Now that she's a werewolf, life hasn't gotten any easier for Claire. Her mother is still hardly in her life, except as the alpha of their pack. Claire's amazing relationship with her boyfriend is starting to show signs of strain from her constant pack obligations, and Claire is losing her best friend because of the secrets keeping them apart. Additionally, Claire needs to up her werewolf game and learn to do all of the things her kind are able to do in order to be accepted as a full member of the pack.

Sadly, this sequel to Claire de Lune really fell flat for me. There were several times when I was tempted to simply put this book down and not continue, but I kept reading, hoping that the story would pick up. It never did.

My issue with this book was that it was just boring. Nothing much happened, and I didn't feel compelled by the plot. There are various conflicts present: Claire's inability to create werewolf fire, the threat of her friend finding out what she is, the impending werewolf baby. None of these did it for me, though. And at the end, Johnson gives us another, far more intense conflict, but I never felt a sense of urgency, or like the story would take a dark turn and that everything might not be okay. I had no doubt that things would resolve in a happy manner, and so I just didn't care. I was shocked--a book that actually makes werewolves seem dull is a real shame.

Additionally, this book was entirely too full of teen angst for my taste. Maybe I'm just too old, or never having been somebody who went to high school dances or the ability to take my mom's Mercedes or fancy credit card, just couldn't relate. The back and forth of misunderstandings and tension in Claire's friendships frustrated me, because I wanted her to learn to communicate with other people and stop letting life roll over her. Take some responsibility for your relationships and grow. Instead, we got pages of pining over the upcoming school dance, and listening in on other people's phone conversations by using werewolf hearing.

I think there may be an audience of people who could enjoy this book. If you loved the first in the series, you may as well give this book a try. I was somewhat indifferent to Claire de Lune, and after reading Nocturne, I'm going to cut my losses and move on.