Book review: 'Storm Moon' is an action-filled conclusion to Moonlight Trilogy - East Idaho News
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Book review: ‘Storm Moon’ is an action-filled conclusion to Moonlight Trilogy

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"STORM MOON: Moonlight Trilogy, Book III," by Teri Harman, Jolly Fish Press, $14.99, 271 pages (f)

“Storm Moon,” the conclusion to Teri Harman’s Moonlight Trilogy, offers a culminating battle of magic and wills among the witches of Twelve Acres and a dark witch who is hundreds of years old and seeks immortality and his lost love.

Ultimately, it’s about love and loss and reactions to both.

A storm moon, which is a full moon while a storm of any type is raging, is a bad omen, according to one of the witches, and the novel “Storm Moon” does start out dark.

“Storm Moon” picks up where the second book, “Black Moon,” ended as two of the witches from the New Light Covenant, or the good witches, died in a battle with the dark witches, who were also killed. The new witches in the New Light Covenant are reeling from the loss and trying to decide whether to stay with the group.

Bartholomew the Dark, a dark witch who has used magic to prolong his life and preserve his soul on Earth, has been waiting for an opportune moment to inhabit another body and finish his plans for power and also to bring back his late wife, Brigid.

At the end of “Black Moon,” he had successfully taken over Simon Howard’s body, leaving Simon’s consciousness in a dark corner. In “Storm Moon,” Bartholomew, who has access to Simon’s memories, fools everyone into believing he is Simon. Bartholomew needs Simon’s wife, Willa, and her powers, which she is fairly new to managing and understanding, to complete his plans, including bringing back Brigid to be in Willa’s body.

He suggests to Willa that they go on a honeymoon to Europe, and Bartholomew-as-Simon puts his plans into motion. It becomes a race against time for the witches to figure out that Bartholomew’s back and how to stop him.

Brigid, who tried a spell of her own to stay with Bartholomew all those centuries ago, works to warn Willa of what has happened. Harman brings out more of Bartholomew and Brigid’s stories along with those of Willa’s mother, grandmother and great-grandmother in flashbacks.

It’s an action-filled and satisfying ending to the series, and Harman neatly wraps up many of the characters’ stories.

Harman's writing makes the story understandable to those who haven't read the first two books, "Blood Moon" and "Black Moon," but it's easier for readers to catch the nuances if they've read both books — or a quick refresher.

“Storm Moon” doesn’t have any swearing or described sexual content. There are several instances of violence, some of it magic-related, that are generally described.

Email: rappleye@deseretnews.com, Twitter: CTRappleye

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