Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Book one in the Riley Jenson series
Publication Date: 2006
ISBN: 0553804588
Page Count: 304
My Rating ★★★★

Summary
In this exciting debut, author Keri Arthur explodes onto the supernatural scene with a sexy, sensuous tale of intrigue and suspense set in a world where legends walk and the shady paths of the underworld are far more sinister than anyone envisioned.

A rare hybrid of vampire and werewolf, Riley Jenson and her twin brother, Rhoan, work for Melbourne’s Directorate of Other Races, an organization created to police the supernatural races–and protect humans from their depredations. While Rhoan is an exalted guardian, a.k.a. assassin, Riley is merely an office worker–until her brother goes missing on one of his missions. The timing couldn’t be worse. More werewolf than vampire, Riley is vulnerable to the moon heat, the weeklong period before the full moon, when her need to mate becomes all-consuming.

Luckily Riley has two willing partners to satisfy her every need. But she will have to control her urges if she’s going to find her brother….Easier said than done as the city pulses with frenzied desire, and Riley is confronted with a very powerful–and delectably naked–vamp who raises her temperature like never before.

In matters carnal, Riley has met her match. But in matters criminal, she must follow her instincts not only to find her brother but to stop an unholy harvest. For someone is doing some shifty cloning in an attempt to produce the ultimate warrior–by tapping into the genome of nonhumans like Rhoan. Now Riley knows just how dangerous the world is for her kind–and just how much it needs her.

REVIEW

Now, I'm not usually a fan of free-loving ladies who think monogamy is some sort of cream-coloured paint. And I don't usually like books to have more than 2-3 sex scenes in them or I start to get annoyed and/or bored senseless. And I also don't usually like for my leading ladies to have more than one lover on-the-go at once (fussy, aren't I?). However, although this story has much more sex in it than my usual quota, it also had enough of a plot to back it up with that I could accept it as integral to the story.

I think possibly the other reason I can tolerate it in this book, is that our main character, Riley, is very clear on the fact that it's just sex. So there aren't pages and pages of dithering monologue before and afterward, wondering should I have done that? What about the other guy(s)? Does he love me? Do I love him? None of that nonsense. The werewolf race in this series sees sex as a celebration, not something to be limited, rationed or ashamed of in any way. And indeed, in the week leading up to the full moon, it's something they can't avoid or they'll go crazy....literally.

Anyway, removing my mind from the gutter for one second, the plot centred around cloning and cross-breeding of the various non-human races and was fascinating and had good pacing. I can see possible plot lines for future books and am looking forward to Riley realizing her full potential in the books to come.

So, in essence, this is a good, fast-paced Urban Fantasy only with LOTS more sex scenes in it than your average UF. I just hope she will settle down with that side of things in the next book, assuming that one will not be set around the time of the full moon, or it might become tedious.