Secret Moon

by Siira Gou, Sato Tomoe (Illustrator)

Akihiro Tomoe has been living a lie for decades. A vampire, he has been able to hide his identity and somehow immerse himself into typical town life. However, this peaceful and somewhat dull life is about to change. One night, he stumbles across a man called Taichi Yamagami in trouble. Attracted to the pure but wild Taichi and meaning to cut it off after one night, Akihiro seizes Taichi's body. But one night of passion isn't enough to satisfy Akihiro and he finds himself seeking out Taichi again and again. However, Taichi seems to have a few secrets of his own. Whenever the moon shines from the night sky onto the gentle Taichi, his personality transforms...

Genres: Yaoi, Manga, Light Novel, Romance, Fiction, LGBT, Vampires

250 pages, Paperback

First published December 16, 2008

Reviews

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time to continue my journey of reading my collection of June Yaoi novels I've owned since I was a teenager. I have to say, Secret Moon by Siira Gou was not as bad as many of the other light novels I've read over the past few years. I also have to give my kudos to the translator who did a fantastic job. Many of these June novels usually have subpar translations, to the point that I believe even I could do better despite my toddler-level Japanese.

(Okay, I do translations often for my side work, but I'm not a translator by trade.)

Secret Moon is about a vampire named Akihiro Tomoe who has just left England to return to Japan after two decades. He's a bit of a romantic at heart and is on the hunt for a man to spend his nights with for awhile until he has to move on from them due to his vampiric affliction. While walking through the streets of the city at night, he happens to help out Taichi Yamagami, an intelligent, mild man who just came to the city after living a quiet life in the mountains with a bit of a strange wild side. Akihiro falls in love at first sight due to Taichi's pure heart and confusing wild energy, and uses his powers to convince him to come back home with him.

When he brings him home, he's shocked to find that Taichi is a bit of a brute and is energized by the moonlight. This is sort of where I started to zone out because Akihiro and Taichi both manage to non-con each other which is a first. Taichi has never had any relationship before and is under the influence of the moon. Akihiro confesses his attraction while Taichi is in this altered state, but Taichi also forces Akihiro into extremely wild sex which is not what Akihiro set out to do. It's not enjoyable to read, but I don't think it was meant to be, thankfully. What surprised me was that after the bad sex, the story sort of levels out and tries to develop their relationship and the mystery behind why Taichi is influenced by the moon.

I didn't enjoy this book, but I can say I appreciated that Akihiro and Taichi don't seem like two people who hate each other and have a genuine affection. I also appreciated that they were able to be vulnerable to each other in their own ways, and their relationship wasn't just sex. I just didn't like the story as I rarely enjoy vampire stories, even if Akihiro isn't a full vampire.

[Elle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relies on a lot of tropes, but flips just enough of them that it doesn't feel too tired/cliche. The author's take on vampires and werewolves (evolved or devolved, depending which character you believe) were new and interesting, somewhat lesser than the usual myths but also much easier to pass for human as a result. Taichi's almost dual personalities as a result of the moon's influence were something very new for werewolf romances. I was also surprised and interested in Tomoe's vampirism resulting in him being almost asexual, since he simply doesn't have enough blood to really get interested... down there.

That being said, there are some definite dub-con issues at the start of the story. I don't know if you could consider it flat-out non-con since Tomoe's plan was always to start a sexual relationship with Taichi and he's not not into it, he just underestimated how bad at sex Taichi would be and how rough. Also, he was manipulating the situation a bit unfairly as well. So there was behaviour on both sides that would normally make me back away - but also normally only one half of a pairing does this, so somehow it weirdly balanced out for me, especially as they quickly moved on to a fully consensual and often sweet relationship. I don't know, I feel like maybe it shouldn't work, but for some reason it does for me.

The world-building / supernatural races was still the best part, I'd really love to see more of that, especially the future Anthony envisaged for the race/s.

[Zhana · Rating 5 out of 5]

***Български***
Бях скептично настроена към тази книга, заради вампирското присъствие, но за изненада доста харесах книгата. Историята беше добре написана и просто не можах да спра да чета (накрая четох до 4 сутринта - лудата аз - но просто нямаше как, тъй като историята беше завладяваща). Главните герои бяха добре развити и връзката между тях беше дълбока. Поредното yaoi, което довършвам с тъга, просто не мога да им се наситя.

***English***
I was very sceptical about this book because of the vampire presence but surprisingly I really loved it. The story was well written and I just couldn't stop reading it (I ended up reading till 4 a.m. - crazy me - but I just couldn't help it because it was such a captivating story). Both characters were well developed and their relationship was so deep. Another yaoi novel that I was sad to finish (that happens very often when I read yaoi - I just can't get enough).

[Mariam · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was... Weird? I don't know. It was good and cliche and very familiar. It was a normal kind of book. I didn't like and I didn't dislike it. I nothing it (quoting my bro) :P

I'll just shelf it as the only experience I have in yaoi novels. I read it a while back, I just forgot the title (to show how much I Nothing it). It wasn't practically hot or cool... I don't know.

The art, very beautiful. The write of style, also beautiful and flowing but not enough. I love descriptive writing, deep writing, I love writing that would shatter your heart and just leave you bleeding. The plot was a tad interesting, the idea though, not so unique so I spent more time ravishing the short and the-very-not explicit sex scenes than paying attention to the Vamp and Wolf.

Read it as a recommendation from someone on dA.

[Paola · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was fine, but it was not for me. The relationship between Taichi and Tomoe seemed me unreal and forced. But the plot was nice and entertaining, it was a fun way to pass an hour or two.

[~♥ Elle ♥~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

[Senpai · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW: Rape, (somewhat Beastality maybe??).

Kinda supernatural-ish, which is quite different from what I usually read. Very cute and nice. I liked the whole inugami and vampire thing 10/10