SHADOW ON THE MOON

by Zoe Marriott   (LWH)

I must admit the beautiful cover is what drew me into picking up this book and deciding to read it.This was a very unusual book and completely different to what I had expected, but I loved it.

This story was like a Japanese Cinderella story. On her 14th birthday, Suzanne is in her garden with her friend, when soldiers come to kill her father, accusing him of treason. She had never seen soldiers before and didn't know how to be frightened, but when they search her and her friend out to kill them they hide. This is when she discovers she is a shadow-weaver and can create a mantle of darkness and light to change her appearance and be anything she wants to be.

She is forced to live with her mother and her new husband Lord Terayama, who she does not trust and believes they both had a hand in killing her beloved father. She has such grief from the death of her father and friend that she resorts to 'cutting herself' to make the pain go away. She falls in love with another shadow-weaver Otiano but will this be enough to make her happy or is her need for revenge of her father more powerful than love. You'll have to read this story to find out!

I felt this was a beautifully written book and Zoe Marriott swept me away to another land, a land of fantasy, of betrayal and strange customs, but it really felt so real. I felt for Suzanne and all that she was going through and just wanted hold her and care for her so she had no more pain. I highly recommend this book but I was uneasy with the self harm that Suzanne felt she needed to inflict on herself to find relief from her grief.