Review: Light of the Moon by Luanne Rice

Light of the Moon
by Luanne Rice

Romance
496 pages
published: 2008
For: Live Dangerously Challenge
3 of 5 stars

While shopping with my family at the ever-popular Costco, I had a revelation as to how to start my living dangerously challenge. I always go through the movies at Costco, but rarely spend any time with the books unless I know something big is coming out. Why? Because that flat of books is everything I DON'T read. Those books are contemporary, popular books, written for adults! (And I don't mean popular with librarians, or with fellow writers, or with book reading friends, I mean popular with the masses.) Yes, I am a snob.

So I decided, while staring at the sea of literary pizzas, that I would pick one out and read it. *Gasp* I hesitated. Then I picked one up and read the back. *Bigger gasp* I put that down and read another back. And another. Then another. They were only getting worse! My shuddering became violent as I came to the end of the row where I encountered such authors as Grisham, whom I've successfully avoided all my life. I nearly failed at my resolve...but I staggered back to the beginning and picked up the first book I had looked at. I have to confess that my decision reflected both the fact that my family had moved on and I needed to hurry, and that fact that it was one of the cheapest.

Sidenote: My sweet husband didn't flinch one bit when I told him the strange book in the cart was for my dangerous challenge. :)

First, let me admit that I read this book and was entertained. I am a story sucker. I was also surprised and thrilled to find no swearing and no sex. I didn't know that was even possible these days. I enjoyed learning snippets about a different country and culture, and I enjoyed the info about the main character's career as an anthropologist who studied cave paintings. I cared about the characters and feel fortunate in my random selection.

That being said, this book was based on the whole "fly away to a romantic country to escape your problems and find your true love in the tiny foreign town." It has the obligatory "get rescued by hot cowboy on white horse" (literally) and the "we are so instantly and dramatically attracted to each other physically it is almost more than we can bear" elements. I guess that's what makes a good stirring romance? I admit I happily finished it. But I'm not going to be rereading it, remembering it long, or even keeping it. (Anyone want it?)

My only serious criticism is that I thought the whole thing a bit melodramatic. The love interest's problems just seemed a bit overdone. The main character's need to escape felt exaggerated considering that her problems weren't all the bad.

That's it. Enjoyable. Nothing special.

Recommended For: people who like that kind of thing, anyone wanting a momentary escape