Once In A Full Moon by Ellen Schreiber

Beware of a kiss under the full moon. It will change your life forever.

Celeste Parker is used to hearing scary stories about werewolves—Legend's Run is famous for them. She's used to everything in the small town until Brandon Maddox moves to Legend's Run and Celeste finds herself immediately drawn to the handsome new student. But when, after an unnerving visit with a psychic, she encounters a pack of wolves and gorgeous, enigmatic Brandon, she must discover whether his transformation is more than legend or just a trick of the shadows in the moonlight.

Her best friends may never forgive her if she gives up her perfect boyfriend, Nash, for Brandon, who's from the wrong side of town. But she can't deny her attraction or the strong pull he has on her. Brandon may be Celeste's hero, or he may be the most dangerous creature she could encounter in the woods of Legend's Run.

Psychic predictions, generations-old secrets, a town divided, and the possibility of falling in love with a hot and heroic werewolf are the perfect formula for what happens . . . once in a full moon.

Stars: 3.5/5

Cover: A-

Plot:

Celeste is part of the popular, jock crowd. She's dating one of the most attractive, popular guys in school, Nash, and her two best friends are dating Nash's two best friends. Her life is perfect --- that is, until Brandon moves into the town of Legend's Run, and is the new kid in school.

Celeste and her friends go get their fortune told as a dare, and the fortune teller warns Celeste of a couple of things. Of course, Celeste thinks the teller is a fraud, and does things she was warned not to anyways (like a kiss with Brandon under a full moon). 

After the kiss, Brandon turns into a werewolf, and runs off into the woods. But Celeste is already so in love with Brandon, she doesn't care that he's not human 100% of the time.

I felt like I had read this book a million times before. Ellen's other series, Vampire Kisses, was basically the same as Once In A Full Moon, except for the fact that one was about vampires and the other was about werewolves. 

For example:

• A boy moves into the protagonists' town
• He is quiet, mysterious, and extremely alluring
• There's something off about the new boy, and the whole school is gossiping about him
• The protagonist and the boy have an immediate connection
• They fall in love after like, a week
• The boy does the whole "I'm dangerous; you can't be near me" act, and the protagonist says, "no! I love you too much to leave you" thing.

But, putting that aside, Once In A Full Moon did keep me entertained, even if the plot was a little predictable.

Characters:

I sort of found most of the characters to be two-demensional, shallow, and cliche. It was hard for me to tell the characters apart, and Celeste's world was a little too perfect to be believable.

Celeste's friends were stuck up little (insert swear word here) that wouldn't even talk to people that lived on the other, not as nice, side of town than them. They barely had anything nice to say at all, and Celeste couldn't even tell her friends about Brandon because they wouldn't understand. What kind of "friends" are those?

Even though I didn't really like the characters, they didn't stop the story from moving along.

Writing:

I must say, I am not the biggest fan of the way Ellen writes. The story doesn't always flow  nicely, and it sometimes feels like there are sentences randomly put in where it feels like they don't belong.

Also, when Ellen gives us background information, it isn't always relevant to the current situation in the plot, and it completely takes you out of the story when she does that.

Ending:

The ending was probably my least favorite thing about this book. 

THIS NEXT PART CONTAINS SPOILERS; HIGHLIGHT TO READ.

When Nash discovered that Brandon was a werewolf, Celeste and Brandon didn't even care. They spent practically the whole book trying to keep it a secret that Brandon was a werewolf, and then all of a sudden, all they care about is kissing.

END OF SPOILER.

The ending felt rushed to me, like it was written in a hurry so Ellen could be done with the book. I think that if she had taken a little more time on the last two pages, the ending would have been loads better.

Cover:

At first glance, I didn't like this cover too much. But as I looked at it longer, I fell in love with it!

The eyes are a beautiful blue, and I love the way the strands of hair fall around the model's face. 

Another thing that I like is the font, and the pretty pink cursive that is used to write "full moon."

A Lovely Line:

I gazed outside. I could see the moon hanging in the cloudless sky. It looked lonely, staring back at me. I wondered if it thought the same of me.

(Page 43)

The Final Verdict:

This book was a fast, easy read. I thought it was entertaining enough, but it wasn't like I couldn't go my whole life without reading it.

I would suggest this for fans of Ellen Schreiber.

FTC: I borrowed this book from Zoe.