Book Review: Leopard Moon by Jeanette Battista

Okay, so this book technically wasn't on my 'to read' list but it was $1.04 on Barnes and Noble and I just couldn't pass it up. I found this book on Goodreads a while back. It was apart of a list on Goodreads that used the same stock photos... This one shared a cover with Fallen, the book that has caused me to turn away from Fallen Angels in the Paranormal/Supernatural genre.

So I've been on a kinda big paranormal kick lately. Maybe it's my insane need to go back to writing Promise... Anyway, for those of you who haven't heard to Leopard Moon--which may be a lot of you, I hadn't heard of it before stumbling upon it--here's the blurb according to Goodreads:

"How do you disappear when you come from a family of predators? 

Kess, a wereleopard, is forced to flee her home and family in Miami once her brother’s obsession with her turns violent. Running from the investigators her family has dispatched to bring her home, Kess ends up in the mountains of North Carolina. Once there, she attracts the attention of Cormac, a young man with a secret of his own. As she attempts to live as normal a life as her were-nature allows, her brother Sek continues to hunt for her. He believes she is the key to revitalizing their weakened clan and is driven to extreme measures to ensure their continued existence. As Kess’ relationship with Cormac deepens, Sek closes in, threatening Cormac’s life and Kess’ freedom.

When the moon rises, the hunt is on…"

What drew me into this book at first--aside from the blurb and re-gift cover--was the fact that it was about were-animals. If werewolves were real, I'd probably try to become one. They're my favourite supernatural creature :3. I liked that Ms. Battista included other therianthropes into her world. Most paranormal novels with werewolf characters are WEREWOLVES. The one other exception to this was the Nightshade series and you didn't know about other were-animals until books two and three.

I really enjoyed the characters. Kess, our lead, wasn't some whiny little bitch all the time. Yes, she had a few pussy moments but her brother Sekhmet was a crazy mother. I liked that Kess wasn't perfect. At first, I thought she was with how Battista explained that she was: A. pretty (though not all Mary Sues are described as 'pretty'), B. hired for being pretty (then explained that she was a decent waitress) and C. instantly there were guys fawning over her (Cormac, our main love interest, and his self-proclaimed-ladies-man of a cousin, Finn). Now, I liked that there were only TWO guys instead of like a few other YA novels where the whole male cast/student body are dropping their significant others of varying lengths to contest against one another for the attention of this stereotypical damsel.

On to my now favourite male lead: Cormac. He was actually a GUY. I know what you're thinking: "Ali, of course he's a guy... He's got the whole shabang." What I mean by 'he's a guy' is that he doesn't think with his d-piece. A lot of male romantic interests in YA are all macho and are either complete jerks to the MC or are sulky guys who try to drive the MC away in order to 'prevent from hurting her.' (the latter of which is complete bull and a waste of a girl's time trying to persuade him that the relationship is totally worth it.) Cormac gently nudged Kess into going out with him and they certainly hit it off. But Kess's inability to date due to her psychotic brother was constantly in the way.

Which brings me to my next topic: Sekhmet. I have a character similar to Sek (her name is Elena). They both have this sick obsession with their sibling (though Sek's love has always been unrequited where as Elena's hasn't until recently), they're both twenty steps past crazy and are both villains in a way. I liked that Battista hinted at what happened between Kess and Sek in the beginning and explained it later.

Now that I've finished gushing over a few of the main characters, time for the plot. Basically, the first half is Kess running from her psychotic brother who is hell bent on doing things to her that are as far from accepted today as one can get and the second half is Kess finally breaking out of the cage she locked herself in for the past few years to not only start a relationship with a great guy (who reminds me of my boyfriend sans the age gap) but to put her brother in his place. She not only conquered Sek but she conquered her fear OF Sek AND developed into a character I can wholeheartedly wish mine would become within the course of the novel. Not many YA authors do get that in a single book, opting for a series if at all.

Like my last book review, I stayed with the Goodreads rating system of ______ out of five stars. For Leopard Moon, I'll rate it four and a half out of five. Now, I'm sure you're asking "why only four and a half with all the raving of characters AND the plot line?" It's the cover.

Though I think it's quite pretty and it was one of the many things that drew me in, I was more than disappointed with it. Within the novel, Battista explains that a wereleopard (which is what Kess is) is strongest at a new moon, the moon on the cover is full. I know that's not much of an issue but out of all the people who make covers, I wish they used a stock photo that wasn't used for my least favourite (and what initially turned me away from paranormal fiction with angels) book.