KRISTEN CICCARELLI
(Book 1 in The Crimson Moth duology)
Synopsis:
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.
Content:
Language: Use of mild language, infrequent use of stronger ("f" and "s")
Violence: Discussions of and flashbacks to public executions (referred to as "purgings"), mentions of sexual abuse as pertaining to one of the character's background, murder, mass murder/hunting of witches, stabbing, blood (the magic system requires blood), suicide, and some violence and death caused by magic.
On another note, alcohol and substance abuse are also brought up. One of the characters briefly touches on recovering from a drug addiction.
Sex: Allusions to sex, suggestive comments, several kissing scenes (including one where the characters are swimming and neither are wearing clothing), discussions of sexual abuse, and a semi-explicit sex scene. There's mentions of touching and kissing, but nothing much beyond that.
LGBTQ: Not present
My Review: Short version of review: Why does NetGalley always do this to me? Can't they just let me review a standalone for once, or at least a book with an ending that doesn't make me want to scream or cry? I can't handle cliffhangers like that.
I will definitely be reading the next book! I loved Rune and Gideon together so much—but they also taught me that I hate the fake dating trope. But their personalities! Their softness with each other! Moments like that are what I live for.
I'd also like to appreciate Ciccarelli giving Gideon a unique and moving backstory. It really worked with his character development and made me just want to constantly hug him.
My Review (long, NetGalley, written in the middle of the night review):
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
To be honest, I have no idea where to start. My rating in my head is more like 3.75 because I was just so FRUSTRATED (like please, guys, just, I don't know, *talk* instead of going at each other's throats? You're very cute and banter-y when you talk, the miscommunication just isn't working for you <3 )
WARNING: Slight rant (of love, obviously). I wrote this very late at night after staying up to finish the book.
I've read only one Scarlet Pimpernel retelling/inspired book before, and I appreciated the freshness of the story and the plot. However, it was pretty predictable and a bit repetitive. Within the first 20 pages of the book, I felt sure I knew how this was going to end.
Did that detract from my enjoyment of the book? Well, maybe a little—but only because I spent the whole time absolutely dreading the betrayals the reader knows are coming. Ciccarelli really was like, "oh here, look at these two opening up to each other and being all soft and vulnerable with each other, aren't they just so beautiful—oh no, that's not right. We loathe happiness in this book and therefore I must always be playing the other and let's just remove SweetGideon™ from existence."
SLIGHT SPOILER: can I just say that Gideon sewing Rune flowers is my favorite thing. He's so precious, I cannot—
I'd like to have it known that fake dating is so not my trope. Like??? Just kiss and admit you love each other??? And I will never forgive that ending. An ending I *knew* was coming—I had the entire book to prepare for it! (And to be clear, this is totally a compliment to the author—there is nothing worse than reading something that's supposed to make you upset or frustrated and just feeling nothing. I really cared about the characters and the plot here.)
On a different note, I loved Rune and Gideon. The side characters could have used a bit more fleshing out, but I'm hoping we'll get to see some of that in the next book (HEA or I'm protesting). Currently, they're all very interesting and seem multi-faceted, but the focus was heavy on Gideon and Rune (for obvious reasons) so it wasn't really shown.
More pros / things that did not make me want to scream/cry/blackmail Ciccarelli for a peek inside her brain to make sure RuneGideon start acting like adults and coming to their senses:
I loved the world. I personally hadn't read anything too similar and I ate it up.
The magic system was cool too!
I am very attached to Rune. She is unapologetically herself, even when she isn't sure what that means. She's feminine, but she's also saving all these witches (note: I wish we'd seen more of that in the actual book) and learning to do magic. And she has a dagger. Crossing my fingers that book two has a dagger-to-throat kiss scene.
Gideon's past and character development. His backstory isn't something we see a lot of in YA fiction—and if we do, it's not really focused on. I wanted to cry for Gideon, hug him, and wrap him in bubble wrap so nothing else could hurt him about a dozen times throughout the novel.
Their dynamic. I'm a simple girl. Boy x girl who learn there's more to the other than what they think—10/10.