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.
Read: 26th – 29th August 2015
Format: Kindle
My Overall Goodreads Rating: 3.5 Stars
…So what’s this book about?
This book is a collection of four original urban fantasy and paranormal romance novellas from the authors’ ongoing series featuring vampires, immortals and other creatures that go bump in the night! Alexandra Ivy’s “Sentinels”, Dianne Duvall’s “Immortal Guardians”, Hannah Jayne’s “Underworld Detection Agency” and a prequel novella for Rebecca Zanetti’s Dystopian series “The Scorpios Syndrome” (coming in February 2016).
I was lucky enough to receive this Kindle version for free from Netgally.com in exchange for an honest review.
I have rated each of the novellas individually and 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
…So, what did I think of this book overall?
I have enjoyed reading this book and being able to take a peek into these popular series. I’ve found a couple of new-to-me authors to look out for and have enjoyed reading an “exclusive” to an existing series that I love. So, if you’ve read any of the above authors or any of the series here, then I think that this book would make a welcome addition to your collection.
I’ve even made it easy for you, my lovely followers; you can just click on the links below and check out the book yourself.
See ON THE HUNT on Goodreads.com
Dianne Duvall is already one of my favourite authors. Click HERE to find out who else is on my list.
[…] 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 […]