Circle of the Moon continues the story of Nell Ingram - ex-church woman, federal agent-in-training - a woman who is more often a plant than a person. When Psy-led discovers strange magic circles around the county, Nell and company begin investigating these strange occurrences that point to a mishmash of magical traditions with few clear patterns. To make matters worse, these circles are affecting the supernaturals in the area - especially the local vampire coven and her boss - Rick Lafleur. Their investigation will lead them closer to hell than ever before as they race to break Rick's connection to the magic that is killing him.

I continue to enjoy this spin-off series from Hunter's Jane Yellowrock books. Nell's voice, and perspective, is unique and I enjoy watching the careful dance she makes with every new person in her life as she tries to reconcile the modern world so different than the cult she grew up in. You do not need to read the Yellowrock books to follow what is going on in this new series, but they will bring perspective to certain character backgrounds. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

Nell Ingram continues to grow in this volume of the Soulwood series. Her boss, Rick LaFleur, is being adversely affected by strange witch circles that are appearing in their local area. Besides trying to solve this mystery, Nell has to deal with becoming her sister's guardian and her budding romance with wereleopard Occam. But everything seems to come to a head when vampires, a demon, and deranged witches come calling in Knoxville. A very entertaining addition to the Jane Yellowrock universe.

Circle of the Moon is the Fourth installment in author Faith Hunter's Soulwood series. Set in Tennessee, Psy-Law Enforcement Special Agent Nell Ingram uses her innate magical abilities to work with an agency policing paranormals in this series set in the same world as the Jane Yellowrock novels. First thing out of the gate. Please note that this book contains spoilers from Dark Queen (Jane Yellowrock, #12). So, if you haven't yet read that book, please take a moment and go back and do so.

To say that this book contains a plethora of curious storylines is like saying that chocolate is good for you. Nell has so much to do, so much to think about, and so much to deal with that you have to wonder when it's all going to come to head. If you have read the previous three installments, then you know that Nell has had some interesting times which included spending 6 months as a tree! No, I am not kidding. Coming off her 6 month "disability" time off, Nell has a whole lot of catching up to do.

She's trying to do the right thing by her sister Mindy aka Mud who she is trying to legally adopt. That means getting her home up to code, joining the 21st century, and not just being off the grid. Getting Mud to stop talking like a church-woman, and try speaking townie English as well as registering her for school. Mud is a curious sort as well as very intelligent. One should never take Mud for granted or be dumbfounded by the things that she comes up with.

Nell's bond with Occam has really grown to the point where Nell's family is wondering what the next step is. I can honestly say that I can tolerate her brother Sam, her father, and her mother more now than before. I think I said, 'It's about damn time!" at least 20 times over the course of this book. Nell and Occam are a really cute couple who both deserve happiness. Plus, Nell is good for Occam's healing that happened in the previous installment.

I have an internal struggle whenever Rick LaFleur is involved in any story. From Dark Queen, to being in charge of Nell's Psy-LED Unit 18, he's going to be involved whether you like it or not. Rick's past is really unmasked in a major way in this story and it's up to Nell and her teammates to do what they do in order to not only save him, but prevent a major catastrophe from happening. That includes bringing in new characters like Special Agent Margot Racer, and a character named Ayatas Firewind to be the teams new boss. If you think you know who Firewind is, please don't spoil it for the rest of the class.

4.5 of 5 stars

Faith Hunter’s CIRCLE OF THE MOON is a thrilling experience. Psy-Law Enforcement Probation agent Nell helps the Head agent Rick LaFleur investigate witch circles that are targeting him and using dark magic.

For me, this was one of those stories that kept getting better the more you read it. The beginning felt a little slow, but there was a lot of pertinent information that was relevant to the rest of the story. The details that have gone into this story is impressive. The plot was creative and original. The investigation had a lot of unexpected twists. I like how the story tied into the Jane Yellowrock novels.

The characters are well developed. They learned a lot and grew throughout the story. Nell is an interesting character. I like that she has unique abilities. They played a fascinating role in the novel. CIRCLE OF THE MOON was skillfully written. I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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I'm going to have to talk about the events at the end of the previous book, Flame in the Dark, a little bit. If you haven't read that -- sorry. You may want to use the time you were about to spend on this post to purchase that/get it from your library instead.

So, with any of these Soulwood books there are three main threads to follow: 1. The PsyLED case(s) and storylines associated with the team; 2. The developments with God's Cloud of Glory Church and Nell's family; 3. Nell's personal evolution as in independent woman and her supernatural development. These will all intertwine and effect each other -- particularly the private lives of the PsyLED team and Nell's own development. I want to touch on all these briefly to give you a good idea what to expect with this book.

Let's start with God's Cloud of Glory, which gets a lot less ink than we're used to. But when they show up, it counts. It's unclear how much of the church is really in favor of the changes occurring within it -- it's probably not as uniform as I'd been thinking. Which makes sense, any reformation is slow and complicated -- and won't be a straight line of progress, humans are messier than that. Whether this group will actually stumble into orthodoxy is hard to say, and it'll definitely take years. We get to see a little of the pushback to the reforms here, but it's nothing severe. I expect in a book or two, something will happen because of what we see in this book. The Vampire Tree on the Church's land takes a different role in this book than we've grown accustomed to -- and it's probably the most important and intriguing development having to do with the Church in Circle of the Moon (possibly the most important in the book as a whole, too -- time will tell).

We do learn some interesting things about Nell's family and how they acted before Jane Yellowrock and the feds upended everything, too. I shouldn't forget that...

As far as Nell goes, it's been just a few weeks since she stopped being a tree and started being a human-ish person again. As you can see from the excerpt I posted earlier, things are going well for Nell and Occam, and things are moving quickly on the Mud coming to live with Nell front. But both are bringing their share of challenges for Nell. Her life is definitely not looking anything like what she'd envisioned and the changes aren't easy for her -- she mentions at one point her mixed feelings about coming into the twenty-first century. As much as she relishes some of these changes, none of them are easy.

Nell is forced to confront and re-evaluate her ideas about love, commitment, what it means to be in a romantic relationship. So much of her thinking is still that of a "churchwoman" as she'd put it. She knows other women, other men, don't think of things in those terms and while she's rejected her upbringing, she hasn't yet replaced everything she wants to (she probably hasn't even figured out everything she wants to change).Occam is the best person for her to be involved with right now (the cynic in me wants to say that he's too perfect, but I like him too much to listen to my inner cynic) -- his patience, kindness and understanding are what's going to help her the most now.

I'm not gong to say anything else about Mud -- but I'm a fan. I don't think Hunter hit a false note with her character or any scene she was in. Mud's a great character and knows exactly what she wants in this life (at least for now) and what she needs to do to get it. Primarily that involves manipulating and/or convincing her sister to do a few things -- and Mud's an expert at both of those.

As far a Nell and her powers go? Just wow. If you think the tree thing in the last book was revolutionary, just wait. There's nothing as cataclysmic this time (thankfully -- I'm not sure we readers could take it), but the implications of some of what Nell does in this book that aren't yet known or seen, and the reverberations from them will be felt for a while.

So that brings us to PsyLED. Rick LaFleur wakes up in the middle of a very strange witch circle with no idea how he got there. He'd been called there somehow -- as his cat. There's a dead cat near and Nell picks up traces of vampires in the circle, too. Clearly, black magic is involved -- but how and why, no one knows. It doesn't take long before there are other circles being discovered -- new and made in recent weeks. Rick and some of Ming's vampires alike being called to them. Either of those happenings would be concerning -- but the combination of them is mysterious and troubling. Also, why is Rick being called and nothing happening to the team's other werecat? The questions and mysteries pile up quickly.

Some trouble in Knoxville law enforcement doesn't help, either. Supernatural crimes/events -- things like strange witch circles -- aren't being reported to PsyLED as they ought to be. The FBI and one particular agent (the witch that Nell met last time) are hovering on the fringes of the investigation in a way that speaks of more than mild curiosity. Changes and upheaval in the local vampire government -- Ming of Glass is now a MOC, for example -- feeds into some of the confusion.

It's one of those situations where the more Nell and the team learn, the less they know. Everything points to big trouble, they just can't figure out what kind of trouble -- or even its source. Rick is going to have to explain a lot about things he's previously been reluctant to discuss, for starters. And still, they may not figure out what kind of black magic is involved -- and why -- before it's too late to save innocent/not-so-innocent lives.

This is the best PsyLED story this series has yet given us. Nell running off on her own isn't going to crack this, solid procedure, a real team effort and some quick thinking (and a few lucky breaks) are the key to things working out. It's probably the most exciting story, too. There's a lot of action, there are more guns fired in this book by law enforcement than possibly in the first three books combined. Lainey and her magic, JoJo's computer wizardry (legitimate and less than), Occam's cat and trigger finger, Tandy's abilities, plus Nell's abilities (including offensive capabilities we haven't previously seen) are going to have to work more in general and in combination with each other than they have in the series so far just to keep the team in the game -- but for them to actually close this case and get some answers, they're going to need extra help. I loved this part of the book and want to keep talking about it, but I'm going to hold back. I've often wondered if the team wasn't wasting time in the past -- not this time. Everything clicked for me with this story and I couldn't be happier about the whole thing.

I'm pretty sure that I can't say anything about the people behind the circles without ruining something. There's some real evil afoot, I tell you what. There's also a damaged soul (well, a few of them), some well-intentioned moves in the past that result in trauma and worse in the present, a mixture of aligned entities that don't necessarily have the same ends in mind. You combine those things and you get a lot of damage, heartbreak, and death being dealt. Not only is this the best PsyLED story, it's got the most compelling opponent(s) for the team yet.

I know that Rick has his detractors going back to early on in the Yellowrock books up until his involvement in this series. I haven't checked as much as I should have to see if some of them have come around to him or not. I've never been as anti-Rick as others have been, but he's never been a character I liked. As soon as he and Jane split, I would've been content to never think of him again -- but Hunter had other ideas. I liked him in this role, but I've always preferred everyone else on the team (except Paka), and really hoped he'd be in the background for some time. Yeah, well, that's absolutely not the case in this book. I won't say that this book wholly rehabilitates the character for me -- and I can't imagine that the extreme anti-Rick contingent will be satisfied. But, I will say that it'll be hard for people to not soften their opinion of him after this book. Hunter did a lot of good to his character in this book. For people who liked Rick and/or were positively-inclined toward him? You're going to love this.

Tandy does a couple of things in this book that intrigued me. Nell's not the only paranormal on this team whose powers are developing in ways that may prove troubling. I wonder if it's a coincidence that these two (and maybe others?) are changing, or if there's another explanation -- they're changing each other, one is changing the other while they evolve themselves -- or is there an outside party up to something? It's also possible I'm reading too much into things.

This is largely an aside for people who are Yellowrock fans. Throughout this book, we brush up against Jane Yellowrock and what happened in Dark Queen, which seems to have happened while Nell was a tree (I think Dark Queen started about the same time as Flame in the Dark, but DQ ended a lot sooner than FitD), and Nell's not really up on what's going on with her friend yet. She knows a couple of the bullet points, but doesn't really have the full picture. According to FaithHunter.net's Reading Order, this novel actually happens after the next Jane Yellowrock novel. So, we're about as confused as Nell is. Now, does this impact any of the interaction Nell, JoJo and the rest have with Jane, Alex or any of the vampires in Tennessee? No. But man, it makes me even more curious about what happens after Dark Queen -- I didn't think I could be more curious about that than I was, but man...this book has really intensified all that for me.

Okay, back to Circle of the Moon. I've given the first three books in the series 4 1/2 Stars each. I think this time I have to give in and toss that missing half star to the rating. The PsyLED story was great, we didn't get bogged down in the Church/cult business too much, Mud just made me smile, and while I'm not comfortable with every choice Nell made in her personal and professional life (and a couple of the choices worry me long-term) -- I like the fact that she's making them. I can't think of a single problem with this book, it satisfied every fan-impulse/desire I had, was a step up from previous installments in many ways, and told a solid and complete story that still drives the reader to want more. I can't imagine a Hunter fan not liking this book -- and it's the kind of book that should get her some new readers, too.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for this post -- thanks to both for this. My opinions remain my own and are the honest reactions of this particular reader.

This 4th book of the series was a bit harder to review than the others for me, it was more of a police procedural at heart than some of the others since several subplots revolved around a mystery that we get to observe being solved a bit at a time. Add that to the fact that Nell is like no other heroine in modern fiction it makes it hard to do any comparisons.

There is the usual mix of things like the continuing romance with Occam that gets the flame turned up just a bit, the always tenacious relations with the "churchpeople" and the efforts to make a home that will allow her to officially move her sister Mud in with her. Let us not forget Rick who plays a major part in this book (and for those of us who are Jane Yellowrock fans, we get to revisit some things we might have forgotten about along with a few new details).

It all starts with Rick finding himself in a place and no idea how he got there, as i mentioned the story goes along, giving you more information of what the mystery is all about and then feeding you bits of clues that eventually reveal the truth but then you have a massive evil you have to deal with and we don't really want Nell turning back into a stump again :)

It was a wild ride, as with most of the books there are several subplots that go along with the main plot and make this book/series even more entertaining since after 4 books I cannot imagine it without all these little things that entertain you between major moves on the main plot. You know, the little things like kidnapping, vampire trees, the fact there seems to be some kind of plant people in the family tree, little things like that to go along with the mixture of "churchpeople" that either love her, ignore her or want to burn her at the stake :) Never a dull moment in Nell's world and it makes for exceptional reading.

While the Soulwood series isn't my favorite of Ms. Hunters's books, I did enjoy reading this one. The action. The Adventure. The muted undertones of a romance. All together a decent read.

I got about 40% through this and decided to set it aside. I enjoy Nell, but this book spends a lot of time backfilling events from the Jane Yellowrock series (which I stopped reading last year because I just wasn't enjoying it anymore).

This story dealt too much with Rick and tied in too much with the Jane Yellowrock series. I found myself skimming through large portions of it because I just did not care.

I guess I am done with Faith Hunter as an author at this point. The stories just move a bit too slow for me and have way to much procedural detail in them. This is a pity because I loved Nell as a character, I just don't enjoy the story surrounding her.

The Soulwood series continues with Nell coming back to her life with her sister and job with PsyLED after being a tree for 6 months. A new mystery has the team investigation mysterious circles. ARC from NetGalley.

Circle of the Moon by Faith Hunter is the 4th book in her urban fantasy Soulwood series. I am a big fan of Faith Hunter, especially for her fantastic Jane Yellowrock series, and I have really enjoyed the Soulwood series. In Circle of Moon, Hunter has given us the best one yet in this series. Warning: If you read the Jane Yellowrock series, and have not read Dark Queen, you should read that first before starting Circle of the Moon, as there are spoilers.

Nell Ingram is our heroine, and in Circle of the Moon, she becomes more confident and independent in using her powers. Nell is a member (probie)of PsyLed (Unit Eighteen), a Homeland Security division that investigates paranormal cases and is based in Knoxville, TN, close to Soulwood. The PsyLed team is made up of witches, werewolves, empaths and Nell fits right in with her Soulwood powers; they make a great team, as they are all very likeable (Occam, T-Laine, JoJo, Tandy, Rick and Soul, who has a small part in this book, probably due to her time in Dark Queen).

Nell and team are called into an unusual case involving witch circles and dead animals. Rick, who has had his own issues for awhile, is being pulled in to the spell. The team work together to help Rick, and to find out who and why these dangerous blood spells are being used. While Nell spends a lot of hours at the team quarters, she is also in the middle of getting custody and protecting her younger sister, Mud; upgrading her house with more modern things, including air conditioning, and her slow burn evolving relationship with Occam.
What follows is an intense, exciting, gripping and violent story, where team Nell and team become immersed into stopping the sorcerer who is becoming all too powerful, which threatens everyone and everything . With Rick being unable to stop from being pulled to the circle, the team forces his cat into to a cage to protect him. The last half of the book was an edge of your seat thriller, and Nell was totally amazing stepping up in a wild and fantastic ride to the climax. Nell’s powers grow, but I loved her bond with her teammates, and how close they have become.

Circle of the Moon is a fabulous addition to this series, as it is action-packed, suspenseful, exciting and dangerous death defying situations; with a fantastic group of characters and an amazing heroine. This is not an easy review to write, as telling too much more would be spoilers. There are a lot more characters we get to meet; vampires, witches, agents, etc. Nell is a great heroine, and continues to get better in each book. I for one cannot wait for the next book in this wonderful series. Faith Hunter has once again given us a fantastic story, with so many emotions throughout. I still cannot get over the feelings and emotions from Dark Queen. Hunter is an amazing writer.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

Faith Hunter does some really solid world building. Add to that well developed characters and a compelling mystery, and you get a pretty good read.

Although I enjoy the Soulwood series and the Jane Yellowrock series, I dislike when two series get so intertwined that the reader needs to have read the latest of one series to be able to fully appreciate the events of the other. Alas, that is the case in Circle of the Moon. Nonetheless, it was a fairly satisfying read. I enjoy seeing Nell adapt to life outside the cult in which she grew up, and I am pleased to find a series about a supernatural being who is NOT a were of some form, or a vampire (Nell's magic is linked to the earth of her property, Soulwood).

Wow! I love Faith Hunter's books and she has done it again in this action packed installment of Soulwood. I love Nell and how she and the whole crew are growing and changing. For those of you who are fans of Nell and Occam getting together there is a little something in this book for you. I have never really been a fan of Rick but I am starting to feel very sorry for him now. In this book we see why he has been having such troubles and the ending makes me think things are going to start getting better for him. There are also enough hints of Jane Yellowrock to make me inpatient for her next book as well as the next soulwood. I highly recommend this book.





I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Nell Ingram is one of my most favorite of Faith Hunter's characters. This book has me a little concerned about Nell's continued gradual transformation into a tree, but I trust she stays at least mostly human. One of the things I love about this character is how Hunter portrays her relationship with her boyfriend, another PsyLed member. It makes sense, with Nell's sexual history, that the relationship needs to be slow and gradual and I love the respect her boyfriend shows to her as he waits for her to meet him emotionally and sexually. Nell's powers are growing but the reader is left wondering if that is a good thing, or if the cost is too high?

Circle of the Moon is the latest novel from the Soulwood series. It is also set in the same world as Jane Yellowrock, and this particular novel comes after the events of Dark Queen. If you’re not up to date with Jane’s series, do not read Circle of the Moon unless you want some major spoilers!
Okay, now that I have that part out of the way…on to the rest of my review! I originally fell in love with Faith Hunter’s novels thanks to the Jane Yellowrock series, so it was only natural that I started reading her newer series based in the same world, Soulwood.
I love both series, but for completely different reasons. Okay, not completely different, but you get what I mean. Both give me my fantasy fix, and both are very well written and have exceptionally strong and fascinating characters.
Jane Yellowrock is this tough and amazing person that has gone through so much. And even knowing that she’s going to go through a lot more before her story is done, I can’t help but follow her every adventure. I love that she doesn’t take BS from anyone and that she’s fully capable handling situations on her own – while still preferring to have people in her life.
Nell Ingram is tough in her own ways. She’s gone through just as much, if not more, than Jane, but the molds that built them were completely different. Nell has had to fight tooth and nail for everything that is hers, and she isn’t afraid to speak out for what she thinks is right. She isn’t as physically strong as Jane, but she has other things going for her.
Personally, I love everything about Nell’s ability set. From the apparently unique nature of it to the fact that for the longest time she was a mystery to everyone, including herself. In some ways, she still is a mystery, and that’s so amazing. I love that every novel we learn a bit more about her and the limits to her abilities. More than that though, I just love the way her abilities work, and the aesthetics of them.
Okay, I think I’ve done enough babbling about the reasons why I love this series. Onto the newest novel, Soulwood. Again, I’d like to state that if you’re not up to date in Jane Yellowrock that you should not read this book. It should probably go without saying that you shouldn’t skip the previous Soulwood novels either, but I’m just going to throw that out there too.

<Spoiler>

Warnings first: If you’ve read any of the previous books in both Soulwood and Jane Yellowrock then you’ll know that Faith Hunter doesn’t pull punches. Sometimes that means that when a horrible person (or creature) is on the move, that means horrible things happen. In this novel, there’s quite a lot of animal death, as well as mentions of rape and torture. None of the latter is seen or experienced firsthand, for what it is worth.
Part of me was a little nervous to begin reading Circle of the Moon. I know that sounds crazy, but bear with me, alright? You know when you love a series so much, and the last book you read in it was so amazing that you just don’t know how the next one could possibly top it? That’s how I was feeling going into this. I imagine I’m not the only one feeling that way, so let me help everyone else out: I had no reason to be anxious or concerned. Circle of the Moon lived up to all my expectations and then some. I’d actually have to say that this is potentially my favorite novel in the series so far.
Circle of the Moon had a lot of ground to cover, courtesy of the conclusion of Flame in the Dark, which had a long of long term consequences for several members of the PsyLED team. I am happy to say that these consequences were not ignored or overlooked. Well, happy in the sense of continuity. Otherwise, I just felt bad for certain characters (you know who I’m talking about).
It felt so good going back to the world of Soulwood. I hadn’t realized how much I missed the characters; all of them! It was wonderful to see Nell and Mud again, as well as her whole PsyLED team. There were characters I could have lived without seeing again, but then there wouldn’t have been as much conflict here, so I’m not actually complaining.
Nell was her quirky self, as per usual. I have loved watching her learn her abilities throughout the course of the series. More than that, I love that her abilities have limits and costs. It makes everything she does feel that much more important. Plus, if I’m being honest I just love the plant theme to it all. And little Mud is adorable, as always. I like picturing her as the spunkier mini version of Nell.
It’s funny seeing what characters end up crossing over between the two different series. Speaking of, a new character introduced during Dark Queen made an appearance here. So once again I want to stress reading Dark Queen first, as you will certainly not appreciate his role as much without that important context.
Speaking of characters, if you asked me three or four books ago how I felt about Rick, my answer would be very different from the answer I’d give you today. I don’t think I’ve ever had my feelings for a character shift that dramatically. But the writing supported it; I don’t think I could have felt any way other than how I did.
As for the plot itself…wow. I almost feel like I should leave it at that! But I won’t. The plot was broken down into several different parts, all of which wove in and out and then finally together to create this incredibly intense finale. It was tense, it was brutal at times, it was political and smart at other times, and it was an incredible read throughout. In short, it was exactly what I wanted for this series.
So, in the end, I went from being anxious about starting the novel, to sad about having to finish it. That sounds about right though, doesn’t it? But that’s also the sign of a well-written book, so I will happily pay the emotional toll for it.
I know that Faith Hunter just finished up on the next Jane Yellowrock novel (Shattered Bonds) and that progress is being made for the next Soulwood novel, so hopefully, that knowledge will help me get through the next few months while I wait for news.

Full review to be published online in late February.

Note to readers: it would be well served to have read Faith Hunter's novel 'Dark Queen' from her "Jane Yellowrock" series before tackling this book. Although two separate series, they are set in the same world; and there are events in this book that harken back to DQ.


CIRCLE OF THE MOON is the fourth book in Faith Hunter's intriguing "Soulwood" series. Nell Ingram is still a probationary officer in Unit Eighteen of PSY-LED, the US law-enforcement agency covering crimes involving non-humans, or
supernaturals. Unit Eighteen is based in Knoxville, Tennessee, where some unusual witch circles have been showing up. It isn't clear what the circles are intended to do; but it can't be good with the blood magic involved. Other things start happening, as well. Are they coincidences? Separate cases?

CIRCLE OF THE MOON is jam-packed with mystery, action, and danger. There is friendship, family, romance, and betrayal. And, of course, continual character-development is a hallmark of Faith Hunter's writing. very nice addition to a well written and addictive series.

The fourth book in the Soulwood series does not disappoint. Faith Hunter dives deeper into the relationships and characters of the PsyLed unit, while offering up a fast-paced and tense storyline that leaves you on the edge of your seat. Warning: this isn't a book you'll be able to put down once you start reading! Plan accordingly with plenty of snacks and cups of tea!

This book takes place after Dark Queen. If you read both series, you will want to read DQ before you read this book. This book continues to develop Nell, her relationship with Occam, the team and gives more information on Rick. It took me a couple of books to get into this series, but I am enjoying the series immensely now. Faith's books are complex enough that I'm thinking I'll need to go back and reread them to remind myself of what has happened.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely wonderful... I love this (and Faith Hunter's) other series. The characters are well developed and the story is spell binding. I have trouble putting these books down. Nell and family, along with friends, take on the para enemies with aplomb...Do we really have to wait for the next one?