Publisher: Pocket
Publish Date: Out Now!
How I got this book: ARC from publisher
They swore they’d be together forever
Detective Charlotte Caissie is suddenly sharing drawer space and making media news with her shape-shifter lover Max Savoie.
Knowing the reformed mobster is determined to be accepted by her peers, how can she ask him to return to his criminal roots to help her solve a complex case?
But those they trust the most . . .
Going undercover to find the vicious serial killer who kidnapped a colleague’s daughter, Cee Cee is caught between the partner whose integrity she relies on and her fiercely possessive lover. In calling on Max to use his preternatural talents to aide a hated enemy, she crosses a line that strains their relationship to its limits.
Will do anything to tear them apart.
With his secret spreading beyond those he can trust, Max is forced to make dangerous alliances to protect his family and his clan. The only certainty he has is his love for his human mate, until the loyalties that define them threaten to divide them forever.
*Blurb from Author’s site*
The fourth installment of the Moonlight series was my first read by Gideon, and hopefully not my last! For those of you like me who have yet to read a Gideon book, let me first recommend that you read the books in order.
Charlotte, New Orleans detective and Max, local shifter and mobster have decided to take their relationship public, and are facing a lot of hostile attitude from both sides of the law. But they are devoted to each other, so they are willing to fight for their chance to be together.
When a cop’s kid goes missing, Charlotte goes undercover to try and get any and every clue she can to find the young girl in time. With Max’s less than legal help, she just might be able to crack the case wide open. But the details of the case hit very close to home for both Max and Charlotte. Will they be able to solve the case without breaking the fragile mating bond that holds them together?
It was very obvious to me from page one that I was coming into this series in the middle, and while Gideon does a good job of explaining things up to this point, I felt that I probably would have had a better reading experience had I read all the books to date. That being said, I really enjoyed the world that Gideon created, and didn’t feel too left out or lost as I was reading.
I really enjoy Max’s character. He was the alpha male with a horrible and awful past. He is broody and tortured and yet so deeply in love with Charlotte he melted my heart. I felt for him at every twist and turn and wanted nothing more than to be there to help heal his heart. I hope that as the series continues on, Max is able to overcome all his demons. I want to see him step fully into the light of Charlotte’s world without the fear and worries. I definitely need to go back and get my Max fix from the previous books.
Charlotte didn’t resonate with me as much as Max, and I’m not too sure why. She was a typical kick-butt action chick who didn’t take anyone’s crap, had her own tortured past and demons, and was willing to walk the line between right and wrong when it came to her relationship with Max. At times I felt like she didn’t really struggle with his mobster imagine, even though she is on the police force. But that could be because she dealt with it fully in a previous book.
The action and plot were great as well. Gideon tells a great story and kept me guessing as to who the killer could be. I wasn’t completely surprised, but it did take me quite awhile to catch onto who our villain really was. I liked the dichotomy between Max and Charlotte’s friends on the police force. I hope that a lot of that tension and strain gets worked out, as it caused a lot of dissonance throughout the book.
All in all, Gideon wrote a wonderful story. The world-building and character developments were deep and complicated without being confusing. The relationship between Max and Charlotte was steady in it’s own messy way, and I always love series books that follow one couple through their relationship. I will definitely be on the lookout for the other books in this series – both past and future!
I give Bound by Moonlight a B+
