Book Review of Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

Title: Low Red Moon

Author: Ivy Devlin

Release Date: September 14, 2010

Avery Hood is reeling from the loss of her parents–and the fact that she can’t remember what happened to them even though she was there.

She’s struggling to adjust to life without them, and to living with her grandmother, when she meets Ben, who isn’t like any guy she’s ever met before.

It turns out there’s a reason why, and Ben’s secret may hold the key to Avery finding out what happened to her parents…

But what if that secret changes everything she knows about–and feels for–Ben?

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review: First off, Low Red Moon has the best first chapter of a book that I have read, period. Ivy had me sucked into the story so fast, it was awesome! Plus, the set up of the pages and the illustrations on the bottom of them are sweet. I put a couple of pictures below to show what I mean.

The inside cover page

Bottom of each page after chapter 1 they turn black

The header at the beginning each chapter, chapter 1and 2 are red

I just love little touches like that in a book. I think it adds so much life to the story and those images really work in well with the feel of this book. The colors don’t show very well here, but I think you get the general idea. I also have the ARC so I am not sure how the hard cover books look on the inside but I am guessing it is similar.

This book is a YA paranormal but it definitely had a lot of thriller aspects, which I really liked. I loved the suspense element in the book because you are constantly evaluating every character, trying to get a feel for them and discover who the murderer is.  The paranormal just added another element of awesomeness to the book I thought at one point I did have the mystery figured out, but I was wrong. That is okay though, because if I knew everything that was going to happen the book wouldn’t be any fun and I would lose interest. So well done Ivy, for keeping me confused!

Low Red Moon is only about 200 pages, which I thought was going to be a downer, but it actually turned out to be fantastic! Since the book was so short, everything happened so fast and it kept me racing to find out what was going to happen. I read the whole thing in one morning.  My husband looked over at me when I finished and said “Did you really just finish that whole book a couple hours?” I said “Umm…yeah!  It rocked!”   He was shocked I went through it so fast, but I was just so engrossed in the mystery I could not put it down.

The only real downside to the book being short is that we did not really get to dive into the whole reasoning and mythology behind the paranormal elements in the book. We did get some tidbits and some explanation, but I think there is still a lot more hidden under the surface that I hope we get to later.  It makes me wonder if there is going to be a sequel that will touch on some of that, but I am not sure. Anyone know if Ivy is working on book two?

I loved the main characters in this story, Avery and Ben. They have both experienced real pain and lose in their life. When they meet they are both broken and watching them try and heal each other was beautiful. I love the relationship that blooms and grows as the story unfolds.

Low Red Moon may be a shorter book, but within the pages of the book lies an intense, dark and mysterious tale of loss and love. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the YA paranormal/mystery world as much as I do.

FTC: I received this ARC from the publisher.