Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli – a Review
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Description:
A steamy game of cat and mouse between witch and witch-hunter, played out against a backdrop of opulence, secrets, and bloody history.
On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for.
Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?
Review:
Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli is the 1st book in her new romantic fantasy duology Crimson Moth series. We meet Rune, our heroine, whose life drastically changed forever, when a terrible revolution, when witches became outcasts; hunted and killed. To save her granddaughter, Rune was told to pretend that she knew nothing about her grandmother being a witch, with Rune hiding what she is to survive. Devasted by the death of her grandmother, as well as all the deaths of witches, Rune changes her life. During the daytime, she is a wealthy socialite and by evening she is the infamous Crimson Moth, who rescues witches before their horrifying deaths.
Gideon Sharpe is a witch hunter, who has unsuccessfully been trying to find the Crimson Moth. He gets a clue that Rune might be using her ships to free the witches, and decides to pursue her and in order find evidence that she is a witch. Gideon’s brother Alex, is Rune’s best friend, as well as Verity, and they both know that Rune is the Crimson Moth, but they are totally loyal to her. When Gideon starts making advances, Alex is not happy, as he secretly loves Rune. Gideon plays the part of courting her, and slowly begins to fall for Rune, learning more about her intelligence, as well as being caring. Rune also learns more about Gideon’s past life, hating the witches who killed his family and used him.
Though I understand Gideon’s past with a witch who destroyed his family, I found him to be a bit harsh, going to any length to discover if Rune was a witch. I did love Rune, who was a cunning fighter, always trying to save the witches. With both constantly changing their minds on what are their real feelings in in this game of cat and mouse. There were a lot of twists and turns as we get closer to the end, and saying too much more would ruin this for you.
Heartless Hunter was a fast-paced compelling page turner, that was intense, intriguing, exciting, and a forbidden romance. The last third of the book was wild and tense, with me unable to put the book down. Heartless Hunter was so very well written by Kristen Ciccarelli, was well as being a fantastic world-building. I look forward to the next book, especially since this is a duology.
