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shaykay's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
2.0
The Hunter was one of the books that I had some high hopes for because I picked it up as one of the books for an experiment I was working on in September. The reading experiment was using different book recommendation platforms to decide on my next read. I used mostly Likewise and Kindle recommendations for this project. Likewise recommended me The Hunter by LJ Shen. I expected a lot of chaos from this book because the whole premise of this book was a boy on the verge of losing everything due to his partying ways. On the other side of the spectrum, we had Sailor, a very disciplined girl whose sole purpose at the moment was training for the Olympics. They were being forced to live together in hopes it would kick Hunter to get in line and push Sailor to live a little.
I honestly thought the book was exciting and fun whenever it focused on these two. However, the book tried to fit in so much, so we had their own personal dramas, their living arrangements, family drama, friend drama, and then on top of it all, a mystery about someone trying to destroy Hunter's family business. I think it tried to fit too much into it, and it got swamped in everything. Then things imploded for me when the book gave Hunter's dad a redemption arc. He was a terrible person to Hunter for most of the book and apparently all of his life, but then the last bit of the book gave him a redemption arc, and I hated it. It just made no sense since it was suddenly acting different from how he's always treated, Hunter. Sailor was no walk in the park either. Her whole story was about her getting ready for the Olympics. So she had nothing else in her life other than working on training, but then her shoulder got hurt, so she needed to take some time out. I get it, and it's one of the things that pulled Hunter and Sailor together was him taking care of her during this time, and I loved it! But then the Olympics thing that played out for her was so annoying! I hated the way it played out, and I really wanted some more focus on that ending for her since she literally spent her whole life so focused on it. I really loved Sailor's brother Sam! I want to read a book about him because he always stole the show whenever he appeared in the book. Still, I don't know if I'm ready to journey down that road yet.
I honestly thought the book was exciting and fun whenever it focused on these two. However, the book tried to fit in so much, so we had their own personal dramas, their living arrangements, family drama, friend drama, and then on top of it all, a mystery about someone trying to destroy Hunter's family business. I think it tried to fit too much into it, and it got swamped in everything. Then things imploded for me when the book gave Hunter's dad a redemption arc. He was a terrible person to Hunter for most of the book and apparently all of his life, but then the last bit of the book gave him a redemption arc, and I hated it. It just made no sense since it was suddenly acting different from how he's always treated, Hunter. Sailor was no walk in the park either. Her whole story was about her getting ready for the Olympics. So she had nothing else in her life other than working on training, but then her shoulder got hurt, so she needed to take some time out. I get it, and it's one of the things that pulled Hunter and Sailor together was him taking care of her during this time, and I loved it! But then the Olympics thing that played out for her was so annoying! I hated the way it played out, and I really wanted some more focus on that ending for her since she literally spent her whole life so focused on it. I really loved Sailor's brother Sam! I want to read a book about him because he always stole the show whenever he appeared in the book. Still, I don't know if I'm ready to journey down that road yet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Infidelity, Child abuse, and Alcoholism
dayniw's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Infidelity, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, and Death
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