Now that Winnie Wednesday has passed her hunting trials, she's a small-town celebrity, especially after being bitten by a werewolf and not turning. No one believes her that the real threat is the Whisperer, since no one's seen it in action except Winnie. Only she believes the werewolf is innocent, but the town is on the hunt and is testing everyone. She's still trying to figure out what happened with her father and the Dianas, but the clues are difficult and it feels like she's getting nowhere. The only person who believes her, that she can turn to, is Jay Friday, her childhood friend who might have become more since the trials. Unfortunately, the longer it takes Winnie and Jay to convince the rest of the Luminaries that the Whisperer is real and figure out how to stop it, the more danger everyone is in . More and more Luminaries are found dead, mutilated by the Whisperer, and Winnie feels powerless to stop it. Can Winnie and Jay save Hemlock Falls before it's too late?

I enjoyed this a lot, it definitely answers some questions from The Luminaries but leaves you with even more. Dennard builds a creative world, with horrors, romance, and mystery in turn. I think this was even better than the first, and I can't wait to find out what happens next!

I received this ARC courtesy of NetGalley, in return for my honest opinion and review.

That ending! Action-packed and still on my mind. This deserves all the stars, though the first quarter started a bit slow I couldn't wait for the pace to pick up. But then all that build-up got us to where we are now, wishing we had a third book to jump into. The build was worth it even if it was slow. Cannot wait for more!

The Hunting Moon continued to give me everything that I wanted from that nostalgic, early 2000s YA vibe that I loved in The Luminaries. I can't delve too deeply into the plot because it picks up right after a pretty major cliffhanger/spoiler at the end of The Luminaries, but Winnie is still an outcast...just now in a totally different way. She's the center of attention, sure, but no one actually believes anything that she says. She's just the cool girl who, well...[REDACTED], who might have gone a little crazy in the process. At least, that's how everyone seems to justify her ramblings about the new development in the forests around Hemlock Falls.

This second book was everything I've been hoping it would be for a year! I did not re-read The Luminaries before diving back into the world of Hemlock Falls, but even with a brain full of cobwebs after a year, Sooz did an excellent job of filling in the gaps and reminding you just how high stakes everything was before The Hunting Moon started. For the romance lovers: It's still a slow (slow slow slow sloooooow) burn (if you can call a thoroughly YA book a burn) but in the best ways, with the tension between Winnie and Jay Friday remaining a major and frustrating (we know we love it) all time high. There's enough mystery and intrigue to keep you invested in the goings-on in the forest, as well. At times I found myself frozen, hanging on every one of the narrator's words. The story went to places I absolutely didn't expect, and some of the reveals were shocking! In true YA form, there were also reveals that were predictable, which I think is important--you have to let your readers win at some point, and what better way than to give us those "aha!" moments where we get to figure *the situation* out before the characters do. My only complaint, if you can call it that, is that I felt like the book was still building up when it was over...like, I was genuinely shocked to look up and see that I only had minutes left in the audiobook. But I feel like, even if that's an issue with pacing, it's the mark of a well written book that the reader doesn't realize how much time has passed while they've been reading.

Somehow better than the first book!! I was so surprised by how much more I liked this book cause it’s a second book and some second books fall and are boring

I enjoyed this follow-up to The Luminaries and its further exploration of Winnie's world and her place in it. There is a "twist" at the end that I saw coming from the first book (I'm not sure how you wouldn't) but it definitely hits for the characters and nicely sets up the next book.

The Hunting Moon is a solid second installment in this fun YA contemporary fantasy series. Fans of the first book likely will not be disappointed as mysteries from the first book are solved, more questions are asked, Winnie grows as a character, and there are some great developments with her relationships with other characters (particularly Jay). The slightly spooky vibes of Hemlock Falls and the fascinating Nightmares that Susan Dennard crafted in the first book continue in this installment making this series the perfect fall read.

Like the first book, The Hunting Moon is fast-paced and hard to put down. I suspect that when this series is completed it will be a fantastic one to binge read as not much time passes between installments. There are quite a few elements that feel a bit predictable - a major plot twist that gets revealed toward the end of this book was something I predicted in the first book and so the fact that it took so long to be revealed irked me a bit but overall it didn't detract from the reading experience too much since I overall enjoyed the journey getting to that point. I loved Winnie's character arc throughout and I'm excited to see how this story ends.

There are two things I love in particular about The Luminaries that make this series stand out to me:
1. The books are quite short, under 300 pages
2. They fit firmly in the YA category - Winnie is a teen protagonist who feels like a teen protagonist.

I think a lot of YA these days (particularly in the fantasy genre) tends to be long and written with older (18-20 year old) protagonists to fit in that YA/Adult crossover space. YA Fantasy geared toward the younger teen crowd (13-17) tends to be harder to find and recommend and so I'm happy this series exists - especially because it has great characters and fun worldbuilding with lots of interesting magical creatures (something it has in common with Susan Dennard's The Witchlands series).

This was such amazing sequel. You never know how the second in the series is going to be when you really loved the first. This was beyond fantastic. The reveals were amazing f and I loved being back in this world.

This books suffered from the dreaded second book in the trilogy curse. I found it boring and the FMC who was already annoying in book one increasingly more annoying in this book.

I found the first book to be much more action driven, and more interesting but this one didn't have the same pace nor the same intricacy or mystery behind it. The characters felt flat to me, and I just wasn't as interested in the story as I was with the first one. I understand that there has to be something left for the third book, but I feel like I would've rather read one 500+ pg book than three book. I think the first one gave hints that though revealed here, they weren't shocking nor unexpected.

I slugged through this book... I don't know that I will pick up the third one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

A fun and engaging followup to THE LUMINARIES. I devoured this book.

Perfect for fans of (light) paranormal romance, scary creatures, and realistic and heartfelt teenaged characters. I will absolutely be gifting a copy of this book to the teenagers related to me.

[NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, my NetGalley feedback is not a blurb or endorsement. If a publisher wishes to use any part of my comments for promotional purposes, please contact me or my agent via email. I would prefer not to include star ratings but NetGalley won't let me post without one, so all will be 5 stars.]

Picking up where the first book left off Winnie Wednesday has finally gotten everything she could want, she's passed her hunter trials, her family is welcomed back into the Luminaries, and she's become the local celebrity. However Winnie is still searching for answers from her dad's clues and the only person who can help her find out what happened all those years ago in Hemlock Falls is her ex best friend, Jay Friday. Jay has secrets and issues of his own, and as the Leader of the Hunters hiding one particular secret is getting harder and harder. When Jay catches Winnie with items she shouldn't be keeping he decides to help her, whether or not she wants it. After their friendship ended four years ago, now they're back in each other's lives and Winnie is beginning to realize that Jay has been clearly trying to tell her his secret, yet when she realizes it... will she be able to stay with him? This book is definitely a much slower book than the first one, in fact this one felt like it only took the span of a few days in the book's timeline. Winnie is fresh from beating the hunter trial and spends the rest of this book working on figuring out her dad's clues and what her feelings for Jay are. This is the second book and realizing there is a third and final book has me asking what is happening in the end of this series. I liked the first book better if I'm going to be honest because it had a lot more going on but this one wasn't bad it just didn't really have anything happening. Jay and Winnie are mostly dealing their secrets and feelings for each other the entire book. Overall, it's an okay second book but I kind of wish this was the last book and any events that would have happened in the third book would have been combined with this one rather than stretched further. This is a much younger YA book and a slower burn romance as well.

*Spoiler: Winnie finds out that Jay was the werewolf who saved her and that he's had feelings for her four years ago and still does (He literally writes a song about her and sings it). Jay is a werewolf and has been keeping it a secret from her and pushed her away/ended their friendship because he thought he was protecting her and didn't want to hurt her. Winnie realizes that there is someone else out there killing people and it's not Jay, and that her dad was framed. Winnie rescues Jay when hunters go after him (while he is in werewolf form) and her aunt finds her (and jayout) and is ambushed by other Dianas (and she then lies for Winnie while in the hospital). Jay and Winnie admit their feelings for each other (this is only the second book in the trilogy).

*Thanks Netgalley and Tor Publishing Group, Tor Teen for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This sequel was full of twists and turns, only one of which I had already figured out. Which didn't lessen my enjoyment at all when it was revealed. I loved going along with Winny as she tried to figure out the situation with her father and seeing her grow closer to Jay and her new group of friends was pretty heartwarming. I really enjoyed this sequel, it kept me entertained and sucked in from start to finish and I am so looking forward to the next one!

This sequel was everything I wanted, and somehow more! I enjoyed every moment of Winnie's adventures, and I loved figuring everything out along with her. As someone who went along with the original Sooz-Your-Own-Adventure way back when, it was also sooooo cool to see the little nods to the original poll questions and answers. I cannot wait to get the final installment!!!!

Such an intriguing sequel. I anticipated some of the twists and reveals, but others took me by surprise. I still say this series is perfect for fans of Wednesday or Buffy.

Winnie is such a compelling protagonist because she's the perfect middle ground between gutsy and realistically cowardly/second-guessing. She feels like a real teenager you would know from class.

The Hunting Moon didn't give me the same 2000s YA PNR vibes as the first book, but this was still such a fun read! Susan Dennard did a wonderful job at expanding the world-building here and adding even more details to the world of the Luminaries. The writing was engaging and easy to follow and I still loved Winnie's perspective quite a bit.

The overall plot progression here was also really good! The middle of the book dd drag a little bit for me, but I liked how much progress Winnie made in regard to the situation with her Dad and, further, with Jay. She also changed quite a bit as a main character and it was fun going through that with her and reading about her grow into herself a little more.

The romance bits were also very well balanced with all the other supernatural and investigation elements! I did miss a few of the characters introduced in the previous book here, as they seemed to get a bit sidelined, but I do hope they have more page time as the series goes on. This brought some interesting questions as well that I want answers to!

This middle book, The Hunting Moon ( The Luminaries #2) by Susan Dennard, of the series finds Winnie Wednesday on more adventures and shenanigans. There’s different creatures, a possible boyfriend and a key back to the kingdom, so to speak. Clues left by Winnie’s Dad heightens the mystery. A song might further the relationship between Winnie Wednesday and Jay Friday. The ending had me begging for more as it should. Thanks to Tor Teen and NetGalley for the ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The Luminaries (book 1) was one of my favorites of last year, but this sequel is a bit of a letdown. Don’t get me wrong the world of Hemlock Falls with its monsters and Luminaries is fantastic and interesting, but I feel like I needed more and this was just a middle book slump.
Winnie is dealing with everything after being the Girl Who Jumped during the last trials and no one believes her true story of the Whisperer. The story drags a bit and we get less of the creepy forest and more teenage inner turmoil and angst. Winnie and Jays friendship/relationship is more younger YA and just might not be for me. Still think that Susan Dennard has a great story here and can’t wait to see how it all ties up.

This is the sequel in the Luminaries series where this spooky forest exists and our main character is part of this society where its her job to kill these monsters that dwell in the mist in order to protect everyone. Add some drama from a rival group and you have an on the edge of your seat read. This one sees us with even more threats from the paranormal and even more higher stakes as our main character has to deal with some new responsibilities This is recommended for buffy the vampire slayer fans and I can see exactly why. An absolute thrill ride of a sequel!

So, it may surprise some of you that I’m even reviewing this book given how little I enjoyed the first book. But as I have liked books from Dennard in the past, I wanted to give this series another go. Some of my negative reaction to the first book came down to aspects of the plot and the writing that I wasn’t expecting. Namely, the fact that it was a contemporary fantasy story and the style of writing itself. Knowing both of those factors now, I wanted to see what my experience of the second book in this series would be like. And, while it still wasn’t a huge success for me, I did end up liking this one more than the first.

Let’s start with what I did like! While the YA and adult fantasy genre has been having a moment in the sun for the last few years, I think this book stands out from the pack in the heavy focus on magical creatures and various monsters. Usually, you have a book that has one monster/mythical creature (like the “Mothman” books we’ve seen this fall), but not a book like this that includes a number of different supernatural beings. Speaking of supernatural, this aspect of the storytelling definitely reminded me of the TV show, “Supernatural,” and that’s a pretty high compliment as far as I’m concerned!

As for the plot itself, I was able to stay mostly invested, however I wasn’t overly surprised by any of the twists and turns that we saw. In fact, there was one particular “reveal” that I thought was so obvious that surely there was something else going on, that characters did in fact know this thing and simply weren’t really addressing it for a mysterious reason, or something! I even went back and looked at my ebook of the first book to confirm that no, I guess this particularly thing wasn’t revealed and was, indeed, still a “mystery.”

Much of Winnie’s story and the romance were just OK for me, too. Having a better sense of the type of book that I was going to read did help set my expectations more appropriately. But this book did highlight that while I can still enjoy YA books, sometimes greatly so, there are distinct examples where a book is not going to fit for the simple fact that I am well past the target age group. The love story, in particular, felt very young, even for YA. And while many of Winnie’s thoughts and feelings read as true to a teenage girl, they were not the sorts of struggles that I personally find as compelling to read about anymore.

All of that said, if you enjoyed the first book, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this one. On the other hand, if the first book didn’t work for you as well, this one probably isn’t going to be turning that opinion fully around, even if it was stronger in some aspects.

Rating 7: While a bit predictable as far as the plot goes, this book will likely appeal to readers who enjoyed this world and these characters, particularly its emphasis on supernatural beings.

Link will go live on The Library Ladies on Nov 10

I'm so glad I chose to read this one! I may be in the minority here, but I really didn't love book one, The Luminaries. I found it too slow in places, so I was hesitant to read this sequel. But, I flew through this one by comparison!

Winnie develops more as a character. Looking back, the first book definitely put in some important world-building and background. This enables The Hunting Moon to really focus on character development and relationships. I loved see Winnie and her family no longer be outcasts, but I also think that may help Winnie figure out the mystery surrounding her father in the next book. She has some insights those who have never been outcasts don't. She gets a bigger picture so to speak.

Can we say slow burn between Winnie and Jay? Yet, it remains age appropriate and something I wouldn't mind putting in the hands of older middle school students. This is really almost refreshing to see because some YA fantasy skews more towards older teens/adult readers in that regard. Additionally, I liked the suspicions I had about Jay become confirmed.

My only real frustration with this book....that ending! Now, I have to patiently wait to see how Susan Dennard wraps up this story.

The perfect addition to The Luminaries series. I was hoping to see more of this world and feel more connected to our characters and this book achieved that and more. I'm anxious for the final book.