Book Review: A Trace of Moonlight by Allison Pang

A Trace of Moonlight
Author: Allison Pang
Series: Abby Sinclair, book 3
Publisher: Pocket Books
ISBN-10: 1439198365
ISBN-13: 978-1439198360
Source: From publisher for review
Buy it here: Amazon | Book Depository
For more information visit Allison Pang's website

Reviewed by: Beth


A Trace of Moonlight is the third novel in the Abby Sinclair series. It’s a series you want to start with the first, A Brush of Darkness. In fact the next paragraph might ruin the cliff hanger from book two. It’s nearly impossible to say what the book is about without giving something away from pervious books, but as always I am going to do my best. If you want to check out the review from the book before it, A Silver of Shadow, here you are.

Abby not only loses the key to the crossroads (portal-ish key to getting almost anywhere) to the enemy, but the crossroads itself is turned upside down when it’s attacked. It is up to Abby and her friends to save it. During this mish mash of Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy goodness, Abby still finds herself stuck between two unearthly men, and married to one of them.

From the first two books we know that Abby fixes her problems by often making them worse. The biggest problem I have with her is her inability to decide on who she is in love with. No, wait, I take that back, because she openly admits she is in love with both. She recognizes that what she is doing is unfair, and while she is willing to sacrifice herself for the greater good, she can’t do that inside a relationship. She also keeps saying that she needs to learn how to fight. You would think the sharp shooter elf prince would have given her some pointers. She stumbles her way through the story as she did before, trying to save things, and while she can manage it, she often makes other messes in the process.

Brystion causes Abby to explore more of her Dream Walker powers. We get peeks into the dreaming world of others, which like the TouchStone bonds, is really neat. The magical elements in this series never feel tacked on. Usually all things come with a price in this series.

The side characters have become more interesting. This book gives Melanie and Nobua closer look. In previous books, we know that they were once TouchStoned lovers. In a way they are kind of the archetype cursed couple. On the other hand Nobu is a demon, and not a very nice one, yet for some reason I still want them to have their moments desperately. *Takes a girly sigh*

The problem here, at least for me, is that nothing is evolving. The last book featured the same demented bad guy, the same love triangle, and the same basic formula for a plot. It’s done in different ways, but it still feels a lot of the same. I was urging for some character growth, and development admits all the snarky conversations. The story leaves the reader on a high note, not actually a cliff-hanger, but enough information that lets the reader know everything has changed.

I do enjoy Pang’s fast pacing in this series. It’s always hard to set down. Despite my remark about the snarky language, I do enjoy it. I just want more from it, and still want more out of this series. This is a huge expanding world that is easy to follow, and is filled with a ton of unforgettable characters, but the plot felt a lot of the same. I still think readers are in for a treat with this series which is both witty and large scale.
My Rating: