The Crimson Hunt by Victoria H. Smith
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
GENRE: New Adult Science Fiction
THEME: Romance, Supernatural, Worlds
RECEIVED: Blog Tour
AUTHORS BLOG: Victoria H Smith
BLURB:
College junior Ariel Richmond is working on year three of Project Normalcy.
Her house reeks of keggers past and her bestie is just a slight bit vulgar. But the thing is—they both aid in making life refreshingly uneventful.
So much for hard-earned mediocrity when Luca Grinaldi appears on the scene.
Luca’s sudden presence on campus is hard to ignore. Those bright eyes act like a beacon to unsuspecting females, and with features like his, he’s got to be moonlighting for GQ. Luca hopelessly captivates Ariel with his confidence and charisma, but the mysteries surrounding him make him nearly untouchable. And just when Ariel grows close enough to unlock his secrets, a tragic event sends her life in a downward spiral.
That steady life is no longer an option and allies quickly become scarce. The mysterious Luca seems to be the only one willing to help her—but with that trust comes the burden of his secrets. He has a dark mission of otherworldly proportions, and is willing to sacrifice as many lives as it takes to see it completed.
Gone are the days of simply maintaining normalcy, and if Ariel isn’t cautious with her trust, so soon may be her future.
Her house reeks of keggers past and her bestie is just a slight bit vulgar. But the thing is—they both aid in making life refreshingly uneventful.
So much for hard-earned mediocrity when Luca Grinaldi appears on the scene.
Luca’s sudden presence on campus is hard to ignore. Those bright eyes act like a beacon to unsuspecting females, and with features like his, he’s got to be moonlighting for GQ. Luca hopelessly captivates Ariel with his confidence and charisma, but the mysteries surrounding him make him nearly untouchable. And just when Ariel grows close enough to unlock his secrets, a tragic event sends her life in a downward spiral.
That steady life is no longer an option and allies quickly become scarce. The mysterious Luca seems to be the only one willing to help her—but with that trust comes the burden of his secrets. He has a dark mission of otherworldly proportions, and is willing to sacrifice as many lives as it takes to see it completed.
Gone are the days of simply maintaining normalcy, and if Ariel isn’t cautious with her trust, so soon may be her future.
REVIEW:
The Crimson Hunt follows Ariel Richmond a third year college student who is trying to get through college and pass her Zoology class. But college is never so simple and when she bumps into the mysterious Luca, she can’t seem to get him out of her head. When more strange deaths happen on campus and Ariel discovers that Lucas is not what he seems, she is sucked into a world of mystery and supernatural powers.
Ariel is an interesting character; the readers are introduced to her as a young girl after a horrible incident happens to her and her family. The book jumps forward to her college years. She is now living with her roommate Piper and struggling to pass her hardest class and beat the annoying popular girl in getting chosen for the Art Showcase. There is a lot to her that is a mystery and slowly unfolds throughout the book and how she is connected to all the occurrences that happen. I enjoyed her relationship with Piper; they were opposite and could be blunt to the point where they can understand one another and just trying to help each other. It was a great dynamic that I felt should have continued. Piper was definitely my favorite character and I was sad that she wasn’t a more prominent one. I also wanted to know more about Ariel’s talent in painting and why she liked painting and how she became so good.
Luca is a whole bunch of mystery. At first the readers meet a moody and very unapproachable young guy. Ariel is attracted to him and also annoyed with him at the same time, which frustrates her. But he soon starts making his way into her life and to the annoyance to her friend Piper; who thinks there is something off about him. Luca was a character I sadly could not connect too or really understand why Ariel would like this guy, until about half way through the book. Then she forgives him for something I would totally run away from a guy for. So, in the end it took me a while to like Luca until he proved it way later in the book.
The plot was really heart pumping and seriously had me worried for Ariel and how she was going to get out of this dangerous situation. I was however confused about what was going on for a while and I started to loose interest until the readers were finally introduced to some science fiction goodness. Once I found about Luca’s task and the other world I was hooked. The readers discover some secrets about this world and a group of people assigned missions to help prevent something happening to their world. I loved the idea of duel worlds and how these Hunters have supernatural powers.
In the end I really was sucked into the mystery side, trying to figure out why Ariel was chosen, what really happened to her when she was little and why this other world is doing what they are doing. It was an interesting twist that kept me guessing. The romance was sweet, steamy and the readers will get to see the sexy and romantic side of Luca. The ending will leave you with some questions but its just getting started with what’s next for Ariel and Luca in their next journey. Ariel has a lot to prepare for and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for her as she now has a very interesting role to play.
RECOMMENDATION:
This is a New Adult novel with minor adult content and lot of science fiction awesomeness that will keep you glued in to the end. Fans of the Crescent Chronicles by Alyssa Rose Ivy and The Forever Girls by Rebecca Hamilton will enjoy The Crescent Hunt by Victoria Smith.
PURCHASE LINKS:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository
AUTHOR LINKS: Site | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter
Victoria H. Smith has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. She puts it to good use writing romance all day. She resides in the Midwest with her Macbook on her lap and a cornfield to her right. She often draws inspiration for her stories from her own life experiences, and the twenty-something characters she writes give her an earful about it.
In her free time, she enjoys extreme couponing, blogging, reading, and sending off a few tweets on Twitter when she can. She writes new adult fiction romance in the sub-genres of science fiction, urban fantasy, and contemporary, but really, anywhere her pen takes her she goes. Her new adult science fiction romance, The Crimson Hunt, will be published November 2012.
Sounds an interesting book. Great review.
ReplyDeleteluv the cover...really beautiful!!
ReplyDeletethx u...