Rating: 5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Blue lives in an old warehouse that serves both as his tattoo studio and his home. With him live other men who have been long time friends and are gifted in some form or fashion themselves. When Ky comes to Blue seeking a special tattoo, the only thing Blue is sure of is that he is both mystified and drawn to this quiet man. As he gets to know what little Ky is willing to reveal about himself, Blue begins to understand that there is much more to the elusive personal trainer than meets the eye. With the help of his friends and his terminally ill mother, Blue will take a huge risk and reveal his own closely kept secrets in order to help Kyle divulge his own. When both realize that they may be intricately linked, their lust for each other morphs into an uneasy relationship made so by the fact that both have been badly hurt in the past and question whether they can ever truly love again.
Moonstone is the first book in the new Stone Magic series by K-lee Klein. While set in the modern world as we know it, there is more than human activity afoot in this swift moving story. Filled with some very interesting secondary characters, each with carefully guarded secrets, the introduction of the cast that will make up future installments was done masterfully. So often, initial novels in a series are rather clunky with the job of establishing the arc of future stories and teasing the reader with just enough information about each person that the plot gets bogged down and you feel as though you have just been given a major glut of data. Instead, Klein manages to unfold the character base for her series by intertwining her the men and introducing them as a close knit group of friends and thus they become a piece of the pattern of Blue’s daily life and a source of care and comfort for him and each other.
Blue is really an empathetic heart disguised as a person. His compassion for Ky and his plight resonates in such a positive and pure manner, making it believable and tender to read about as it develops more deeply throughout the story. Make no mistake, this is a paranormal story at it’s core and therefore license must be given when it comes to the idea of soul mates and insta-love tropes, but this was cleverly handled and never once did Ky make it easy for Blue to love him or even to take care of him, particularly through the first half of the story arc.
Ky was such a wounded person—not only because of his affliction but also due to a painful past that was filled with bullying, abandonment and a lack of love on any level. Bounced from foster home to group homes, he was always the odd man out and hiding his sexuality became a fact of life and a key to survival. He initially seeks out Blue with a fervor born of desperation and as a last hope and when he realizes that his one attempt to rid himself of his terrible curse has failed, we weep with him as he sinks into a night of madness that is destined to be repeated over and over again.
Before you despair, Moonstone does provide a happy ever after for both it’s main characters, but the journey they must take to get there is fraught with sadness and fear. Author K-lee Klein works your last heart-string as she unfolds her fast moving plot and carries you into a magical world that has many more stories to reveal before it comes to an end.
