Druid’s Moon

Bevan’s ambitious but not entirely successful first full-length novel (after the novella Summer Fire) mashes up a tired fated love trope, a generational curse, some archaeological derring-do, a tenuous connection to Beauty and the Beast, and a vaguely Lovecraftian nemesis. Inside the Cornwall cave where archaeologist Lyne Vanlith is working her first dig, she finds an out-of-place document containing a dramatic poem about a Beast, a Beauty, and an Octopus. She soon recognizes the omens in the poem coming to pass, culminating in an encounter with the wolflike Beast. The monster is actually Frederick Elyan Cunnick, a nobleman transformed by the evil Lady Cockerell, who owns the dig site, to be the murderous slave of the subterranean Mistress Afanc. Lyne’s kiss returns Frederick to his human form, but to stay a man and end the curse for good, he and Lyne must defeat the Cockerells. Lyne is a disappointingly passive and easily manipulated heroine, and her relationship with Frederick lacks both heart and bite. Bevan glosses over many of the obstacles and plot hooks she sets up, offering little in the way of pay off. The resulting romantic fantasy is for only the most diehard fans of beauty and the beast tropes. (Sept.)