the property lines are drawn up on an old-fashioned map with old-fashioned instructions the task of determining which part of the property is whose, becomes a bit more drawn out than one would expect. In the process many unforeseen things happen. First a set of bones is dug up, eventually becoming the first of several skeletons. The police investigation surrounding the bones interferes with Ty and Chely’s quest to determine the property lines, forcing them to stick it out together a little longer than they had anticipated. Both unattached and attractive the inevitable happens: they fall for each other fighting the growing enticement for different reasons. Chely has been hurt one too many times and does not desire to ever get hurt by a man again. Ty has a weighty secret: he is a male witch, his specialty being that he can shape-shift into a wolf. This has kept him from finding true love as he does not believe anyone could ever love him as such. Ty’s grandmother Mae Walker knows a terrible secret that involves both Ty and Chely as children. Both have forgotten what happened 20 years ago, but their return to this area stirs up paranormal events that Mae would rather not expose to anyone. What happened during the “Moon of little Winter” 20 years ago? Will Ty and Chely remember that they were once close friends, but a terrible accident brought a stop to it? And who is the woman in the red cloak, why is she after Chely and Ty? A chase of wolves through the woods, Chely’s cat acting as though he has a Jekyll and Hide personality, blue bottles with hair and fingernail clippings appearing and a hidden burning candle, the key element of a spell that might kill Chely all lead the reader through a world of witch craft divided into good and evil. In the end of the book it burns down to these two most important facts: Will Chely survive the horrifying spell that has been cast on her and will she then still be able to love a male witch?

This is not Margaret Marr’s first book, however it is her first in the paranormal genre. She chose to focus on witchcraft. Years ago in the TV show “Moonlighting” took many episodes jam-packed with sexual tension between Sybil Sheppard and Bruce Willis, before the viewers growing hunger for the real thing was satisfied. Marr’s fantastic way of teasing the reader about the relationship between her hero and heroine reminded me of that show. If it hadn’t been for the many distractions in my household full of demanding children, I would have read the book in one stretch. Every time I had to put it down I was irritated as Marr’s description of the growing attraction between Chely and Ty left me panting for relief. Ty’s unusual secret is not kept from the reader which added my constant wondering if he might accidentally shape into his beastly alter self, while longing for Chely. That, however, would take away from the surprising ending. Confusing at first the reader is confronted with little blue bottles, filled with fingernail clippings and hair strands; more and more skeletons of children get uncovered on the property and the intentions of the mysterious lady in the red cloak are not clearly good or evil. In the end, however, it all demands recognition from the reader as important factors that lead to solving the mystery of the strange events surrounding Chely’s house. The book is not about the legal glitch leading to a house being built across two properties. It is not even so much about Chely and Ty overcoming obstacles and finding true love again. The book is about one evil aspect of witchcraft and how it can be conquered with good. True Wiccans might feel a bit appalled by the course of the book as according to true Wicca no witch can cast a spell to hurt another being and no spell can be cast without the castees’ permission. This book is not intended to give the reader a good look into the real world. It is meant to be entertaining and as such there needs to be a conflict to resolve. How could the antagonist of a good witch not be an evil witch? How much fun and tension would there be? Whether I believe in witches or not, after reading this book one thing is for certain: I do not want to inherit a house in the woods. You never know!