The Hunter by Kerrigan Byrne | Book Review

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MY THOUGHTS

Don’t want to read the whole review?  Click to jump to the Skinny Review.

For the last few months, I have not been reading a lot of historical romances because – well, I wrote about it explaining the reasons why.  Until two books that I read in the last two weeks (of writing this review).  One of them is The Hunter by Kerrigan Byrne.

If you follow my blog, you might now that I love alpha heroes – alpha heroes that have a lot of baggage and THIS book is everything I wanted and more!

Oh?  Why is that?

Well, let’s just say that the first few pages had me ugly crying.  UGLY CRYING people!  While reading the prologue!  Mind you, it was the around two in the AM but I was bawling my eyes out!  I’m actually glad Pierre wasn’t there to witness that.

Ugly cry…because?

Obvs because of our hero Christopher Argent’s, backstory, of course!  Kerrigan Byrne really did an awesome job in setting up the story with her prologue.  Trigger warnings, though: there is rape and blood and murder.  Christopher was a boy of about 11 and was actually BORN and raised in prison and witnessed a lot of atrocities done to himself and his mother.

What?!

Yes, I said it.  I mean, this is Newgate Prison back in the day, and apparently, if a child is born in prison, it’s as if he was a criminal!  Anyway, our boy Christopher witnesses the death of his mother in the hands of some evil people and he vows revenge.  He is also taken under the wing of a fellow Chinese inmate who teaches him the art of Kung Fu.

Eh?

See where I’m going here?  It feels like a Batman Begins kind of story, doesn’t it?  Fast forward to about 20 years and Christopher is now a deadly ASSASSIN, who has no feelings whatsoever.  In fact, if there wasn’t a prologue, I would HATE Christopher as a hero because he just has NO FEELINGS AT ALL.  I mean, the callousness is just way off the charts and honestly, a little off-putting – IF you didn’t know about his history. Because I already had a good ugly cry, I was already half in love with Argent.

His reputation as one of the deadliest assassins is known throughout London and he is commissioned to kill the stage actress Mille LeCoeur

I bet he doesn’t actually assassinate her, right?

Naturally, when Argent sets eyes on Millie, he is CAPTIVATED.  A feeling that is foreign to him and is unable to kill her, even after THREE tries.  Now, that’s not a good assassin is it?

Apparently, even his associate Dorian Blackwell (The Highwayman, Book 1) is speechless because ARGENT DOES NOT LEAVE A TARGET ALIVE.  EVER.

Really.

Don’t be so skeptical, there!  Millie is his first non-kill and so instead, he takes her into his protection and vows to KILL all her enemies.  Oh, and Millie also has a secret.

Naturally!

As I said, this is historical romance and it IS SO DRAMATIC! #sorrynotsorry

Tell me about the ROMANCE, already!

OMGTHEROMANCE!  The chemistry just sizzles from the moment Argent and Millie meet.  The slow burn of their romance, the love/hate relationship is JUST PERFECT.  The sexy times are not as frequent but they are SIZZLING!  Oh and f-bombs are dropped on almost every page!

Obvs Argent is out of his element here and is as possessive as hell and I love it!  Even though I knew they would end up together, there were a few scenes where I thought their romance was doomed.

But of course, it’s NOT!

And just because there is romance doesn’t mean that there are no THRILLS!  There is a Jack the Ripper-like murderer on the loose (you know how much I love a good Jack the Ripper type of story!)  and he has set his sights on Millie!

No damsel in distress here!  Move along, people!

Our gal Millie actually gets captured by this fiend and shows ULTIMATE GIRL POWER!  #slowclap Totes awesome!

Hold your horses, this is book #2, RIGHT?

Oh right, I almost forgot, The Hunter is book #2 in the Victorian Rebels series and with any historical romance, you can read this book as a stand-alone.  You WILL see the MCs of the first book The Highwayman prominently in this book BUT let me tell you that NO SPOILERS ARE REVEALED about their story!  Of course, they are together and married and all but that is to be expected.  Everything else is not revealed (I know this because I am currently reading The Highwayman, and yes, I did not read the series in order).

Recommendations

Before I spoil everything else for you, go and GRAB a copy of The Hunter.  The book just DEVASTATED (favorite word!) me and gave me a good UGLY CRY.  So expect the FEELS.  And please, grab a box of tissues before starting the book. Oh, and if you have the flu, DO NOT read this unless you are prepared to UGLY CRY AND have a runny nose.  Although, I think this book healed my flu!

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