Review--Vengeance Moon by Lee Roland

Madeline Corso can't rest until she hunts down the three unknown assailants who killed her father and witch mother. two of them are now dead by her hand. But the third eludes her while she serves time with the Sisters of Justice--a mysterious order of female warriors with ties to her mother.

The Sisters have tracked the last murderer to Duivel, Missouri, and the dark underworld of the Barrows. But Madeline's release is contingent on her fulfillment of a mission for the Sisters. Madeline doesn't question them, but once in the Barrows, she discovers that things aren't what they seem.

Can she rely on Michael, a handsome and enigmatic local businessman, to help her navigate a world of men and beasts? Or will she lose her heart before the mission is complete?

It' been way too long since I last read Viper Moon, the book that started Lee Roland's Earth Witches series. So I basically had no memory of what happened already. Luckily, Vengeance Moon stars new characters with a new storyline so that helped.

Although, I know our heroine from last time shows up, but other names that get tossed out, I cannot say one way or another if they are returning characters or newbies. One or two names might have held some familiarity, but I can't say for sure. The bane of reading too many series!

Anyway, this story was pretty good! A young woman out for vengeance for her parents who were brutally murdered when she was just a teenager. Her mother was a witch and when she touched her dead body, in farewell, a spell was cast onto Madeline. She was marked with white hair and blue eyes and a scar, they were the result of the curse that demanded vengeance for what was done. Madeline manages to track down two of the killers in time, but after killing the second one, she is caught and sent to prison. Shortly thereafter she is moved to the Sisters of Justice's place where she was trained to be an assassin of sorts.

Now an adult, I think it was twenty-six, Madeline is given another mission, one that will lead her to the third murderer so she can finally put an end to her quest for vengeance. She is sent to Duivel, Missouri to find an object that opens up the Portal. It's too powerful to be out there unprotected and it once had a protection system but another witch disrupted that.

Duivel is a very strange town, filled with creatures called the Drow and other powerful magic users and dark entities. Madeline is a very strong heroine, she was trained for fighting and killing, yet she has no magical powers of her own. She's immune to the effects of magic, a secret she holds close to her.

Vengeance Moon was quite the read! It was fast paced and exciting. Although at times I struggled to try to remember things that happened in the last book--and it likely wasn't necessary--I did enjoy this book. Michael, our heroine's love interest was quite mysterious! I think we saw him last time around since a reference was made by him to our previous heroine, but since it's been nearly 2 years I cannot say much for sure. But the man is very mysterious and has his own dark secrets! The romance was good, it wasn't all hot and heavy, but the sort of sweet build-up kind.

The action, as I said was awesome! Pretty nonstop as it went from tracking down the bad guy to learning new information to the case Madeline was also working on in conjunction to tracking down her family's last murderer. It's definitely a different kind of urban fantasy read, but it still makes for an entertaining read! I enjoy the different heroines that come into play each book, so it's like each book can be a standalone and the previous characters make an appearance. I am looking forward to seeing where this series is headed, since it's still early on, nothing in the long run seems to be clear. But the journey to that point is going to be filled with amazing reads, I can feel it!


Overall Rating 4/5 stars