Vicious Moon (Earth Witches #3) by Lee Roland- a review

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Vicious Moon
(Earth Witches #3)
by Lee Roland
Release Date: July 2, 2013

ABOUT THE BOOK: “A powerful witch might live a long time, but a single well-placed bullet could change that. While my preferred weapon was magic, I was not averse to shooting anyone or anything offering my sister or me harm.”

Ex-soldier and earth witch Nyx Ianira is working as a PI in San Francisco when she sees the last thing she ever wants to see: the Sisters of Justice—the mysterious earth witch police force. A Triad of Sisters usually means an execution mission, but the Sisters’ only goal is to capture and escort Nyx across the country.

Nyx is badly needed back in Twitch Crossing, Georgia, the place she ran away from ten years ago to escape the stiff rules and duties of being a true witch. She wanted a life of her own. Now she’s being dragged back to her swampy hometown because another life is in danger: Her little sister is missing, and Nyx is the only one who can track her down in Duivel, Missouri.

But the key to finding her may lie with dark and tempting Etienne—a sinister criminal with a fearsome reputation, a ruthless attitude, and a total immunity to magic….

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REVIEW:
I will have to confess, I haven’t read the first two books !!! And I think in this case, I may have to go back and read them, this isn’t a stand alone book, it definitely needs to be read in order, I did feel I was missing something, probably background on some of the characters that I meet in this book. But saying that, it was still a good read.

Witches aren’t usually my thing, and I needed a little convincing (Barb) 😉 But once I started it, it was very detailed. Lee writes a very descriptive world, and I could imagine it very easily.

Nyx is a witch, who doesn’t DO spells (her words), she relies on her fire magic, and her gun !! She has a comfy life in the human world, she is a private Investigator. and has no wish to visit her roots.

We meet up with Nyx on a job. But this turns out to be the start of a REALLY bad day ……. After bungling a sure fire job, Nyx is chased by a triad of warrior women, which I find out are women who police the witches. (They are catted the Sisters of Justice). After chasing Nyx across country, they drag her witchy butt back to her grandmothers home. (But not before terrorising Nyx, as these Sisters of Justice usually kill bad witches)

After a very emotional reunion, Nyx notices her baby sister is missing, Marisol is a smart witch, and she can cast spells, and is a powerful women in her own rights. The Grandmother explains that Marisol went to learn lessons from a more powerful witch. But hasn’t been seen or heard of since. So she sent the sisters of justice to find and bring back Nyx.

Nyx goes to where Marisol was being taught by the other witch. And meets a pair of thugs who are trying to drive the witch out. After teaching the thugs a quick lesson, Nyx meets our hero Etienne, who I have to admit, upon first reading him, I wanted to smash his face in !!Totally arrogant, and obnoxious, and yes we know they will become an item, but I really did not like him.

Etienne may know where Marisol is, or who saw her last. So Nyx follows Etienne into the Barrows. The Barrows is a place of old magic, and harbours a Dark and evil presence (more on that later)

In a place called Archangel, we meet a very charismatic couple (Micheal and his mate, Madeline, they were in book 2)

Nobody seems worried that Marisol is missing, and everyone is very interested in Nyx. Etienne then takes Nyx to meet his boss, and this is where we meet the dark and malevolent being that the Mother Earth has trapped in the Barrows. He wants out, but if he escapes then the earth as we know it will be destroyed !!
There is also a zombie zone, which I thought would produce Zombies (Well I thought I so …… ) But apparently it only means a portal that is one way, THINGS come out, but nothing can go in.

We meet a few of those things through the book (Giant crabs !!) And it keeps the reader on their toes.

Etienne is a very closed off character. We learn through the book, that he was a witches pet ! But not a willing one, so he REALLY doesn’t like nor trusts witches. And unlike most of our hero’s Etienne really is a bad guy !! He steals whatever his past and current bosses want, it doesn’t seem to worry him. And several times through the book, I did think that the PROPER hero would come in and sort Etienne out 🙂

But slowly the two characters come together, and it was nice that it wasn’t within the first few chapters. There was a two steps forward, one step back kind of movement going on. Trust had to be earned, and even then I think it was all one sided.

There were a few surprises along the way, and a few moments that I still wanted to slap Etienne.

Nyx has a familiar (Which a witchy fans will know, that a familiar helps it’s owner along the way, well not Nyx’s, it farted, drooled and at one point totalled ignored it’s mistress, and it was a total joy to read those parts, it lightened the moments, and stopped it getting to morose.

There were a few battle scenes, and these were written very well. In fact I could see this making a great movie.

And do Etienne and Nyx find Marisol ? and do they live happily ever after ? Your going to have to read It and find out for yourself 😉

Reading Order:
1. Viper Moon
2. Vengeance Moon
3. Vicious Moon

Copy supplied by the author

Reviewed by Julie B.