My partner in romance novel reading, Nadine, gave me a book last night and said, "I think you will like it."

Sometimes she knows me too well. I loved Mona Lisa Awakening.

I spent the evening reading this wonderful erotic romance by the talented Sunny. If you enjoy Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series, you will be just as captivated with Sunny's world of the Children of the Moon.

She creates an alien race, magical and powerful, that lives among humans, undetected for thousands of years. A matriarchal society, they rely on their Queens to channel the much needed light of the moon into their bodies to live.

An orphaned girl suddenly finds herself drawn into this world of Queens after meeting a mysterious man who attracts her like no other. Her mixed human and Monère blood gifted her with powers beyond what even the extraordinary Monère already posses. Now she must navigate this new society where magic, sex, and power are all intertwined. All queens are named with the prefix "Mona" to signify their status. Mona Lisa is a throw-away child of a Queen, abandoned for her mixed blood. But she is marked with by the tears of the Goddess and her kindness and capacity for love is tempered with practicality and a shade of ruthlessness.

Sunny's writing is lovely. Written from Mona Lisa's point of view, readers are drawn into the complex world of the Monère High Court. I finished reading the first novel all in one sitting. Mona Lisa Blossoming is the upcoming continuation to Mona Lisa's story.