Review – Mona Lisa Awakening by Sunny (3.5/5 stars)

When I first started reading this book I thought I had picked up a book by Christine Freehan or Sherrilyn Kenyon. The book started out way too mushy and romancy for me. I mean geez, Mona Lisa was sleeping with her guy very shortly into the book. I actually started snickering at the cheesy descriptions of Gyphon’s skin, hair, and eyes. I almost couldn’t get past that. But I had borrowed the book from my mom and she wanted to know what I thought of it. I decided to preserver; my mom doesn’t recommend bad books to me and I figured why should she start now!

Basically the premise of the story is that Mona Lisa always knew she was different; she finds out rather quickly that she is a Mixed Blood. Her blood is mixed with that of the Monere. Not only that but she is powerful enough to be a Queen Monere. The book follows her struggles to gain a place in Monere society, survive the trickery of the other Queens, and start to form a loyal following of men to be her guards. Mona Lisa is seen as a breath of fresh air for the male Monere who are used to Queens being deadly and treacherous.

This book did get better. As it continued on there was murder, mayhem, and fun galore. Some reviews I have read of this book have lauded the creativity of the Monere race created in this book. I guess I have to disagree with that; the Monere race seemed like a repeat of Freehan’s Carpathian race or Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter race. As the book continued I began to be reminded of Laurell Hamilton’s Meredith Gentry series. The gathering of men that takes place in this book (along with plentiful sex) and the sharing and manifestation of new powers between the characters is very reminiscent of what happens in the Meredith Gentry series. One thing I really didn’t like about this book was there was just too much rape in it!

Overall this was a fun book to read. It was a quick read, fairly well written, and (after the first few chapters) face-paced and action-packed. If you are out of Meredith Gentry, Dark Hunter, and Carpathian novels to read this one would be worth picking up. I thought the book leaned more to romance than fantasy. I suppose it is a fine line to draw. But personally where I enjoy Laurell Hamilton, Kim Harrison, and Charlaine Harris, I do not take much pleasure in the books written by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christine Feehan, and others of that ilk. There is a line for me where a book becomes too much of a romance and this book teetered on that line.

I might go ahead and read the next book in the series since my mom has it already. Personally I am just getting involved in too many of these paranormal type romance series. These types of series seem to go on forever. This book wasn’t good enough to trump some of the other series I am in the middle of reading.

Here is a link to this book on Amazon: