REVIEW: "Under Witch Moon" by Maria E. Schneider

When a giggly, nervous woman comes to Adriel asking for protection from a werewolf, Adriel thinks nothing of it. After all, she makes her living selling spells to the public. Sewing silver protection into a blouse isn't such a difficult job. But Adriel realizes it may not be so simple after all when that woman ends up dead, ripped apart by the very werewolf now staring straight at Adriel. Even worse, it turns out this isn't the first woman to have played with a werewolf and lost. As she tries to uncover the secret of these deaths, Adriel quickly realizes she may be playing with much more powerful magic than she ever imagined. She may be good at spells, but is she good enough to stop an evil witch with an evil plan and friends in high places?

A first installment in the Moon Shadow series by Maria E. Schneider, this paranormal mystery is an engaging, quick read. Wonderfully lighthearted, but solid in its structure, this story contains an interesting cast of characters. Adriel herself is a fun character- she's got some good skills and ideas, but needs a little boost sometimes to make them work. That boost comes in the form of Lynx and White Feather. Lynx, a young shapeshifter, is Adriel's link to new customers, and to information that helps Adriel do her job. White Feather is a mysterious connection who uses Adriel for information, but he's got a few secrets of his own. The main characters in this story have some nice characterization, but in the length of the novel, it could have gone a few steps further to help flesh out some of these characters. White Feather, in particular, could have used some additional meat to his story. He seems to have such a fascinating history and some more secrets to share. I really wanted to get to know him a bit more. Lynx and Adriel have some nice development, but I hope to find out more about their backstories as well in the next installment.

One of the things I loved about this novel was the explanation of all things "witchy." This world of spells has clear rules and structure, and the author does a delightful job of weaving that information into the storyline. The story flows along pretty well, with very few bumps along the way. There were a few times I took a quick look back to confirm an action or a character, or reread a passage to be sure I could visualize what just happened, but that was the exception rather than the rule. For the most part, the story flows along smoothly. I only noticed a few typos (two come to mind immediately: the first being a word that didn't quite make sense--"train" when I thought maybe "gain" would be more fitting, and the second was an apostrophe on a plural).

Overall, a fun read and a great start to a new series!

4 /5 stars

Available at Smashwords, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

(Check out my review of another book by this author, "Executive Lunch!")

REVIEW: "Executive Lunch" by Maria E. Schneider

Sedona thinks it's just another boring day at Strandfrost, as she goes about her normal activities. And it is a boring day....until she accidentally stumbles upon a mugging happening right there in the hallway! A six-inch switchblade, a shady director, some seedy characters sprinkled in, and suddenly Sedona is unwittingly thrown into the role of "bait" so management can solve a crime of embezzlement going on right under its nose.

"Executive Lunch" by Maria E. Schneider is a combination of a few of my favorite genres; it's chick lit with a little "cozy" thrown in. The main character, Sedona, is someone you can't help but like. She's reminiscent of some of our favorite hapless female heroines; accidental sleuths (with an edge) who somehow stumble right into the thick of things. She's joined by Huntington (whose motives initially seem unclear), Turbo (always there when you need him...well, except when you *really* need him), Marilyn (a bigger part of this than even she knows), and the rest of the interesting characters that make up this cast.

Although I liked the overall plot and I was eager to read to the ending, I have to admit to being confused by some of the transitions. I had to reread some action scenes to get a grasp on who was doing what, and  several times I was surprised to see a character start speaking when I had no clue that character was even in the vicinity. Upon looking back, I'd sometimes see that the character was introduced by not being introduced- in the excitement of the moment, Sedona recognized that body/face/shape/walk, and then we'd find out in the next chapter who it was because he or she would start speaking. I am all for tension building to end a chapter and I think it's a great technique to build suspense, but it seemed that a great deal of the moments in the story were introduced this way. After a quick-moving beginning, the story slowed down and sagged a bit in the middle, and I began to wonder if we were still heading in the direction I thought we were heading. It seemed to meander a bit before it picked up again, drawing me in once again.

Overall, I would recommend this story. It's a quick, fun read, and the characters are nicely developed, which makes them interesting. You look forward to seeing what they'll do next, and who they'll do it with. You want to follow them into their next adventure, which, luckily for us, is already available in the next story in the series, Executive Retention.

3.5 /5 stars

(This was a post published several reviews back-- through an accidental error on my part, it was inadvertently deleted and republished tonight. New book review coming soon!)