Hidden Moon by Lori Handeland

Lori Handeland's latest book in her Moon series takes place in Georgia, in the little town of Lake Bluff. Claire Kennedy is the Mayor of Lake Bluff, taking over for her father, who was mayor for many years. Since he died, she inherited his position. Though she never wanted to be mayor, and in fact, had left the town for the bright lights of Atlanta years before. She wanted to be a journalist, but her dreams were crushed when the television stations made her well aware that she was not pretty enough, not smart enough and just this side of a small-town hick.

Now Claire is back in Lake Bluff, and doing what she thinks is a pretty decent job of running the town. The town council doesn't seem to have actually done anything in years, and the editor and owner of the town paper, Balthazar Monahan wants her job, thinking she is incompetent to do anything. However, the town Sherriff is her old friend, and supports Claire.

But big times are coming for the town. The yearly Full Moon festival has come around, and Claire must chair the festival, while showing no favoritism and keeping things going on an even keel. But that is going to be harder than ever this year. For one thing, a hiker was bitten by a wolf, even though the local wisdom is that no wolves have been sighted in Georgia for years, and a band of gypsies have been hired to put on shows during the Festival. Even for the usually unbiased residents of the town, nobody seems to trust the Gypsies, including the Sheriff, Grace McDaniel, who happens to be both black and Native American.

The leader of the gyspy band, Malachi Cartwright, is interested in Claire from the first, and Claire, although she has suffered a great betrayal by a man she fell for, is returning the interest. In spades. But can Malachi be trusted, not only in the town, but with her heart.

Soon, greater problems surface. Grace has been looking for the wolf, and the hiker, ever since he escaped from the hospital by leaping out of a second floor window... and who seems to have had all his wounds heal completely. Then Claire's former boyfriend shows up, who had previously raped her, and after Malachi punches him in the nose, disappears. Following that, the newspaperman who had it in for Claire also disappears under suspicious circumstances. And when the body of Claire's ex shows up, broken and bloody at the bottom of a ravine, the coroner says he was killed by a canid, possibly a wolf. This older man also says it reminds him of his time in the army, when he was dropped behind the enemy lines and wound up in Germany, where he encountered real werewolves... And now Malachi must prove to Grace, and Claire, too, that he isn't really a werewolf... and none of his people are, either.

Then Claire is attacked on her way home by a real werewolf, who she recognizes by its human eyes as Balthazar Monahan. But the wolf is killed with a silver bullet, exploding into ash, and Claire doesn't know who killed it. But she definitely heard two wolves calling a few days before, and so it doesn't seem as though their job is over. But who is the werewolf, and where is he (or she) hiding?

Lori Handeland is an excellent writer who deftly interweaves thrilling tension, in the form of the wolf attacks and later werewolves, with the love story between Malachi and Claire, giving equal time to each without making either seem rushed or forced. This book can only be tied into her earlier books through the appearance of the Jager-Suchers, the monster hunters who were formed in an earlier book in the series, though they appear only for a short time near the end of the book. Otherwise, this book could and can stand on its own, being about both werewolves and a love story that has its roots in the far past.

This book is deeply satisfying to read, especially the ending. I would definitely gives this one five stars, if I rated books by stars. In the end, I can only say that if you enjoy supernatural romance, this is one of the finer examples of the genre.