Monère: Children of the Moon by SUNNY

Mona Lisa has always felt different. Abandoned as a baby and put through the foster-care system, she has always struggled to make connections in her displaced life, especially with men. And then everything changes. During a shift at the hospital where she works as a nurse, Mona Lisa finds herself fascinated by a mysterious patient called Gryphon. They spend a steamy night together and she learns that Gryphon is Monere – a child of the moon… and so is she.

Exiled from the moon long ago, the Monere are a strange fae-like race who have very few females. Because of their rarity, the female Monere are revered Queens who are guarded and sexually serviced by the plentiful Monere men. Monere Queens have difficulty conceiving with the men of their species, and pregnancy is often only feasible with human men – which is precisely how Mona Lisa came to be. Mona Lisa is Mixed Blood, abandoned as a baby for her muddied heritage – but the Monere are dwindling and they need all the Queens they can get, so Mona Lisa is somewhat reluctantly drawn into the world that once discarded her…

There are currently 4 books in this series, which has also spawned a spin-off series (‘Demon Princess Chronicles’), which started in 2007 and has a second book being released in October of this year.

I love this series, even though it is pretty much a carbon copy of Laurell K Hamilton’s ‘Merry Gentry’ series. Right down to a demon character called Halcyon who is very much a replica of Sholto from the Merry Gentry books. It is very similar, even in the issues tackled – mostly the domination of men by women, which is explored in the Merry, books through the sadistic Queen Andais, and in the Monere series by the slave-master relationship between the Queens and their Monere men.

Despite the striking similarities, Sunny’s series is far superior. There is great plot mixed in with the erotica (and this series is most assuredly paranormal erotica), so that the sex scenes don’t become tedious and predictable. Sunny’s characters are deeply explored throughout the series, there are only really 3 or 4 men that Mona Lisa really loves and it’s easier to keep track of and come to like those characters, as opposed to the bevy of men in Merry’s bed which sees some of them become wallpaper-characters.

I love the Monere world that Sunny has created. They are a very bizarre race, and it really works well that we are seeing them through Mona Lisa’s eyes so we can appreciate the extent of their foreignness – versus the fact that Merry grew up with the sidhe and is unfazed by their weird and wacky ways.

Lastly, I absolutely love the book covers. I know, I know – but I do often judge a book by its cover, and these covers are surprisingly elegant for erotica novels.

3.5/5