Moonlight Reborn is book one in the paranormal shifter romance series Moonlight Mates by Miyo Hunter. For peace between packs, the firstborn of each pack must be exchanged, but the promise of being treated like a family member was a lie. Sophia suffered as an outcast for years, surrounded by enemies, until one touch changed everything. With too many secrets to keep, unrest in the castle, and people gunning for her, Aaron was a complication Sophia could do without, but you cannot ignore fate’s call.
Sophia had almost always felt like an outsider, even when she was back home, but five years of being a hostage in enemy land has done one thing: it has made her a lot stronger than most expect from her. She puts up with bullying, isolation, and pain daily, and then she longs for home. When her wolf occurred, it was soured by the knowledge she couldn’t return home, and then her soul mate appeared in the worst place she could expect. She assumed nearly rightfully that Aaron wouldn’t want her, and then he did, which, in all honesty, threw both me and her off. Then we get past this to watching her being tormented, and Aaron becomes protective and possessive of her, which feels like a light because now someone cares about her and she desperately needs that. But it was a quick shift from her having very low opinions of him to falling in love with him and having him in her bed; maybe that’s the soulmate bond, but it was very quick. As was the surprise that she has later on, in reaction to this she runs off (which is completely against her character as being incredibly strong, a fighter, someone of resilience, but she just acted rashly for some reason), to a lot of anxiety and fretting (it became fairly repetitive), just for her to come back and live happily ever after. She’s smart, so I just felt like she would have spoken to him first, but she didn’t, which made the miscommunication very annoying.
Aaron grew on me because at first, I didn’t like how he treated Sophia or how he had treated her in the past; it almost felt like he only wanted her and noticed her now because fate has said he should. He did get better though; his possessiveness and protectiveness were ultimately in her favour, and he quickly turned into a man who would do anything to keep his woman and fight anyone he had to do so. He stuck up for Sophia against his mother, and he would against his pack if needed. As he will be taking over the pack one day, he has a fair amount of weight resting on his shoulders, and he’s often micromanaged by his parents due to this, but it was nice to see him push back against his mother and stake his claim as it was. I also like that he’s a bit of a softy when it comes to Sophia; if she was happy to hide who and what she was to him for the rest of their lives, he would gladly do it. My major irk with him is when he went to confront his father, knowing his mother was up to something regarding Sophia- I was just begging him to go and get her first but we needed the separation for a plot line. Both characters have miscommunication issues; they both feel a little bit whiny when it comes to their thought processes. Of course, the thrum of anxiety and self-doubt were a factor, but it was a lot of ‘it’s not fair’ energy, and it had me questioning their ages. I think the repetitive questions and overuse of certain phrases added to my distaste in this regard as well.
I struggled to rate Moonlight Reborn, but ultimately there was too much that I didn’t enjoy about this book to rate it higher than Two out of Five stars. The pace of the book felt a little jarring; a lot of things occurred, but at times it dragged with many repeat questions and fretting minds. A big miscommunication could have been solved by simply seeing each other first. With the topics being tackled, the characters felt, in my opinion, very childish; the spice, while OK, felt like it was trying too hard to hit quota on good girl/my girl lines. I also felt like the author was leaning into the forbidden relationship trope and enemies-to-lovers trope, but both didn’t hit the mark for me. One because it was very clear Sophia was more of a hostage than a sister, and they both fell in love very quickly to have ever been enemies. The only things I liked about this book were some of the traits of the main characters, Sophie’s strength and resilience, and Aaron’s possessiveness and protectiveness towards her. They worked well together as a couple, and they had moments when I truly felt that fate had made the right choice in pairing them.
If you’re looking for a fairly quick, jam-packed, fated mate shifter romance with a touch of spice, then I’d recommend Moonlight Reborn. It gives the impression of enemies-to-lovers/forbidden romance, but it’s more about Sophia, who is an outsider struggling to get through her days in enemy territory amid bullying, and then she stumbles across her fated mate Aaron, whom she believes hated her, but he just didn’t care for her up until this point, therefore he hadn’t noticed what she was put through. It holds longing for home, desiring someone everyone is against, the lustful draw of true mates, him falling first, fighting for who you want, fighting for yourself, a surprise pregnancy, and a happily ever after. This is book one in the Moonlight Mates series by Miyo Hunter.
Favourite Quotes
“I wasn’t the type that the moon should choose.”
– page 1
“If this desire for him was a tangible thing, I’d rip it straight out of my body, dig it up from where it settled into my bones.”
– page 36
“Death couldn’t have her. She was mine.”
– page 63
“It was only a matter of time before Sofia would realize the truth. That she could never hide what she was. That a wolf as powerful as her was never made to hide in the dark.”
– page 109
Finer Details:
Title: Moonlight Reborn (Moonlight Mates #1)
Author: Miyo Hunter
Pages: 202
Publisher: Miyo Hunter
Publication: 2023
Language: English
Rating: 2/5