The Hunter
5 Stars

An absolutely delightful read.

Millie and Christopher's chemistry palpable and their interactions both verbal and physical are wonderful. Christopher is the epitome of the tortured hero who has shut himself off from human emotion as a defense mechanism. He reminds me both of Jennifer Ashley's Ian Mackenzie as well as many of Anne Stuart's morally ambiguous assassin heroes. It takes a special woman to break through his walls, and Millie with her strength tempered with kindness is the perfect choice.

The suspense plot is action-packed with a truly sick and twisted villain. Kudos to the fact that Byrne's heroines are no damsels in distress waiting to be rescued. They not only hold their own but kick butt when necessary.

Another point in Byrne's favor is her willingness to portray the darker and seedier side of Victorian society in a similar fashion to Elizabeth Hoyt's Maiden Lane series.

All in all, a fantastic romance and I look forward to the next book eagerly. ( )

Might change it to a 5, but I could have used a bit more humor.
Other than that, I loved it.
Review later ( )

Cons- The characters weren't fools, but they did seem especially slow to catch onto things. A couple times it seemed to take them ages, then things were spelled out even more blatantly, and I would think 'well, at least they got it eventually', and then more time would pass and then suddenly they would have a eureka moment, and I'd realize that they hadn't actually gotten it before, even when it was laid out in front of them! And the villains were a bit cartoonish. Also, I would have liked for the hero to confirm that he was definitely going to go to her in the end, even before her life was threatened, but it was left a bit ambiguous. (I know it's done all the time in HR, but it shouldn't take the absolute worst case scenario to bring them together in the end, imo). And the heroine's last lines were pretty weak, which dragged down the ending.

Pros- I quite liked how the heroine fought savagely to protect her son. The hero's backstory was touching. I liked seeing the characters from the first book in this one, especially the (stony) heart to (stony) heart the two male MCs had at the end. =D And I like how the hero prayed and bargained and willed her, anything, to come back to him in the end.
2nd Read- All my previous points still stand, but being aware of the cons going in they didn't bother me as much and I spent more time just enjoying the high points. The hero especially, is quite compelling, I really enjoyed watching him grapple with the unfamiliar sensation of having *feelings* =D. The child adds a nice element rather than just taking up space on the page. It's a compelling story, and the steam factor is high. (Not for the faint of heart though.)

I've decided to round this up to 5 stars. It's flawed, but like the characters in it, I love it despite that. lol. ( )

This was a slow start for me. I had trouble getting into the world of secret Victorian assassins. But this story suddenly blossomed and delivered exactly what I wanted--a slow, tortured unraveling of the tormented hero. This one delivered where the previous book in the series struggled, in my opinion. In retrospect, he does unravel too quickly (they'd known each for only days!), but the scenes were beautifully paced and it felt plausible while I was reading and I loved every minute.

Although I avoid romances about single mothers if I can help it, and I hate the precocious gifted children written for romance novels, I couldn't even find it in me to hate that part of the storyline. The kid in this one is, without question, overly mature, overly talented, and alternates between speaking like a much younger child and like a wise old man. He was a slight improvement on the dialogue written for young Dougan and Farah in the previous novel in this series, but only marginally. However, aside from an early scene, he's mostly out of the way and doesn't detract horribly from the story.

(spoilers beyond this point)

There are some similarities in this one to Sarah Maclean's Bareknuckle Bastard series. A subplot featuring young bastard boys forced to fight one another for the chance to inherit their fathers' title. And the final confession scene in this book is nearly identical to the final scene of the second book in Maclean's series. It irked me a little bit to encounter such blatant inspiration here. However, I think this series will appeal to BKB fans and vice-versa, so keep that in mind if you're looking for your next read. ( )

Oh, how I want to like this series more. I'm not quite sure what it is that bothers me about it as a whole. Is it telling more than showing? Is it that it feels like they're trying too hard to be super dark? I don't know.

There are two main problems I have with this one, which reflect my rating: the utter predictability of the mystery and the unconvincing love between Christopher and Millie. No reveal was surprising, and I just don't believe in these two characters as a couple. They're hot for each other, and, while Millie feels compassion for Christopher, it feels like he connects more to Jakub and Millie's role as a mother than he does to her as a person. It's like he wants to use them to fill the whole his mother's death left in him, which I don't think anyone should do. You have to heal, not try to fill a void with another person. The cycle will only repeat if that new person dies. And yeah, he's an assassin and supposedly feels nothing when he kills, but it felt like he could have been way worse, if that makes sense. ( )