"Moonlight on My Mind" is the third in the loosely connected "Second Sons" trilogy. It features veterinarian Patrick Channing and Julianne Baxter from "Summer is for Lovers." I admit wasn't too crazy about Julianne from the previous novel. She seemed like she liked a lot of attention and was a little catty towards women. That's the superficial side we're allowed to see. And it's only until we get her story that we learn that's her front (sort of).

But in this book we meet a very headstrong and stubborn, yet remorseful and kind young woman. She's seeking out Patrick to convince to return home and claim his new title of Earl. They previously met a year ago at a ball and she initially used Patrick to get his brother's attention and it worked. But little did they know, their game of flirtation and a kiss would sear into their brains for the following year. But Julianne gave testimony that she "witnessed" Patrick shoot his brother and since then, he has been on the run.

Patrick tolerates Julianne, he's attracted to her for sure, but she gets under his skin. Because of her testimony he's had to give up his cushy life in England and live in a small Scottish town. His father indulged his veterinary pursuits as a hobby, but has now made that into a career. When he sees Julianne, he suffers from the conflict of tolerating her to lusting for her.

We get cameos by previous heroes James MacKenzie and David Cameron. Solicitor James recommends he marry Julianne since a wife cannot give testimony. It'll will also save her reputation and potentially her life since James will go everything to disparage her character and testimony and she might be subsequently charged for giving false evidence against a member of the realm.
There's a lot of character change for these two. Julianne feels guilty for what she's done, she gave testimony for what she thinks she saw and didn't realize the damning consequences. She's stubborn as well. When it's time to consummate the marriage so that it's valid, he wants to take it slow so that a) it'll be somewhat pleasurable and b) as to not hurt her, but she wants to get it over with since she wants the control and she wants to control her destiny. I was a little surprised at how quickly he gets over his irritation of her. He mentions that because of her his life has changed and not for the better. At first there's friction between them, but he quickly thinks with the wrong head.

There are several red herrings as to the actual murderer, but once one villain comes out, the other does too and I was pleasantly thrown off. The evidence that Julianne gave as testimony was a little suspect, it didn't seem all the way thought out on the author's part - like I felt there were some holes. But given the identity of the villain(s), it makes sense.

Perhaps I overlooked it, but how old is Patrick exactly? There are several mentions of Julianne being underage and it's confirmed that she's 20. He seemed much older in his reserve, while she seemed younger (definitely not immature) in her manner.

Having read the entire series I think I would rank them as Summer is for Lovers first and I'm torn between the first and the third. I definitely liked them all. The characters are written well and you certainly get a sense of who they are and their motives. I think each book has a different theme to them, this one being a sort of murder mystery. I'm definitely looking forward to more work from this author!