When the Queen Captured the Moon by C. Watson – Book Review

Jul 16

4 min read

When the Queen Captured the Moon by C. Watson Book Cover

Book Rating: ⭐⭐.5

Genre: Adult Dark Paranormal Romance

Spice: Extra Hot

Summary:

Silvyr is a Moon Elf on a covert mission with his team in South America to stop human traffickers when the unthinkable happens. His team is killed and Silvyr is captured by a supremely powerful vampire. Acynnikah is the beautiful, statuesque vampire queen, and Silvyr intrigues her. Instead of turning him into a vampire or killing him as he expects, Acynnikah decides to keep him for herself. Soon Silvyr is pulled into an intensely sexual game of dominance with Acynnikah and her friends.

Little does he know, Acynnikah needs Silvyr just as much as he needs her. Because there is an old enemy of Acynnikah’s rising, and a battle is coming where Acynnikah and Silvyr will need to work together to save their entire world. Filled with a vibrant group of characters, action sequences, and BDSM, When the Queen Captured the Moon is the first book in a fast-paced, darkly spicy adult paranormal romance duology.

Reaction:

My favorite aspect of this book was the characters; they are vibrant, and each one has a distinct personality. Ora especially is one of those interesting characters that I think shines in this book and is memorable for saying exactly whatever she wants. The main group of characters also fit together well even with their distinct personalities. There is a lot of super flirty banter and some heartfelt admissions between the action and romance that I enjoyed. The action sequences were detailed, but not so much that they dragged on or were too wordy. BDSM and questionable consent are admittedly not my favorite kink to read in a spicy book, but once the characters had built at least a small emotional connection, that didn’t impact my reading so much. It was a little hard for me to get into the book at the beginning, which I think was mostly to do with the minimal world-building. The book takes place in a contemporary setting, so world-building isn’t critical since the places are at least familiar. But I had a lot of questions about the history and culture of Moon Elves, Vampires, etc. and how they fit into the contemporary world that may have given more insight into the characters from the start. It’s the fantasy reader in me! The other thing that I could not get past were the POV switches, sometimes in the middle of a scene, without any indication or acknowledgment of the switch. It would disrupt the flow of my reading, and I found myself having to reread passages after I understood whose POV it was. Even though the ending was exciting and full of action, the POV switching got even more frequent at that point, so it took some work for me to get through. Overall, I thought this book was fast paced with a good mix of action and romance for an extra spicy book, but some aspects of it just weren’t what I typically enjoy reading.

Thank you to the author, C. Watson, for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my fair and honest review.

What I enjoyed:

· Ora and Colbanus are strong supportive characters that provide a counterpoint and an inspirational relationship for the main characters of Acynnikah and Silvyr as their relationship is starting off. I felt like they were critical to the plot and vibe of the story in a way that I appreciated.

· I liked the inclusion of Silvyr’s sister in the narrative. Until she entered the story, his character felt a bit lost without a piece of his past to ground him. Her presence and acceptance were important to reconcile his past with his future.

· This book surprised me with how much time was devoted to the plot and action scenes. I was invested in where the story was going, which is not always the case when I read extra spicy books.

What I didn't enjoy:

· As mentioned above, the POV switches threw me for a loop. When I was struggling with this, I was missing either an extra line break, or a transitional phrase to indicate there was a shift in POV.

· I really wanted more details on the various creatures’ backgrounds and cultures. I basically had a running list of questions as I was reading like “Why is it significant that Acynnikah was born vs. made?” and “What’s the deal with Moon Elves and dolphins or is that just a Silvyr thing?”. As someone who reads predominantly fantasy, I need those types of questions answered to ground myself in the world and understand the characters’ motivations.

· One thing that I kept getting caught up on was the use of the word “slave” to describe the individuals that vampires use for their source of blood, even though Acynnikah and her vampire friends said a “blood slave” was someone to be protected and treasured. Maybe this is just part of the BDSM in the book and I’m overthinking it, but it just didn’t land for me.