I do an author alphabet challenge every year, where I try to read a book by an author whose surname starts with every letter of the alphabet. U is always one of the harder letters to come up with. This year, I purchased an e-copy of Noelle Upton‘s In the Light of the Moon.

Sylvie, a twenty-eight year old undergraduate student, has recently moved to Antler Pointe following the death of her father. She’s committed to finally finish her degree in English and to learn her family craft under the tutelage of her grandmother. One night, while closing up at her part-time job, Sylvie stumbles upon an injured man. After helping him on his feet, and watching him shuffle off into the night, Sylvie goes into her last year of college with an enthusiasm to finally set her life back on track. What she doesn’t expect, however, is to quite literally run into the man she helped, now fully healed. He’s curt and suspicious of her but is committed to settle the debt of her kindness.

Orion is a literature professor who has settled in his hometown after years of trying to find his place. After a disastrous attempt, Orion has resolved himself to live a quiet life on his family’s land with nature and books for companions. It isn’t until a witch with kind eyes saves him, caring for and generously gifting him with her smiles, that he starts to hope that he may not need to remain alone.

But there is something sinister happening in Antler Pointe, and while they’re eager to explore a peaceful life with one another, Sylvie and Orion are quickly swept up in a string of disappearances that culminates in a bloody showdown. In the Light of the Moon is a paranormal romance with a fall backdrop where witches and shifters meet, fight, and love. All under the light and shadows of a living forest that calls to both groups with very different songs.

This was super cute. If you are looking for a sweet, fairly low angst romance, this will fit the bill. Sylvie and Orion are so very careful with one another, and there is nothing toxic in their relationship. Honestly, it might be a little too easy. But it is heartwarming and soft. There’s also excellent diversity and representation in the book. And I very much appreciate that older characters have active internal (and love) lives without being made into a joke or bit.

While I generally enjoyed the book, I do have complaints, however. The biggest one, for me, is how little paranormal is in the paranormal romance. You see nothing of it beyond Sylvie learning salves “from the book” until the 30% mark. And even past that, it’s definitely in the background, cropping up for the climactic action but not the focus. There’s no real description or explanation of werewolf 3-form biology, for example. The reader just has to figure it out from genre norms. I thought the authorial treatment of Orion’s mother was cliched, and the book also feels a little long.

All in all, however, I was happy with it and will be reading more of Upton’s work. 

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