Daughters of the Moon 1

It's been almost 24 years since this book came out. I loved this series so much! I know I reread them a few years ago, but I've never done reviews for them here. I got the urge to reread yesterday, so here we are.

Daughters of the Moon was probably my first non-anime experience with magical girls. (I watched Sailor Moon on TV before each day of high school.)

I loved the idea of mixing Greek mythology with the magical girl badass squadron concept.

This book follows the first of the four main girls, Vanessa Cleveland. Vanessa has known she was different for years. She has the power to make herself invisible, though it's not as simple as most invisibility. It's like she pulls herself apart at a molecular level and can travel around that way. (Expect her to talk about her molecules a lot if you choose to read these.) She meets her best friend Catty at a young age, and a few years after becoming friends, Catty shows Vanessa her own power, which is to travel a day into the past or a day into the future. 

Vanessa is your typical blonde, popular, goody goody type. Everyone likes her because she's friendly and nice. Lots of guys have crushes on her. But she's not stuck up or really even that confident. She's very nervous about her power and what might happen if she gets too close to a guy. 

Vanessa has a few big worries going on.

First, she's caught the eye of her crush, Michael Saratoga. He asked her out. Can she even kiss him without going invisible out of nerves and excitement? The pair spend the entire book going back and forth on what exactly they're doing. Vanessa distances herself to not out her weird powers, while Michael sees this as her pulling away from him, so he's put off by her constant mixed messages. They work things out in the end and they're a cute couple, if I remember correctly. 

Second, Vanessa is convinced someone is following her and even coming into her bedroom.

Third, Catty disappears. Vanessa knows something happened to her when she was travelling back in time to investigate who was following Vanessa. 

Fourth, this new girl named Serena has been a little too interested in her. Vanessa finally gives in and goes with Serena and her best friend Jimena to meet the person that can help find Catty. Enter Maggie, who tells Vanessa that she's a goddess, a daughter of the moon. She explains about the ancient source of evil, called the Atrox, that's the enemy they'll be fighting the entire series. Vanessa is in disbelief. 

Fifth, Vanessa is dealing with a bad boy named Stanton, who says he and his fellow Followers (of the Atrox) have Catty. It's him that's been following Vanessa. Vanessa asks him how he became a Follower and he puts her into his memories so she can see for herself. She tries to save young Stanton in the memories and for that kind act, he can never harm her. He gives her a location to meet, but Maggie warns her it's too dangerous.

So of course, Vanessa decides to go and Catty is indeed there. The two girls fight off the Followers as best they can, but they're not doing that well until in strut Serena and Jimena. The four goddesses are able to hold off the Followers and escape. 

I've read this book several times over the many years it's been out and I think this is the time I've most liked Vanessa. I was always more of a Serena or Jimena girl until Tianna joined them in the fifth book and she was my fave for the rest of the series. Vanessa was always too timid for me, but I've grown to appreciate her. I'll be curious to see if my feelings on Catty have also changed. She was always my least favorite. 

It's good to be back in the DotM world! I even ordered the four Sisters of Isis books off Amazon. I lost mine in the hurricane.