Flora Reviews… Today, I’m sharing my thoughts about a compilation of novellas. On The Hunt contains stories by bestselling authors Alexandra Ivy, Rebecca Zanetti, Dianne Duvall and Hannah Jayne. My thanks to the publisher Kensington Publishing (via NetGalley) for the advanced ebook.
What’s On The Hunt about?
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My Rating: Title: On the Hunt by Alexandra Ivy, Rebecca Zanetti, Dianne Duvall, Hannah Jayne
Series: The Sentinels #2.5, Immortal Guardians #5.5,
on 25 August, 2015
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Adult Paranormal Romance
No. of Pages: 384
Four of today’s most intriguing paranormal authors entice readers deep into the shadows, where vampires, immortals, and other supernatural creatures heat up the night...
ON THE HUNT by Alexandra Ivy
Mika Tanner has loved Bailey Morrell, a beautiful Healer, since childhood. But his duty as a Sentinel, a supernatural guardian of an ancient race, clashed with her rebellious spirit. Now a dangerous new anarchist group not only threatens life as they know it—but any chance of their being together again...
SCORPIUS RISING by Rebecca Zanetti
With a deadly disease spreading like wildfire across the country, microbiologist Nora Medina needs to focus all her energy on stopping the pandemic. Playing with dynamite—in the form of her way-too-hot ex—is the last thing she should be doing. But forced to work with Deacan McDougall against unexpected enemies with the seconds ticking by, she knows the explosion is coming...
PHANTOM EMBRACE by Dianne Duvall
Immortal Yuri Sokolov was born with the ability to see spirits, yet he's never seen one as lovely as Cat Seddon, the woman who haunts his home and his dreams. But amid their star-crossed love, a new danger may have Yuri facing a different kind of eternity.
STAKE OUT by Hannah Jayne
Vampire fashion designer Nina LaShay has a lot on her plate—just two days until fashion week and the model who was flirting with her photographer boyfriend is now a corpse in her studio. But when dead turns into undead and dangerous, Nina must find out who’s responsible…before the beautiful baby vamp takes too many bites out of the Big Apple.
Source: ARC
I received this ARC for free in exchange for an honest review. This doesn't affect my opinion of the book or influence the content of my review.
Review Format: eBookPurchase Links: Books2Read - Universal eBook Link ¦ Amazon*
Read: 26th – 29th August 2015
This book is a collection of four original urban fantasy and paranormal romance novellas from the authors’ ongoing series. They feature vampires, immortals and other creatures that go bump in the night!
I’ve rated each of the novellas individually. Just click on the authors’ names to be whisked to their own websites in a new window.
Book 1- “On The Hunt (The Sentinels #2.5)” by Alexandra Ivy
The blurb says:
Mika Tanner has loved Bailey Morrell, a beautiful Healer, since childhood. But his duty as a Sentinel, a supernatural guardian of an ancient race, clashed with her rebellious spirit. Now a dangerous new anarchist group not only threatens life as they know it—but any chance of their being together again…
I haven’t read any of Ms Ivy’s books before so know nothing of her Sentinel series, but I was impressed how quickly I felt involved in this world; relevant back-story was explained sufficiently without causing a detrimental effect to the pace of this novella. All of the characters were written with a skill that gave them depth and became real for me very quickly. Mika and Bailey past history, the reasons why their relationship faltered and how it developed during this short tale was balanced nicely with the hunt for the missing sentinel-in-training, Jacob.
So, basically what I’m saying is I really enjoyed this story. It is well written, fast paced story (as novellas should be), with a bit of mystery, hot lust/romance scenes and left me wanting to read the rest of The Sentinel series.
Book 1- My Rating 4 stars
Book 2 – “Scorpius Rising (The Scorpius Syndrome prequel)” by Rebecca Zanetti
The blurb says:
With a deadly disease spreading like wildfire across the country, microbiologist Nora Medina needs to focus all her energy on stopping the pandemic. Playing with dynamite—in the form of her way-too-hot ex—is the last thing she should be doing. But forced to work with Deacan McDougall against unexpected enemies with the seconds ticking by, she knows the explosion is coming…
I haven’t read any of Ms Zanetti’s books before. Dystopian tales are not my choice of reading material and attraction to a male alpha character, like Deacan (Deke), I just don’t get. The “romance” and sex scenes are as far removed from erotic as you could get for me. However, I can appreciate the skill of Ms Zanetti’s writing style; I’m not a scientist but the detail felt completely believable. I thought that the plot development was good; building in tension and glimmers of hope. The feelings of terror about the spread of the bacteria and what the future holds for any of survivors makes it a great prequel.
So basically what I am saying is, sometimes as a reader you click with a story and sometimes you don’t. The sex/romance and the dystopian setting didn’t click for me. However I will definitely look out for other genres written by Ms Zanetti as I was very impressed with her world building talents.
Book 2- My Rating 3 stars
Book 3 – “Phantom Embrace (Immortal Guardians #5.5)” by Dianne Duvall.
The blurb says:
Immortal Yuri Sokolov was born with the ability to see spirits, yet he’s never seen one as lovely as Cat Seddon, the woman who haunts his home and his dreams. But amid their star-crossed love, a new danger may have Yuri facing a different kind of eternity.
I am already a BIG fan of Ms Duvall’s Immortal Guardian series and have read all of the 6 novels published to date plus the novella. This novella takes place during the same timeframe as the 5th book “Night Unbound” but like the other novellas in this book, any relevant back-story is revealed throughout this tale adding depth of understanding for the reader without disrupting the flow/pace. This story is a warm, lovely but heart-wrenching paranormal romance with a self contained HEA (Happy Ever After) ending while still continuing a gripping back story arc.
I loved it; very easy to read and beautifully written. This book made me chuckle as well as shed a few tears and I liked that some of the story’s mysteries were solve by the end while letting others remain elusive.
Book 3 – My Rating 5 stars
Book 4 – “Stake Out (Underworld Detection Agency #6.5)” by Hannah Jayne.
The blurb says:
Vampire fashion designer Nina LaShay has a lot on her plate—just two days until fashion week and the model who was flirting with her photographer boyfriend is now a corpse in her studio. But when dead turns into undead and dangerous, Nina must find out who’s responsible…before the beautiful baby vamp takes too many bites out of the Big Apple.
I haven’t read any of the other books in this series or indeed anything by Ms Jayne’s before and I must be honest and say that I found this novella a bit of a struggle. Although I’m far from being a fashion-slave I do enjoy a good detective/thriller story so, after reading the blurb, I was actually looking forward to reading this mystery story but this murder mystery part of the tale (the expected sleuthing & tension building) was sadly overshadowed by our main character’s fashion show “tunnel vision”. In my opinion the writing style isn’t as smooth as the others in this book, the plot didn’t feel as seamless and I felt a bit lost at times with the whys and wherefores of the world and the characters too, I think this novella was solely written for her existing fans, who would of course know all of this.
Book 4- My Rating 1 stars
What did I think of On The Hunt overall?
I’ve enjoyed reading this collection and being able to take a peek into these popular series. luckily, I’ve found a couple of new-to-me authors to look out for. Plus, I’ve enjoyed reading an “exclusive” to an existing series that I love.
Are these authors on your bookshelf? Have you read any of these series? On The Hunt would make a welcome addition to your collection.
Keep reading to find out more about each of these authors.
About Alexandra Ivy
I'm not exactly sure when I fell in love with books. Probably on my mother's knee listening to her read Dr. Seuss to me. I do remember that I was barely old enough to cross the street by myself when I discovered the delights of the local library. Could anything be more wonderful than spending summer days surrounded by stacks of Nancy Drew mysteries? Over the years I fell in love with Victoria Holt, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, and J.R.R. Tolkien just to name a few. I read poetry, essays, biographies, and plays. In fact, I read anything I could get my hands on.
Years later (no, I'm not admitting how many) I'm still an avid reader, and my tastes are still as varied as they were in my youth, which I suppose helps to explain why I enjoy writing regency historicals under the name of Deborah Raleigh, as well as my contemporary paranormals as Alexandra Ivy. For now that is enough to keep me busy, but who knows what the future might hold!
I do have a few other loves in my life besides reading and writing, the most important being my unbelievably patient husband, David, and my two sons, Chance and Alexander. Without their constant support and belief in me, I never could have been able to follow my dreams. They are truly my heroes.
About Dianne Duvall
Dianne Duvall is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of the Immortal Guardians series, the Aldebarian Alliance series and The Gifted Ones series.
Dianne loves all things creative. When she isn’t writing, Dianne is active in the independent film industry and has even appeared on-screen, crawling out of a moonlit grave and wielding a machete like some of the vampires she creates in her books.
About Hannah Jayne
Hannah is the author of the UNDERWORLD DETECTION AGENCY CHRONICLES from Kensington books and the upcoming young adult thrillers TRULY, MADLY, DEADLY and SEE JANE RUN available from Sourcebooks, Inc. When she's not battling the demons of the Underworld or tackling a murderer at Hawthorne High, Jayne kicks her feet up in her San Francisco bay area home and attempts to share couch space with two enormous cats.
Now that you're here, kick up your feet and stay awhile...
About Rebecca Zanetti
Rebecca Zanetti is the author of over fifty romantic suspense and dark paranormal romances, and her books have appeared multiple times on the New York Times, USA Today, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iBooks bestseller lists. The New York Times reviews have found that in her books, “humor surfaces in even the tensest moments, giving the high-stakes drama humanity and warmth.”
She lives in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest with her own Alpha hero, two kids, a couple of dogs, a crazy cat…and a huge extended family. She believes strongly in luck, karma, and working her butt off…and she thinks one of the best things about being an author, unlike the lawyer she used to be, is that she can let the crazy out.
Thanks for visiting my blog and taking the time to read my thoughts. I really appreciate it. Have you read this one? Drop me a comment below.
Dianne Duvall is already one of my favourite authors. You can find her on my favourites page along with many other amazing authors. Don’t forget to check it out before you go.
Happiness is… a new book to read.
Go be happy!
Flora x
[…] Embrace has had quite a publishing journey! To begin with, it was released as part of the On The Hunt anthology in eBook and audiobook, which I read back in the summer of 2015. Dianne was able to release Phantom Embrace as part of her Immortal Guardians series with Zebra […]
[…] have only previously read a short story by Ms Zanetti’s – a novella in On The Hunt – but I found her writing style here very easy to read. As I haven’t read any of her Dark […]