Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

43 reviews

andi885's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is filled with tense mystery, adventure and suspense. I ate it up so fast.  
I'm a sucker for a good enemies-to-lovers trope - and I mean a real one. I want the hate to be so intense that it seems they will never be able to love eachother. This book didn't disappoint in that regard. 
The plot was mysterious and suspensful and it kept me on the edge of my seat guessing the outcome. 
It was so well written and almost perfection. 
My cons with this book is sometimes the sweet moments of the romance felt a little forced because of how intensely the main characters were supposed to hate each other.

I also felt like Gideon just suddenly fell in love with Rune without any real epiphany moment, or solid reasons for changing his mind about her. It wasn't blatant enough to knock too many points off my rating though.

 
I can't wait for book two, and I'm so sad it won't be released for another nine months!!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Toxic relationship, Addiction, Rape, and Sexual violence

boba_n_books's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol, Drug abuse, and Addiction

shelvedbygrace's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Addiction

dcnireads's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Torture

Moderate: Genocide, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Slavery, Addiction, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, and War

Minor: Misogyny

ruth_a's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Religious bigotry, Drug use, Physical abuse, Murder, Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Police brutality, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Grief

kirsty_irwin's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Genocide, Murder, Religious bigotry, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Violence

Moderate: Violence, Torture, Outing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Self harm, and Gaslighting

Minor: Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Self harm, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Rape, and Sexual assault

author2223's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Violence, Classism, Genocide, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Blood, Addiction, Self harm, Child death, and Police brutality

chasinggrace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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? No

4.0

Overall, I really liked this book. I was invested in the fake courting between two characters, rooting for the underdog, and anxious during the attacks. I was worried this was going to be a typical “two brothers and a girl” love triangle story, but it really was more than that. You truly come to understand each character’s motivations, why they are who they are today. By the last 20 pages, I was crying. 

Now, there are a few things I would change. In the first 100 pages, the author repeats herself a LOT, with very similar sentence structures and identical descriptions (of a witch’s first bleed, of how Rune played into her Nan’s death, etc.) I found it annoying and it took me out of the story. Secondly, boxing? The way the characters speak and dress and transport themselves, this story takes place in the “past.” But boxing? With gloves, in a ring? This could’ve easily been a fighting ring or sparring, but boxing took me out of the story as well. It didn’t seem to fit. 

Seeing as Rune and the witches have escaped to Cailis on the Continent, I’m excited to see what happens in book 2 as the world expands. My heart is BROKEN that this is now an Enemies to Lovers back to Enemies story, but I’m rooting for them. They just need to talk it out😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Classism, Addiction, Body horror, Rape, and Sexual content

dani_reis's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

This is NOT YA. Stop trying to normalize sexual content in YA.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Torture, Blood, Classism, Death, Police brutality, Sexual content, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Grief, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Self harm and Fire/Fire injury

sqacedvst's review against another edition

emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Addiction