Heartless Hunter sweeps you into a world of danger, forbidden attraction, and high-stakes deception. It’s a story of a relentless hunt—one that blurs the lines between predator and prey, justice and vengeance, love and duty. From the first page, Kristen Ciccarelli crafts a thrilling game of cat and mouse, where a witch and a witch hunter are bound by fate, secrets, and undeniable chemistry.
Book Review: Heartless Hunter
- Author: Kristen Ciccarelli
- Series: The Crimson Moth
- Publisher: Wednesday Books
- Format: 406 pages, Hardcover
- First Published: February 20, 2024
- ISBN: 9781250866905 (ISBN10: 1250866901)
Plot
If you love romantic stories or are in the mood for one this month, I think this book will give you just the right dose of sugar rush—but not the kind that makes your teeth ache. It also offers a solid plot that unfolds at a steady pace and keeps you reading not just to find out whether the two lovers will end up together, but for much more.
Characters in Heartless Hunter
Although they are walking clichés (a witch and a witch hunter), Rune and Gideon play their roles exceptionally well. Drawn to each other? Yes. But true to their nature.
Gideon is convinced that witches are pure evil and must be eradicated to the last one. Even if one of them has captured his heart.
For Rune, flirting with danger is part of daily life. So why not raise the stakes by seducing the captain of the guard—the very man who could send her to the stake?
The Crimson Moth is a witch who helps others like her escape from a city that carried out a brutal purge years ago. This city overthrew two witch queens in a bloody coup, burned everyone involved, and has since turned witch-hunting into a gruesome sport.
Rune, as you might guess, is the activist fighting against this injustice, while Gideon is her worst nightmare. Their game of cat and mouse is thrilling—neither backs down, and adrenaline is their aphrodisiac.
Beyond their exciting chase, the story begins to unravel dark secrets from the past and foreshadow a looming catastrophe in the near future.
My Opinion
In my opinion, YA books (this one in particular) handle romance much better than the so-called New Adult fantasy trend, where the protagonists often have the brainpower of a sardine—especially when romantic sparks fly, and we end up seeing “mine,” “his,” “hers” repeated on every single page. These possessive pronouns have been worn out from overuse.
As for Heartless Hunter, it did a great job of setting up anticipation—the anticipation of getting to the second book as soon as possible.
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
“A steamy game of cat and mouse between witch and witch-hunter, played out against a backdrop of opulence, secrets, and bloody history. I couldn’t look away.” – Kendare Blake, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Champion of Fate
Enemies-to-lovers doesn’t get more high stakes than a witch and a witch hunter falling in love in bestselling author Kristen Ciccarelli’s latest romantic fantasy.
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 The Crimson Moth duology, a romantic fantasy series where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch…is falling in love.
“Enchanting and deeply romantic, Heartless Hunter drew me in with the first sentence and left me breathless by the last. A story that unfolds like a spell, and one that is destined to capture your heart.” – Rebecca Ross, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Divine Rivals
