Full Moon Rising

Riley Jenson, Guardian, Book 1

By: Keri Arthur

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

In this exciting debut, author Keri Arthur explodes onto the supernatural scene with a sexy, sensuous tale of intrigue and suspense set in a world where legends walk and the shady paths of the underworld are far more sinister than anyone envisioned.

A rare hybrid of vampire and werewolf, Riley Jenson and her twin brother, Rhoan, work for Melbourne’s Directorate of Other Races, an organization created to police the supernatural races - and protect humans from their depredations. While Rhoan is an exalted guardian, a.k.a. assassin, Riley is merely an office worker - until her brother goes missing on one of his missions. The timing couldn’t be worse. 

More werewolf than vampire, Riley is vulnerable to the moon heat, the weeklong period before the full moon, when her need to mate becomes all-consuming....

Luckily Riley has two willing partners to satisfy her every need. But she will have to control her urges if she’s going to find her brother. Easier said than done as the city pulses with frenzied desire, and Riley is confronted with a very powerful - and delectably naked - vamp who raises her temperature like never before. 

In matters carnal, Riley has met her match. But in matters criminal, she must follow her instincts not only to find her brother but to stop an unholy harvest. For someone is doing some shifty cloning in an attempt to produce the ultimate warrior - by tapping into the genome of nonhumans like Rhoan. Now Riley knows just how dangerous the world is for her kind - and just how much it needs her. 

Bite into another Riley Jenson novel.

©2006 Keri Arthur (P)2006 Books on Tape

Critic Reviews

"Fans of Anita Blake and Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse vampire series will be rewarded." (Publishers Weekly)

Should come with Xanax

Dear Audible Friend, I really want you to think twice about buying this book and then keep thinking as long as it takes to decide against it. It has to be the single most FRUSTRating book ever recorded. Because there was a fraction of a sliver of a chance the author would somehow redeem herself with a good ending I had to listen to the bitter end - and there wasn't one! She just set up her next book and said "stay tuned". I honestly had to take a sedative to sleep because I was so unbelievably angry.
Thanks for letting me vent - now to be more helpful. There is a laborious (evil people making mutant clones) plot that the author labors and labors over and still manages not to resolve. Irritating but nowhere NEAR as bad as what she does to the romance. She creates a truly fabulous male lead ( I was madly in love with him) who is tragically wasted on a woman who is genetically incapable of fidelity and all but indifferent to love. Sex in this book is a 'call of nature' and it has all the appeal of any 'call of nature' you can name. And so she has unemotional sneezy orgasms with unpleasant men while the romantic hero waits in the car. Needless to say, this relationship goes the way of the plot- nowhere. I wanted to scream and chuck my IPOD out the window.
It's horrible - stay far far away.

Enjoyed this entire series!

This is just the first book in this series. You have to actually read the other 5 or 6, but I find them very enjoyable. I like the premise and the heroine does not do lots of stupid stuff like so many of the paranormal romance/urban fantasy women. Yes, there is a lot of sex, most of it casual, but it becomes a part of the lore of the werewolf in this mythology. I do wish Audible (and for that matter others, like Amazon), would indicate if there is explicit sex. I like to read/hear it in my stories, but if someone is going to be with you in the car, a head's up would be nice. I usually read the reviews to see if sex is mentioned by reviewers. Of course, those are the ones I like - a good story with good sex. Full Moon Rising fills that bill.

I like the narrator also. This series takes place in Australia and her voice is perfect for the lead character.

Boring and boring

Did I say boring? And every paragraph or two we got to hear how horny werewolves are. This book should not be compared to Charlaine Harris or the Anita Blake series. Sex scenes too often too long and too boring. I think I said boring, just wanted to drag this review on the way book drags on. You can substitute boring for horny and get the gist of the book. Wish someone had said this book was too boring to be a harlequin romance and I never would have bought it. I don't like Romance books

Good plot, excessive sexual references

The story line was interesting and engaging but I honestly kept being distracted by the constant sexual references. I am not sexually prudish nor puritainical but the random, "I am a wolf and the Moon makes me horny" references didn't really add much to the plot nor to character development, they just seemed to be thrown in to make the story "spicy." Totally unnecessary and actually distracting from what was a good storyline. It was almost as if the pages of a werewolf/vampire story were randomly mixed in with a cheesy romance novel. Only the use of the words turgid flesh were missing.
So again Good plot, just ignore the constant sexual references, I would NOT recommend this to pre-teens or any one who is easily offended by sex.

not for me

this was difficult to get into. the plot was boring and was going no where before I abandoned it.

Don't try to compare....

Honestly, I got this selection some time ago and liked it very much. Enough so that I keep checking for more from the author. But since it wasn't the best or worst I ever read I didn't review it. With all the recent bad reviews tho I felt compelled to correct my lapse. Like I said, this is a very good book. But don't try to compare it to Southern Vampire, Anita Blake, or other similar series. The author has taken a fresh look at vampires and weres and like many other recent entries in the genre done a fair amount of... shall we say 'pick and choose' with the 'rules' that govern these creatures. No, it is not a selection that will rivet you to the headphones but I don't think it should be passed by either.

One item of note. Many of the other reviews hammer on the sex scenes in this book. They are there, and they are (fortunately or not) becoming a standard for the genre. However unlike recent Anita Blake novels (which I also enjoy) they do not overwhelm and consume 50%+ of the book. If you don't care for this primal aspect I suggest you look to another genre.

Just too much

Lately, I've been into the vampire/werewolf thing and I have been enjoying it, so, I thought that I would give this series a try. It was a waste for me. Though the idea of the story in the book was interesting, I just couldn't bring myself to get into the multiple 'mate' thing. Maybe I'm getting too old for that idea, or, maybe I'm just a prude. Don't get me wrong, I love hot sex scenes, but, I usually like them when it's 'love' and with building up to a 'life mate' thing. Not, this one today and that one tomorrow, or later on tonight. It had me too confused!! So, if you're not into the several different partner thing and like a more 'old fashioned' love story, this one isn't for you. It wasn't for me..................even wolves mate for life, without all this preamble.

Yuck!

The book dragged from the beggining. The lead female character had such an uninterested way about her. I tried getting through the book by speeding up the reading on my ipod, hoping it would pick up at some time. That never happened. Not only was the story bad, the sex scenes were ridiculous. I've read better sex scenes in romance novels! There are MUCH better SCI/FAN books out there. Read them instead!

Anita Blake fans don't miss this one!

If you love paranormal romance and you are an Anita Blake fan, you'll love this one. Finally a vampire to match Jean Claude!

not my audible cup of tea

storyline is good narration leaves an odd taste in the mouth. not sure if it's the higher tone of voice or the accent that makes this a hard listen. ended up just reading the book.

Could have been far better.

For a book supposedly of the fantasy genre, the author seems to have taken another meaning for fantasy. Not automatically a bad thing but something potential listeners should be aware of is that while it features lycanthorpes and vampires it spends a great deal of time describing sex scenes between the title character and her various mates, it's not a bad thing per se, but too much time is used describing exactly how and when Riley is taken by various characters.

The main setting of the book is decent enough, set in the near future in a society where Werewolves, Vampires and other supernatural creates walk the Earth alongside humans and the supernatural are watched over by 'The Directorate'.

The main plot revolves around Riley (the title character) and her search for her brother Rhoan, this plot is quite lightweight, if you lose your place you'll never be wrong by approximating as it never seems to move too far too fast, it's takes a couple of hours for the plot to start to move but by that time you've already listened to an hour of exposition regarding a werewolves sex drive during the week before the full moon, this setting is supposed to serve as a catylst and a burden for Riley during this week but in reality all it does is serve as a week plot device to ensure every male character is descibed in gratious details as Riley casts an eye over them looking to mate with them. If this aspect had been downplayed somewhat it might have made for a better listen to all as it stands it's definatly a book aimed towards women in the overpowering context of Riley's sex drive and continual intercourse with various characters in the story it's something obviously aimed towards women.

If you can look past or even enjoy the gratious dialogue during the various sex scenes you might enjoy this but realistically I think most people will shy away from it because of this aspect.

It's basically lycan porn.

The story did have it's merits, although you could see a lot of similarities to other lycan/vamp fiction as you would expect. I found the narrators voice to be a little whiny, and not very erotic which would have been helpful considering the book is profoundly sexual in nature. To be honest, it should probably be classed as erotica, as sex comes up every other sentence.

The story line is half decent, if not a sort of rip off from Underworld, but if you're bored and want to listen to some erotic lycan/vamp fiction then this might be up your street.

Eagerly waiting forthe next Audible in the series.

I've had this series for years on my kindle and was pleased to find it on audible and purchased it straight away (last read them about two years ago).
The reading was excellent, and in fact, picked up on a number of plot points that I had missed when reading the book.
I listend to the abridged version sample but the full version voice - Justine Eyre - seemed a little deeper and a little more melodious, (plus - who cuts half a book out!). By the end of the book Ms Eyre had become the voice Riley in my mind.
I love this series, the character is strong from the start and the plot developments through the series kept me guessing.
This audible has made me want to read the series again but I'm holding off waiting for the audible version of book two - Kissing Sin.

Awesome

loved it so much cannot wait for the other books in this riley Jensen series

Good story

Good story. Have read the books before & would recommend.
However, I struggled with listening to this as the narrator felt... flat. I didn’t get the emotion & immersed from this that I have from other narrators.

Not for the prudish

If you could sum up Full Moon Rising in three words, what would they be?

Crime Sex Romp

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Not sure there is much to change

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Hot chick uses body to investigate evil men

Any additional comments?

This is a decent crime novel with our heroine getting dragged into investigating an illegal operation.

She isn't actually a detective - or Guardian as the agents are called but shows all the required skills. The twist in these books is she is half werewolf half vampire - though the vampire part isnt really much in evidence - she doesn't like the taste of blood for a start and has no problem with sunlight.

The other difference from normal crime novels is she (and all were's in this book) have uncontrollable mating urges as the full moon approaches - which complicates things a bit as getting laid is all that's on their minds. It makes for some interesting developments and certainly gives a novel twist on interrogation of suspects.

The annoying thing is this is one of the series that Audible UK doesnt have - all the other books are recorded and available elsewhere.

Justine Eyre does a good job as narrator - but she doesn't narrate the rest of the series if you are able to access them via foreign sites. I will probably at least read the next on kindle

In summary - not as good a plot as the Kate Daniels or Mercy Thompson books
Not quite as raunchy as the books written by Suzanne Wright but a good book which I found hard to put down

Outstanding kick off!

This is the first book in a series of 9. Sadly Audible was only able to get the first book which is shame.

A rare hybrid of vampire and werewolf, Riley Jenson and her twin brother, Rhoan, work for Melbourne’s Directorate of Other Races, an organization created to police the supernatural races–and protect humans from them. While Rhoan is a guardian, Riley is merely an office worker–until her brother goes missing on one of his missions. The timing couldn’t be worse. More werewolf than vampire, Riley is vulnerable to the moon heat, the weeklong period before the full moon, when her need to mate becomes all-consuming.

Luckily Riley has two willing partners to satisfy her every need. But she will have to control her urges if she’s going to find her brother….Easier said than done as the city pulses with frenzied desire, and Riley is confronted with a very powerful–and delectably naked–vamp who raises her temperature like never before.

In matters carnal, Riley has met her match. But in matters criminal, she must follow her instincts not only to find her brother but to stop an unholy harvest. For someone is doing some shifty cloning in an attempt to produce the ultimate warrior–by tapping into the genome of nonhumans like Rhoan. Now Riley knows just how dangerous the world is for her kind–and just how much it needs her.

A great start to a fantastic series!

I absolutely loved this audiobook. I will admit it took me awhile to get used to the Australian accent (most books of the genre being narrated by Americans) but after a very short time I really enjoyed the pace and pitch of her voice. As far as the story goes, I throughly enjoyed it. It's funny and fast paced, plenty of adult action (not something a nessacarily look for in a book, but doesn't put me off.) It's a good explain of its genre, I went on to read the entire series in paperback after listening to this and it does only get better. Come on audible, please put the rest of the series on!!

Would recommend this is if you are a fan of Kelley Armstrong, Charlaine Harris, Jeaniene Frost etc.

Could have been better.

This book had several good points. The action scenes were good, the heroine's voice came across loud and clear (often too loud) and the author sets up the scene very nicely for book 2. However, as previous reviewers have noted, far too much time is spent on Riley's sexual exploits with various characters. It detracted a lot from her character and the language and detail were too graphic for my personal taste. I think the reason I stuck with it was the vampire, Quinn. I found him to be a very interesting character, and he was the main reason I kept going. I'm sure I'll probably read the next book if it comes out, but if it's in the same vein as this one, then the format is going to get very old very quickly. In conclusion, this has the makings of a great novel but some of its content lets it down.