I enjoyed this book. While it wasn’t mind-blowing, it kept me entertained. There were many elements from other YA books I’ve enjoyed in the past, so it felt familiar while having some fresh details throughout.

The magic… system? Rules? I don’t know, we’ll go with “system.” The magic system was simplistic, but I liked it like that. I don’t like magic systems where I need a dang instruction manual to keep track.

The big thing for me is the subject matter. While this is being marketed as YA, there’s some pretty heavy stuff in here. Without giving too much away, there’s a lot of trauma basically every character experiences. Rune has trauma from the people who hate and kill witches, and Gideon has trauma from the witches themselves. (Hence his extreme hatred of them.) It’s in the past, so the trauma is talked about and not completely on the page in graphic detail, but it’s still rough to read. The trauma is vast, and I’m surprised this isn’t marketed more as a New Adult book instead of Young Adult.

This was so enjoyable. Easy to devour, strong FMC. I can’t wait for the whole series. The world building was good and easy to follow.

DNFED at 50%/190 pages

Thank you Netgalley for the E-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is one of the cases of “It’s me not you” because I really lost interest in this book like in January. I have been on this book since December aka two months before it came out and barely made any progress to pick it up which now it’s been out for almost two weeks. I have literally read and finished six books and DNFED three since I started this one.

For the most part it's fine a book but it just is not working out for me. I got the audiobook to see if that would help and that just made it even worse.

The main premise is a game of cat and mouse between a Witch (Rune Winters) and a Witch Hunter (Gideon Sharpe) who are trying to Intel from each other while fake courting each other and possibly fall for each other. So pretty much enemies to lovers which I do like but just couldn’t get aboard on this one.

So if you liked Serpent & Dove which I couldn’t get past the 20% mark, this is for you.

For me my main thing is that I wanted to see Rune as the Crimson Moth more to save other witches not being told that she does and we don’t see it. Yes the main thing should be her trying to save her Grandmother’s best friend but let me see her trying to rescue other witches while Gideon is on her tail.

I’m really not liking the magical system as well since witches have to use menstrual blood if they can’t cut themselves to perform spells. If a witch cut themselves to perform spells it would leave scars on their body which people will know they are witches. Even though fresh blood aka cutting themselves works better than older blood because the spell is stronger with fresh blood.  Also the fact Verity, Rune’s second best friend, knows way too much about how witches operate not to be a witch. It goes beyond being close to them since how sisters were ones. (Side Note: I skipped the ending and I know why she does.  That is still not holding me to finish this book. )

Also the fact it's a possible love triangle with Run and the two brothers Gideon and Alex (Rune’s best friend) that is turning me off as well. Gideon just feels like all he wants to do is find out Rune is Crimson Moth and jump into her knickers.  Alex is fine but I’m going to need him to go ahead and shoot his shot instead of going around the bush with it. I don’t feel like staying anymore to see if he does so I’m just not feeling this one so I’m just going to cut my losses here.

I don't normally rate books that I DNFed but since it was more of a “It’s me not you” case which I just wasn't feeling it but doesn't mean I didn't like it, I'm giving it a three.

I went into this story blind and I absolutely LOVED it. I love a good forbidden, enemies to lovers romance and this one hit all the boxes. Our two MC's are a witch and a witch hunter. Our FMC Rune is a witch, but only a select few friends who are close to her know. Gideon is a witch hunter, on the search of the Crimson Moth and the brother of her best friend Alex. Rune needs to find a suiter, and decides that in order to keep her identity hidden, she should pursue Gideon. Gideon suspects that Rune is a witch, but has no evidence to prove it. He and his second decide that he should respond to Rune's pursuit of him, in order to uncover if what they suspect about her is true.

This was such a good forbidden romance, you can feel the tension growing between Rune and Gideon through the story. It is such a good slow burn! Aside from the romance, the story is so interesting and was incredibly easy to follow. I often don't enjoy "witch" books unless its an element added into a story about something else, but this one was actually very good! I was interested from the beginning and HAD to finish it quickly.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and Kristen Ciccarelli for the eARC of Heartless Hunter. Available now!

I really enjoyed this one and can't wait to get my hands on the next one. I've read a few witch hunter, witch romances and this is one of my favorites. I definitely didn't expect that ending!

🌿HEARTLESS HUNTER🌿

It's not often we get a story that has TRUE enemies to lovers. And it's my absolute favorite!

After a shattering revolution, witches have been banned from the city, hunted to purge magic from its walls. Rune, a highly engaged woman of society, is a witch in disguise, who searches for captured witches in order to free them from certain death. But this Crimson Moth finds her match in Gideon Sharpe, the lead witch hunter himself.

This is a masterpiece in Romantasy. The tension, the chemistry... absolute fire. Loved the witch verses witch hunter vibes. Forbidden love. An Unlikely match between main characters that BURN together.

I loved the historical feels, and the scarlet pimpernel retelling style! How this ended was just wow, amazing! Though I was quite angry at a lot of characters (for good reason, you will see!), I liked how it played out, which made me even MORE excited for book two!

So pretty much, this is my kind of fantasy. All I will say is... READ THIS!

Thank you @macmillanusa, @kristenciccarelli
And @wednesdaybooks for my ARC copy!


*Romance- vague open door
*TW- trauma, assault, death,
gore, kidnapping, witchcraft


#heartlesshunter #wednesdaybooks #bookfeature #fantasy #nafantasy #enemiestolovers #witchhunter #witches #magicalbooks #bookreview #macmillian #newauthortome #crimsonmoth #newfantasy #chemistry

This book was very engaging and unique. I loved the magic system. Unlike many books, the magic system had hard limits. There is a definite cost to being able to perform magic. I also enjoyed the world building and gothic imagery. The beginning of the story is heartbreaking. Rune, our FMC, is forced to turn in her grandmother for being a witch and watch her die. She has to live with the guilt, and so, becomes the Crimson Moth and rescues witches from the same fate to pay back her grandmother's sacrifice. Gideon, a notorious witch hunter, starts to get close to the truth about the identity of the Crimson Moth. Rune and Gideon both pretend to date the other so that they can each gain information. As they get to know each other, Rune and Gideon both begin to realize that they might actually be perfect for each other, if only she wasn't a witch and he wasn't a witch hunter.
I struggled some with Gideon and Rune's relationship though. Can you truly fall for someone if you can never truly be yourself? Overall though, I enjoyed Heartless Hunter. Rune's character is passionate and vibrant and somewhat impulsive. I absolutely adore her best friend, Alex, who happens to be Gideon's brother. I am not sure that I ever made it to liking Gideon. He made me mad. I did empathize with him, but it was hard to like him and root for their relationship. I am definitely going to read the next one though. I have to know what happens next.

I had pretty high expectations for this book even though I hadn't read anything from this author before. I think a lot of people will love this. There's good chemistry between all of the characters, and the enemies to lovers is done well. I do wish a little bit more of the world had been fleshed out more, but overall I think this was a great introduction to the characters & world.

I stayed up until 3:30am on a work night to finish this book. I loved every sentence of this. Kristen Ciccarelli is already an author I've been following and to have her write this??? That I get to read??? Absolutely superb. Rune was a very likable main character, and I loved her friendships with Verity and Alex. I've read some books lately with "enemies to lovers" story lines in them and I haven't believed a single one. But this one? I believed this one. I loved that they were both clever and outsmarting the other one. I loved that both of them really deserved to be called smart, and Rune's ability to act was a great detail.
I liked that while Alex did obviously have feelings for her, none of his anger at her being with Gideon seemed to stem from jealousy, and seemed to be more like actual concern. He wasn't whiny, and didn't sit back and sulk. He was an active part of the narrative, and he was so much more than just the best friend love interest that doesn't get the girl.
Now, the other friend. Verity. Let me tell you the audible gasp that I let out when the ending started to come together. Knowing that Alex didn't kill Cressida and that she had taken on Verity's body? Iconic.
I am definitely going to read the next book in this series. Rune and Gideon are so much fun to read about, and I can't wait to see how they find their way back to each other, and I'm really really excited to see how Rune and Cressida get along now that she knows what she did to Gideon.
I am really excited for the next one!

Thank you PRH Audio and Penguin Teen for my review copies. All Opinions are my own.

I'm a sucker for morally grey characters, so this was a treat. BUT that said, I'm not a romantasy fan. And this is exactly that kind of book. There's not much of a plot to this story but there is a lot of angst, pining, and a lot of "should I' and "I shouldn't scenes." I really enjoyed the whole Hunter and the Hunted theme, and Rune pretending to be someone she is not, while doing shady things at night. There's a lot of that enemies to lovers tension that will build a huge fan following. And I loved that the end wasn't ... ugh spoilers, so I'm stopping here.

If you need just some character banter, pinning, angst, looking but not touching, etc.. You'll enjoy this one.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, for the opportunity to read this title in exchange for an honest review.

What I enjoyed:
- Tropes: This was a TRUE enemies-to-lovers. The FMC was forced to hide her identity and pretend to be silly and dimwitted to not only outsmart the MMC, but the rest of their prejudiced society.
- Fast-paced plot. No dragging moments or info-dumps
- Unique magic system. The witches use blood for magic. This is most easily acquired by carving into their skin.
- Chemistry between the MCs
- Supporting character relationships were dimensional

What didn't quite hit the way I wanted it to (strictly personal preferences and nothing inherently wrong with the story):
- World-building. I was a bit confused by the government system. However, I thought the explanation for why the witches were disliked (by the MMC at least) was sufficient and appropriate given his history.
- The magic system, while entirely unique, is also inconvenient and I had a difficult time suspending my disbelief whenever the FMC actually used blood for spells. Although I must say that how she acquired blood (when it was forbidden and dangerous to carve herself) was smart! I was impressed with her ingenuity.

I'm definitely excited to read the sequel!

My first major ARC was anything but a disappointment! In fact, I think I have found a new favorite!!!
Heartless Hunter is the first book in the "Crimson Moth" duology and revolves around Rune who is a witch living in a world where her kin are hunted and killed if they are lucky to receive such mercy. And Gideon is a witch hunter...too bad this cat wants to play with his mouse. Also, that ENDING??? *emotional damage* I need book two ASAP!!!!
Easily a five star read for me.

Romantasy is my favorite genre, and this book delivered on all the key things in the genre that make me enjoy it so much. The romance was great and the fantasy setting was engaging. The two fit together in a way that didn't detract from either element and the plot was great.

My favorite part about this book was the characters. Every character was so well developed and nuanced. I love morally grey characters and enemies to lovers arcs, and I felt that this book delivered on those promises. I enjoyed their backstories and how we learned more about the characters as the book developed. I enjoyed how vulnerable Rune and Gideon were with each other. I was really rooting for them the entire book. Given the vast differences in their beliefs, it's difficult to see how they can overcome those, but I'm also very excited to continue to see them work through it in the sequel.

I also really liked the setting and the world building. In particular, the way witches function in this book was unique compared to other YA fantasy books. The magic system of this book was thought out and explained well. I appreciated the hard magic system with consequences to using powerful magic. It made the system more interesting. Sometimes fantasy books can make me feel like I'm getting weighed down by the world and having to work hard to understand the setting. I did not feel that way about this book! Everything was understandable and engaging.

How am I ever going to wait for book two!?! That ending was absolutely incredible and I was shocked.

The Heartless Hunter was a quick, fun read. Did I love it, no, but I liked it. Would I buy the book? No. Would I recommend it? Sure, if I think the person would enjoy it. Will I read the second one, probably.
I didn't connect with the characters and I didn't quite find them believable. I wish there would have been more development between Gideon and Rune, I didn't buy that they fall in love with each other especially with how much Gideon hated her fake personality. I think Gideon was my favorite character, he had the most depth. I also wish there was more worldbuilding. I think I was just expecting more going into the story.

---SPOILERS---

I didn't trust Alex and thought he was going to end up being controlled by Cressida or disguised as Alex and actually being Cressida, so his death didn't really sadden me. I was surprised that Cressida was Verity but i thought it was just assumed/obvious that Verity was a witch, so I was confused when Rune was upset that "Verity" was a witch and hadn't told her.

I liked, but didn’t love, this unique fantasy series. The premise drew me in the most, and I really enjoyed the parts that focused on the magic (although sometimes ick) and the world. I found myself a little bored during the romantic aspects of this book, which was unfortunately the majority of the book. I also had trouble buying into the romance, in general, especially because it felt like the characters were overly tropey, as opposed to well-developed humans.

I think there’s a lot to like in this book, especially for its target audience. It just didn’t hit right for me. I might continue the series just to see where it takes us, but most likely, I will not.

If you want a fantasy book with enemies to lovers then back to enemies then this is for you. There’s a love triangle with the female main character and two brothers. ALSO THE PLOT TWIST NEAR THE END OF THE BOOK??

This was giving Serpent & Dove, and I was so here for it. I read the Iskari trilogy by the same author, and it was good, but this was even better. I thought the way that Rune collected blood for her spells was ingenious (if a little icky) cannot wait to see what's going to happen next!

I read this book as an A.R.C through Netgalley originally, but obtained my own physical and audio copy for a re-read.

**am waiting on Amazon to approve my review

Because wherever Rune Winters went, her carefully crafted reputation came with her.
She was an informer. A witch hater. A darling of the New Republic.
Rune was the girl who betrayed her grandmother.

The Crimson Moth series is a planned duology (so brace yourself for that cliffhanger) about a fantasy world where witches once ruled but two years ago, there was a revolution by the Blood Guard and the ruling three witch queen sisters were killed. Now, The New Republic has outlawed witches and the Blood Guard have hunted them to the point that very few are ever seen, identifiable by their scars cut into their bodies to supply the blood they need for their spells. Rune was sixteen when the revolution happened and forced into an impossible situation that had her surviving but drowning from guilt. She also gets a shock when, as a later bloomer, she gets her menses and it's revealed she's a witch. Knowing her survival depends on staying hidden, she uses her aristocrat lineage to pretend to be an empty headed society miss, but wanting to fight back, Rune also becomes the Crimson Moth, a vigilante that rescues captured witches and ships them away to freedom.

Gideon Sharpe.
Rune’s lip nearly curled at the name of Alex’s older brother. Devoutly loyal to the New Republic, Gideon was a ruthless, bloodthirsty witch hunter who’d sent more of Rune’s kind to the purge than any other member of the Guard.
He’d also famously helped assassinate the Sister Queens, sparking the revolution into a blaze.

The older brother of Rune's bestfriend, Alex, is Gideon a captain in the Blood Guard and helped start the revolution but killing two of the witch queens. When they were kids and Rune met him for the first time, she had a crush on him, until he was rude and dismissive to her. Now that she's eighteen and he's twenty, Rune tries to avoid him as he could be the cause of her death if he ever found out what and who she is. With chapters that alternate giving us Rune and Gideon's point-of-view, we get a good luck at Gideon's character and learn important information about his past, thoughts, and feelings. His family was poor until the queens favored his parents for their dress designs and while that should have made things better for their family, it was their downfall. Gideon catches the eye of the youngest queen, Cressida, and from there he's forced into a relationship that he initially wanted but then can't escape as she becomes murderously jealous and Gideon can't escape people knowing about his relationship with the witch queen and knows he has to stay with her for his remaining family member, Alex's, safety. Gideon has reasons to hate the witch queens and when Nicolas, the commander of the Blood Guard, lays out a way to get his revenge, he takes it.

He was a witch hunter. He suspected her. He was closing in on her even now.
And yet.

I flew through the beginning first half of this, the world-building that was starting to be laid out with Rune having to remain hidden for her survival but having two friends, Alex and Verity, a girl Rune becomes friends with after Verity tells her the story of how she's not a witch but her two sisters were and her mother turned them in, set-up magic, danger, and then intrigue when Gideon came into the picture. Verity pushes Rune to find someone to court and then marry who has access to information so they can safely rescue even more witches, but does think Gideon could be too dangerous. Alex also has tried very hard to never betray his brother and refuses to completely side with Rune against him. However, since this is romance along with fantasy, Rune has a little bit of that drawn to Gideon and tells herself and friends that she's only going to use Gideon for information. Since we get Gideon's povs too, readers also know that Gideon's friends Harrow and fellow guard Lelia, also encourage him to pretend court Rune for information, when it's found out that Rune's family business of ships helped the last witch escape. So a really great cat and mouse dynamic is set-up with Rune and Gideon trying to use each other but also ultimately developing real feelings.

The hunted had fallen for the hunter.

The second half slowed down for me some as the romance became more of the focus and it stagnated with rinse and repeat of Gideon feeling he couldn't give into his feelings for Rune because he knows his brother Alex has romantic feelings for her and Rune, rightly so, scared that Gideon would turn her in to be killed if he discovered she's a witch. There was an open-door bedroom scene but I thought the best scenes between the two was when the tension ramped up because both are trying to fight their chemistry and both have some fear, Rune getting discovered and Gideon thinking he could be getting played and wanting to protect his brother. The latter second half also brought in some love triangle that I really didn't like and lead to a component of the ending that didn't quite deliver on the desired emotional impact for me; I'm not sure that character was flushed out enough.

She was the Crimson Moth— a wanted criminal, not to mention a witch, hiding in plain sight.

The last twenty percent picked up the stagnated pace and we get a rush of movement with a reveal that some will probably guess early at, some battle, and Rune and Gideon more divided than ever. This is tagged as a YA and it has some of that feel in the beginning but by the end I'd say it was more New Adult, the open-door scene and the method of how they kill the witches might be a little gruesome for the lower end of YA (but for YA/NA I loved that Rune used her menses blood for a source of power, using that blood so she wouldn't have to cut herself and have scars signaling she was a witch). There were characters I would have liked flushed out more, The Good Commander had such an impact on Gideon's life that I really missed seeing more scenes of the two together, not to mention Gideon and Alex. As I mentioned in the beginning, this ends with a cliffhanger and while I wanted more depth in some places, I'll definitely be in line for when the second comes out as in one aspect Rune got what she wanted but it may have just put her in danger from another foe and Gideon is going to want revenge even more.

I love a love triangle! Two brothers vying for a girl. She loves one, he's her enemy. The other brother loves her but she thinks of him as only a best friend. Using period blood for spells was a little off putting but any blood talk makes me queasy. Fast paced read. Easy world to grasp. Looking forward to the next book.

This story was amazing and beautiful. I absolutely loved the story and am beyond upset how long I have to wait for the sequel! The world and the magic system were done beautifully. the characters were strongly developed. I loved the enemies to lover trope. (its by far my fave). I loved the idea of with hunter falling for the witch he is supposed to be hunting. The scenario made this book so frustrating and anxiety inducing but i loved it. It is a great paranormal slow burn as well. the plot twists really kept me on my seat. Such a great story and romance plot for a Ya book.