This is the first book in a new series, and to be honest, it read more like a pilot episode or maybe even pilot season than a book. I’ve tried a few times while writing this to articulate that impression, and the best I can come up with is that while the central characters, Katie Faith and Jace, have a very quick relationship development and commitment, and there is a happy-for-now ending for them both, SO MUCH goes on around them in this one book it’s exhausting to even think of listing it all. There’s worldbuilding, which is to be expected, but also multiple storyline building, family-connection building, and big- and small-bad villain building, to the point that the romance and connection between Katie Faith and Jace is sometimes lackluster, and few of the conflicts that are built are resolved in the end.

Whie it’s very easy to me to list the things I struggled with, I was DETERMINED to like this book, because I want more books with female circles of friendship and power, and I want more books that allow the characters to own their sexuality and autonomy, and the potential for so much of both is in this series. It just wasn’t entirely in this book. That said, I’m supremely interested in book two, so the frustrations of this book weren’t enough to put me off the series as a whole.

Katie Faith returns home to a small town called Diablo Lake with a large amount of trepidation. After being left at the altar by her werewolf ex-fiance some years prior, she moved to Chattanooga, set up a life there, and was called home by her father’s illness, which is pretty serious. (One of the more pervasive themes in this book is the number of characters who are caring for older parents and older relatives, and the stress and responsibility that comes with – which is something I haven’t seen a lot of in romances that I’ve read, and especially not in paranormal romances. That part is very well done because there is no easy answer to that process of growing older, and everyone handles it differently.)

Diablo Lake is a town populated by magic and shifters, with two major rival werewolf families, the Pembreys and the Dooleys. Katie Faith was dumped by Dwayne Pembrey, who cheated on her and married that person instead. Dwayne’s father is the Patron (aka alpha, leader) of the Pembreys and Katie Faith, as the daughter of a prominent and powerful pair of witches, was expected to be powerful in her own right. That breakup was pretty awful and humiliating both personally and politically, so Katie Faith left. Now that she’s back, she’s moved into an apartment near her parents’ restaurant, which she’s taking over while her father recuperates, and that apartment is owned by the Dooley family.

It’s a small town so pretty much everyone knows everyone, and everyone knows the politics and the dividing lines of who is related and loyal to whom, and why. Katie’s a rogue figure in the politics at first, because she was almost married to a Pembrey, and she was expected to be powerful, which would have enhanced their family’s power. The Pembreys seem to think of her as “theirs,” except she’s not, and when she moves into Dooley “territory” it’s a big deal. When she learns that Jace Dooley, Prime of his family’s pack (like second in command, heir apparent, etc), lives next door, she’s pretty pleased because she’s hot and there were pants feelings that are set to re-ignite. (Ow.) But Katie Faith is also aware that living across the hall from a Dooley and in a Dooley-owned building is going to cause problems for both families, and she’s not interested in either group having a “claim” on her, pants feelings notwithstanding.

The story focuses on Jace and Katie Faith’s relationship, but it’s a very fast one. The timeline is very short, which didn’t bother me. They went from wanting-to-kiss to heading-to-Bonetown very quickly, and from “moving in across the hall” to “serious commitment” in a very, very short amount of time – so if fast development bothers you, be aware. There’s not insta-love, but it’s close.

The rest of the story filling in around them is really cumbersome to describe. There are politics and power maneuvering between the witches, who don’t seem to have been very well organized as a group, the Dooleys, and the Pembreys. There are posturing conversations that have multiple meanings, most of which are explained. The larger story arc seems to be about the balance of power between the supernatural creatures that live in Diablo Lake. It’s like Dallas and Teen Wolf had a baby, and instead of oil, it’s magic that everyone is fighting over.

There’s a lot of things that are picked up and put down and never mentioned again. For example:

• There’s very little said about Katie Faith’s life in Chattanooga except that it was boring and un-magical and she basically hid inside said boring and un-magical existence. I wanted more about that life, especially for the purposes of contrasting who she was vs. who she becomes when she returns home. It’s almost like her life outside of Diablo Lake didn’t exist, and I missed that development of her character. I think of plots like this as having the “sprung from the head of Zeus” problem. The characters show up fully formed, and there isn’t enough development or mention of their lives prior to make them seem fully real.
• In Chattanooga, she went by “Kit,” which is very different from “Katie Faith,” but that change is remarked upon once or twice before disappearing, even though it seemed more significant when it was brought up in the first chapter. It’s another example of her life prior to the start of the story disappearing once she returned to Diablo Lake. That decision to leave her family and her friends to start over far away is a big thing for a person to do. I missed the absence of contrast and of discussion regarding the change of her name – which is a pretty large indicator of her identity.
• Jace and Katie Faith had some kind of momentary fling in high school, and it was both so significant they both think about it a lot in the intervening years, and not enough to clue her in that Dwayne might not be the right person for her.
• I still couldn’t tell you what drew Katie Faith to Dwayne. The difference between who she is in the book and whomever she was at that time is enormous, but I couldn’t explain why she’d been nearly married to Dwayne, or what she saw in him, or what the relationship or the loss of it meant.
• There are some kind of rituals within the werewolf family,  but those rituals weren’t described and I was seriously bummed about that. (I’m being vague on purpose because of spoilers.) There was so much description of Katie Faith’s rituals, but not about the Dooley family rituals, and I wanted more. She had to come to understand the way their pack works, and why, and the absence of the details that signaled the completion of all her learning and decision-making left me frustrated.

There are also some really flat, one-dimensional, repetitive villains who operate on rage and very little motivation, which made them less scary. There’s a lot of demanding that consequences be handed out according to the pack or town laws, but those consequences never materialize – which is frustratingly close to reality, alas. There’s a dark parallel between the way the two families talk to and about Katie Faith, and the way the Pembreys try to blame their problems on her and her return to town, that reminded me in a dark way of rape culture, and the idea that if something happens to someone, it’s their fault because the men couldn’t control themselves and can’t be expected to. The Dooleys demand frequently that various Pembreys control themselves after said Pembreys attempt violence, intimidation, or are generally awful. The control doesn’t happen and is left unfinished, and there are insufficient consequences for their actions, which are also left resolved, and that’s part of what made this book seem like a pilot to me.

The pace is uneven, too. There was a fight scene that I stayed up way past my bedtime to read because I couldn’t put it down, and I had goosebumps everywhere while reading it. Then there’s a whole lot of talking and exposition. There’s action, then conversation about that action, lather rinse repeat. I get that politics and diplomacy involves talking, but the action and dialogue without exposition was much more interesting reading.

So that’s nearly 1400 words of things that bugged me. But despite all the things that bothered me, and the number of times I thought, “But… but.. what about – wait, go back” while reading, I really, really liked this world, and the town, and the intricacies of the forces working against Katie Faith, Jace, and their families.

I really liked the way that family is built and explored, too. As Patrons, Jace’s grandparents are the ruling couple of their pack, and that comes with a lot of responsibilities – many of them petty bullshit responsibilities, but essential nonetheless. Jace’s grandmother makes sure to look after different people in the town by visiting and keeping track of who might need help or extra food, and the story gives her work as much attention as it does Jace’s grandfather and Jace himself dealing with male pack business.

Katie Faith’s mother’s efforts to take care of her spouse after an illness are echoed in Jace’s grandmother trying to care for his grandfather, who is also ill with some kind of werewolf-specific disease. The men have nurturing roles and enforcement roles, and the women do as well, whether they are witches or wolves. At one point, Katie Faith chastises herself for underestimating Jace’s grandmother’s role and power as Patron, because it’s her job, too, not just her husband’s, and her work is essential, cumbersome, exhausting, and just as important as his. I loved the way that everyone’s work was valued and important to the function of the town, which has to remain concealed from the rest of the world through the magical harmony between the residents – a harmony that’s at risk in a number of ways.

Katie Faith also has friends with whom she has standing dates to watch television or hang out, and those are just as important as any time with Jace or her parents. I didn’t always believe the dialogue between them, but I did believe in the relationships Katie Faith had, and how much she valued them. I’m also curious if Katie Faith’s best friend is a future heroine, and if her love interest will be from the rival pack, thus creating potential conflict for her and Katie Faith. It wouldn’t surprise me to have a conflict in a future book rest on discord in a friendship between two women, because the women in this world aren’t isolated from another, and their connections are very deep and very meaningful.

More than anything that bothered me, and that list is not small, I was charmed by and deeply invested in the way the world of the book valued women, their labor and contributions to families and communities, and how patriarchal and matriarchal power structures and resulting actions both helped and harmed that community. There’s a lot to unpack in the worldbuilding, which is one of the major reasons my resulting feeling and grade for this book is relatively positive.

Like I said, Moonstruck is more like an uneven pilot episode or two in a series that has potential to be entirely, utterly kickass. If it were tv, I’d keep my series recording on for a few more episodes in hopes the potential pans out. There is SO MUCH POTENTIAL. I’m 2000% here for the sequels, because this is a world worth revisiting many, many times.