This had a lot of promise and I was so excited to read this arc. Unfortunately I ended up dnfing around the 60% mark. I was having to force myself to read it and the characters were falling flat to me. I also was a bit put off by the main character using period blood for the spells. Knowing she was rubbing it on herself and other places.

4.5
Omg I absolutely loved this book!! The storyline had me hooked from the beginning and I could not put this book down. The double life of Rune and the scheming of Gideon had my heart racing with fear and anticipation. I like how the story ended the way it did and I cannot wait for the second installment of the crimson moth series. Ive get some theories about what could happen and I hope I’ll be right because I want to see Rune get everything including Gideon ;)

I LOVED Heartless Hunter. Give me a good game of cat and house and add in all that tension and it's a win. I loved Rune and Gideon. They both tried to fight their feelings for each other even knowing their suspicions. Rune was so clever and fun. Gideon was so stoic and by the books. I loved seeing what Rune brought out of him and I lived for their interactions. I also loved her friendship with Alex. The plot twist and cliffhanger at the end was spectacular and has paved the way nicely for what is to come in the second book. I could not put this book down as I raced to find out what would happen between Rune and Gideon. I cannot wait for the second book and for more of the two of them.

An absolute must read.

I really enjoyed this one. The beginning of the story was a little hard for me to follow and get into. But around 25% in I started to really get invested. Fantasy is still new to me so the witchy talk was different but once I transitioned my brain to the world I was fully in. Rune having to hide who she was must have been so hard and to fall in love with someone who kills her kind. Risky business.

The ending!!!! Stop. Tell me what is going on!

I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did. It was a fun enemies to lovers, witch and witch hunter fantasy romance. It’s fast paced and takes place in a world we’re witches once ruled and are now hunted and purged.
Rune spends her nights in secret as the Crimson Moth doing her best to secret away witches before they can be killed. She has few real friends and loads of society gossip friends. She keeps her identity secret and tries hard not to reveal the true her to anyone.

Gideon is the capitan of the witch guard and is hunting the Crimson Moth and has set his sights on Rune. But he can’t prove who it is no matter how hard he tries.

Was the writing the best? No. But it was still delightful and enjoyable and I cannot wait to read the next installment of the series!

I need the next book NOWWWWW!!! I love a good romantasy and anything with witches is always my vibe. The writing in this was great and I thought it was perfectly paced. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

I’m torn with giving this 4 stars or 3 stars because I enjoyed the overall story and had a good time reading. I would definitely recommend it to the right audience. However, while there are things I liked about this story, I was disappointed by other things, so let's get into it.

The premise sounded interesting, but I just couldn’t become engaged in the story. Maybe I didn’t pay enough attention that it was going to be enemies to lovers, which is one least favorite tropes, and affected my ability to enjoy the story. Looking at the other reviews, the book will find an audience, but it just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books, and Kristen Ciccarelli for the eARC.

Lovely romantasy with unique take on witches and how they use their power. Excellent world building. Would recommend to new adults who enjoy romantasy genre and Tiktok trend books.

Love love love love! This is one of my favorite fantasy books to have been published recently. It is so good. The characters are rich and vibrant. I would absolutely recommend this!

Witches and witch hunters are destined to be enemies, but what happens when two people on opposite sides of destiny are also soul mates?
Rune is leading a double life; by day she is a busy socialite, and by night, she is a witch in the shadows-known as the Crimson Moth-sworn to help her kind escape capture and execution.
Gideon is a witch hunter who wants nothing more to eliminate all witches from the realm, and above all, he is determined to capture the Crimson Moth and punish her for all of the witches she has freed.
Rune and Gideon's fates intertwine when each sees the other as a tool to get what they most desire, but as they spend more time together and divulge secrets to one another, it becomes more difficult to see the enemy within.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I believe it falls more into the "new adult" realm than "young adult," and for that reason, I do not feel I can add this title to my high school collection.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for a free copy of this book. I have as pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book. YA has been really hit or miss with me lately and this one was a huge hit. I had all the nostalgia vibes from a good romantasy when I was a teen. Two guys liking the same main character, who would she choose? But it also had massive Mr and Mrs Smith vibes which was probably my favourite part of the whole book!! The only two downfalls would be I saw the plot twist coming, although to me it didn’t really take away from the book. The second was some of the use of blood was just weird. Other than that one of the most solid YA books in a while.

I was given this book by the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

We have a witch in hiding trying to save her kind to repent for turning in her grandmother. Desperate to save more witches she evaluates who would be the best match to gain information. She of course lands in the most dangerous option.

Oblivious to one best friend's obvious infatuation and another's secrets she is determined to win in this witch saving game. But is she better at this game than the witch hunter?

This story gives you unrepentant love, enemies to lovers, heartbreak, secrets and intrigue. Though I thought some of the twists were obvious not all of them were. I'm really interested to see where this duology goes. I highly recommend reading this book ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ok, but that ending though 😭😭😭 the next book is going to have a lot of explaining to do that's for sure!! I demand apologizing and lots and lots of silk flowers to make up for this extreme heartache

Thank you, Wednesday Books, for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Heartless Hunter is definitely for the romantasy crowd. Although marketed as a young adult novel, it is more suitable for older teens and adults. If you previously loved Serpent & Dove, you want to check out Heartless Hunter.

Right from the first page, I was captivated by the story and the characters. This book moves fast for most of the book, but once you get towards the book's last quarter, it feels like it dragged.

The romance between Rune and Gideon is a slow burn that is worth the wait. They complement each other perfectly. There is a love triangle, but it is one-sided and does not detract from Rune and Gideon. 

The book is an enemies-to-lovers story where Gideon and Rune hate each other and eventually fall in love. They both pretend to court each other to find dirt on each other. Gideon wants to get close to Rune to see if she is the Crimson Witch, while Rune wants to get close to Gideon to find out where the other captured witches are.

For the most part, I could not put down this book and was loving every second of it. However, towards the end, I began to struggle with it. Although the world-building was good throughout most of the book, it seemed to lack in certain areas towards the end. Additionally, I found Rune to be somewhat annoying towards the end. The twists in the story were not surprising to me, and the execution of these twists left me feeling disappointed.  I felt like we made a lot of progress with where the plot and romance were going, and then when I got to the end, I felt like much was not accomplished. The last chunk of the book was filled with mostly romance, and then, all of a sudden, the plot just happened. So, I was frustrated in the end.

I know many people will and have enjoyed this book. I will read the sequel when it is released since I am curious about what will happen next.

All witches are strung up and killed, anyone found sympathizing will also be killed. Rune has been hiding her witchcraft her whole life and has pretended to be against witches. Only her two closest friends know what she truly is, The Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante protecting other witches.

Gideon Sharpe is her best friend’s brother, and a witch hunter himself. He has suspicions that Rune is a witch, and decides to court her to get close enough to find out the truth. Rune needs to get close to Gideon to find out valuable intel so she plays along.

I really liked this story. I enjoyed the plot and the characters. I liked the worldbuilding as well.

I really am over the brotherly love triangle Vampire Diariesesque. This one wasn’t that bad though.

The ending was sad and I will definitely read book 2


4.25 ⭐️

It's probably the best witchy YA book to come since Serpent & Dove and Kingdom of the wicked. Add a little dash of Bridgertoon parties and courtiersz dreses and dances and you got yourself a gem.

The cat and mouse game this witch in hiding and witch hunter did was absolutely amazing - fun, angsty and oh so delicious!

She tried to woo him to uncover his hunter and Red Guard secrets. He tried to woo her to uncover her secrets and see if she was one of his suspects. Until they fell into their own trap. The execution of that, the banter, enemies to lovers, secret meetings, courting and games while they tried to outsmart the other were the highlights of this book. Every time they got too close and had to retreat and regroup, somehow become more involved into each other's lives and it made it harder to pursue their duties.

There is a lot of darkness and a tiny bit of spice here too, and the MCs are 18/20 years old or so and very independent, so I'd say it's more upper YA/New adult.

Despite the games, the investigations, action and adventures and tentative partnership and maybe even love Rune and Giden have fallen into, there are more evil forces at play that somehow deceived them both. Which led to a quite explosive and gut wrenching cliffhanger. Just when I started getting more invested, ahh! 😔

So 4.5⭐️ and I'm looking forward to the next one!

***the things that prevented me from giving it 5 stars are spoilery so I will address that later. Let's just say that there were some plot threads that are very classic YA fantasy that I feel like I outgrew or have little patience for these days...

***arc provided by the publisher in exchage for my honest opinion

YA fantasy has not been living up to my expectations lately so I really had no expectations going into this one - but I ended up surprised how much I enjoyed it! It was a great story incorporating two of my favourite tropes - enemies to lovers and best friends older brother. And this was a true enemies to lovers story - our main characters are Rune (a secret witch) and Gideon (a witch hunter), who live in a society where witches are hunted and killed. Gideon is on the hunt for an elusive witch sympathize called "Crimson Moth" and Rune is seeking information - to satisfy their goals the two enter into a fake courtship to use the each other, and of course end up catching feelings.

The story is full of twists and I adored that at times the characters couldn’t tell if it was love or a game of cat and mouse between them. And the cliffhanger ending! I am excited to see how the author handles the enemies to lovers vibes going forward given that ending - definitely fully enemies at the end.
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While not a perfect story (the world building was non-existent really and the start of the romance a bit rushed), it was enjoyable! The story has similar vibes to Serpent & Dove, and I think people who enjoyed that book and want even better enemies to lovers vibes would love this one!

This book was unpredictable in the best way. Just when you think you have the story or characters figured out, they take you in a completely different direction. I found myself immersed in the world of witches and witch-hunters, and I can’t wait to see where the second book takes me.

I lost my kindle and couldn't redownload it. Sorry!
I lost my kindle and couldn't redownload it. Sorry!
I lost my kindle and couldn't redownload it. Sorry!
I lost my kindle and couldn't redownload it. Sorry!