New Moon by Lisa Kessler is the stunning conclusion of her fantastic Moon paranormal urban fantasy series. This is jaguar shifter Sebastian Severino's and werewolf Isabelle Wood's story. The story is told in the alternating points of view of the hero and heroine allowing the reader to be aware of the thought processes of each. Sebastian has been a villain throughout this series and his redemption will not be easy.
The Moon series takes place in and around Reno, Nevada, home to a werewolf pack whose future has been on a collision course with the Nero Organization. Each installment in the Moon series has been fast paced and action packed. New Moon is the eighth and final book in this series. While all the other books have worked very well as standalones, I would be hesitant to recommend jumping into the series with New Moon as Sebastian's story has been building since the first book. Lisa does seamlessly integrate historical information necessary to newbies so they are never lost, but, honestly, if you can, start with the first book and read the series in order. It's an awesome adventure and you won't be sorry.
Sebastian is the heir apparent to the infamous Nero Organization, a nefarious covert quasi-military corporation, which supplies assassins for hire. The Nero Organization's focus has been on creating the perfect shape-shifting slaughtering machine because killing is their business.
As this story opens, Sebastian has been tasked by Antonio, his father and the mastermind behind Nero, to gather forces to attack and take down the Reno pack. Antonio wants revenge for Damian's, his other son's, demise at the hands of the Reno pack – a death that the Reno pack was forced to execute in self-defense. Sebastian is having second thoughts about this mission as his father has demanded that he also kill Adam, Lana's mate, and Lana's son AND deliver his sister and her daughter, Sebastian's sister and niece, back to his father and Nero.
Lisa has done a great job ingraining a dislike of Sebastian from book one. That said, since Sebastian found his sister mated to Adam, the Reno's pack's alpha, with two shifter children, Sebastian hasn't been as hard-core evil as he was in the first few books. One obstacle to Sebastian's redemption is Sebastian himself as he has to be convinced that redemption is a path open to him and that he is worthy of being redeemed. Sebastian grew on me as this story progressed. I still wouldn't call him a series favorite, but, I will agree that he has suffered enough for his misdeeds.
Isabelle's life hasn't been easy either. She is a bitten werewolf and works as a bounty hunter. Sebastian is her latest target. She shoots him, but then her wolf won't allow her to kill him. I was captivated by her internal fight with her wolf. Her human side has a strong dislike of Sebastian; Her wolf wants him with every fiber of her being.
Will the couple's love and chemistry be enough to overcome Sebastian's past and to thwart Sebastian's father's plans?
"I could shoot you in the foot."
"He brought up both hands to hold my face. "I would die for you, Isabelle."
I've been of huge fan of Lisa's for like forever. I've read everything Lisa has ever published and I love, love, love her books. She is a storyteller extraordinaire. The entire Moon series has been a wild thrill ride to read. New Moon is as exciting and intensely gripping as the first book was in this series. If you are a fan of paranormal urban fantasies and howling hot shifter romances, I would highly encourage you to check out the Moon series today!
Book #8 New Moon – Available June 19th, 2017!