Week 39 Review: Heartless Hunter

From Goodreads:

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?

Kristen Ciccarelli's Heartless Hunter is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch...is falling in love.

My Review:
I loved reading this book! I've really enjoyed her other books, and the set up for this one sounded so great! I had to read it and get to know Rune and Gideon, witch and witch hunter, pretending to court one another to get information from the other! It was so delicious and amazing to read!

That they're both using each other, Rune to gain information to help the witches, and Gideon to find out if she's the Crimson Moth or not, yeah, I adored their dynamics so much! They've both been harmed by the other group, they're on opposite sides, not that he's sure about that, and oh, their chemistry was so wonderful to read! 

That she turned her grandmother in as a witch-that her grandmother planned it with her-yeah, that was a really hard thing to do. But Rune was strong, and it lead her to become the Crimson Moth, so she'd be able to help other witches, which was good. Something that the governments in this world need to learn, is balance. Because some of the witches were bad, no question. But killing all of them? Yeah, that's a step too far. 

Oh, but that ending though? With all those reveals, and everything that went down! That was such an evil ending! I need to know what's going to happen next, with where we left these characters, and how they'll deal with what had happened! 

Absolutely loved reading this book, and I can't wait for the sequel! 

Author: Kristen Ciccarelli
Series: The Crimson Moth #1
Read: September 27th, 2023
Source: NetGalley 
Reason Why: Love her writing and it sounded really great, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2023 Book and a WoW Book! 
Publisher: Wednesday Books 
Expected Publication: February 20th 2024

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars