Publisher: Pocket Books
Publish Date: Dec 27th
How I got this book: From the Publisher
New from bestselling author Jude Deveraux, the first in an exciting trilogy set in Edilean, Virginia, focusing on three young women, best friends since college, and the lives, loves, and dreams that await them.
Sparks are flying between Jecca Layton and Dr. Tristan Aldredge. The only problem? Tris lives in a tiny town in Virginia, and Jecca has a great job and friends in the big city of New York. Can they survive the distance? And who will sacrifice the life they’ve created for themselves for the one that they love?
Filled with Deveraux’s trademark charm and masterful storytelling, Moonlight in the Morning is a well-crafted and impossible to put down romance, about a summer fling between a country boy and a city girl that has the potential to become something more – if only they lived in the same place.
I copied this blurb from the back of the print ARC provided by the publisher.
Once I discovered historical romances, one of my go-to authors was Jude Deveraux. After reading the four books in her Velvet series, which introduced the Montgomery family I proceeded to read everything I could find that involved the Montgomeries and the Taggerts, two families that intermingled through the years. As a result I followed Ms Deveraux from medieval times to almost present day with those two families. Then something happened, I am not sure what but I stopped reading new books by Ms Deveraux and stayed with my old favorites. When we were offered a chance to review Moonlight in the Morning and I saw the author’s name I leaped at the chance because I had such fond memories of her books from previous years.
I think in a way my familiarity with the Montgomery and Taggert families actually did Moonlight in the Morning a disservice in the beginning. Instead of starting with furious action and then slowing, this one started slower and built in intensity. Once I settled into the slower pace and got to know the characters I could feel Jecca’s frustration with her father and brother, her desire to become an artist, and her longtime crush on one of her best-friend’s older brother. Ms Deveraux also opened my eyes to how the actual “nice, romantic not alpha, extremely good looking guy” might feel when he can’t find his ONE but everyone blames him for leading on everyone he dates because he is nice.
I enjoyed watching the romance unfold between Jecca and Tris. Neither of them tried to hide who they were or their goals as they got to know each other. It was refreshing to see that instead of one trying to be what they think the other person will want. I also liked the lengths Tris went through trying to ensure that Jecca liked who he was (personality) instead of what most women fell for when they met him. They both cared for other people around them despite how family and close friends can support and also only view you through the lens they are accustomed to instead of the person you are trying to become.
As much as I enjoyed the interactions in Edilean, Virginia and watching Jecca and Tris grow together I do have some quibbles regarding the foreshadowing of the relationships in the upcoming books. The blurb mentions three best friends from college but the third girl, Sophie, was only mentioned as in dropping off the face of the earth after graduation. It seemed like she was mentioned only as a placeholder. The other thing that bothered me is that all of a sudden it was mentioned that Kim, Jecca’s best friend who grew up in Edilean, had a crush on a guy when she was 8 only he vanished and she wasn’t able to track him down again. Then at the very end of the book she mentions that she has found him. Those three elements did not have a smooth inclusion in the storyline and jarred me from my enjoyment. Given the painstaking build up in learning the different characters and my past experiences with Ms Deveraux’s writing I will admit I was expecting a much better introduction into the upcoming books.
I give Moonlight in the Morning a C+
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