Reviews with content warning for Death - Heartless Hunter

Reviews tagging 'Death'

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

107 reviews

aheinicke27's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book felt a lot like the plot of The Scarlet Pimpernel but set in a world of blood magic and witches. The main characters, Rune and Gideon are on opposite sides of a newly instated anti-witch regime. Rune masquerades as a ditzy socialite to hide her secret identity as the scarlet moth, a wanted rebel who frees witches captured by blood guards. Gideon, a blood guard captain, is working to hunt her down. Both characters attempt to use each other for their own gain with a “fake courtship” that, somewhat predictably, becomes all too real.

I enjoyed the cat and mouse aspects of the story and the budding romance between the characters, despite the fact that there definitely were times that they also frustrated me with their bonehead choices and assumptions. While the romance part of the book was fairly predictable, there was a HUGE plot twist that I predicted incorrectly at the end of the story. Overall I enjoyed listening to this book, and I’ll probably read the sequel too!

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boba_n_books's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Spice Rating: 🌶️ / 5

This is hands down one of the best and most captivating books I've read in a while. And, bonus, it's TRUE enemies to lovers!

Rune is a witch trying to survive in a world where her kind are outlawed. A few years ago, there was a revolution of humans overturning the witches in power, and now witches are constantly hunted. Rune takes it upon herself to become a vigilante by saving witches, but she hides in plain sight under the ruse that she is a human in high society. Rune's best friend's brother, Gideon, is a witch hunter, which makes him extremely dangers and extremely off-limits... until Rune realizes that she could get information out of Gideon that would help her free more witches. The pair fall into a "courtship," but it's getting hard to tell what is an act anymore as both Gideon and Rune start to catch feelings.

This dual POV dark romantasy novel has a true enemies to lovers trope and some twists I truly didn't see coming. I binged this book and cannot wait to do the same with book 2.

If you love witches, slow burn, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, magic, and emotional stories, check out Heartless Hunter.

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ermunleybooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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rsainta's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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megnut's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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dcnireads's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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friedowls's review against another edition

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2.5

1. This is a love triangle, which I don't automatically dislike, even though I'm not fond of them. However, this love triangle felt pointless and obvious, and one of the love interests (not the overall end game) is my least favorite character I've ever read about. I've genuinely cried over how pissed I was about his character:

2. Alex Sharpe is the worst love interest, brother, and "likeable character" literally ever.

His brother, Gideon, the main love interest, was sexually, physically, and emotionally abused by one of the former Witch Queens, who also killed the rest of his and Alex's family members. Alex was supposed to have killed her during the rebellion since it would be too hard for Gideon to face her again after what she did to him, but Alex let her go and lied to his brother about it. What the fuck. And of course, Gideon panicked when it turned out his abuser was still alive because why wouldn't he??? If someone had done that to my family, literally nothing could fucking stop me.

Plus, he was manipulative and disgusting to the main character, with little respect for her autonomy or wants. I don't understand how the author wanted us to like his character, because I hate him more than I can describe.

I'm glad he died.

3. Wasn't a super big fan of the romance, the main character Rune is stupid, and Gideon (mmc) is described in dumb, stereotypical Wattpad-ass ways (aka solid chest. chest of concrete. rock-hard muscles), but he actually does have some solid character moments that I really like.

4. The magic and the rest of the worldbuilding are interesting.

5. I guessed the plot twist ahead of time, but it was still really fun figuring it out, so props.

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annamay1021's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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thatbethguy's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I liked a lot about this book. The characters were nuanced and complex. The world was fascinating and offered interesting insight into “us vs. them” dynamics. The witchy vibes were fabulous. And it had heart-wrenching conversations on trauma and its lifelong impact.

However, I was bummed that the twists in the book were rather predictable. Also, the primary romance in the book had some decent physical attraction build-up, but not much emotional build-up so it felt a bit rushed.

Overall, a four-star read for me! I liked it but didn’t love it. I am looking forward to seeing what’s ahead in book 2, though!

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ashleyj_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I had several suspicions of who the "bad guy" is in this story, which is one way I know a book is good! I was on the edge of my seat from page 20 and I still can't let go of these characters' relationships!

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