Title: Hunter Kiss
Author: Marjorie M. Liu
Series: Hunter Kiss #0.5
In: Wild Thing (Marjorie M. Liu, Maggie Shayne, Alyssa Day & Meljean Brook)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Demons, Paranormal fantasy, Urban fantasy
Pace: Medium
Format: Novella
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Year: 2007
5th sentence, 74th page: We are questioned separately, but spin stories of surprise and confusion and who-could-do-such-a-thing.

Enter the forbidden and recklessly exciting world of the demon horde and their willing victims…

I loved the prose in this. It was jumpy and a little all over the place. Quite sharp and to the point. And not really the kind of prose I would have expected from a novella in a paranormal romance collection. It wasn’t really that heavy on the romance either, that was just kind of slotted in. Which I appreciated immensely. After all, what I like about this series (the novella that I have already read anyway) is the darkness of it and the intensity.

This is the start of Hunter Kiss, a little romantic introduction that (I’m assuming) sets you up for the rest of the series. And it is one that worked really very well for me. I found it thoroughly enjoyable, if anything, a little too enjoyable in that it makes me want to not finish any of the other books on my “currently reading” pile and just jump straight into The Iron Hunt. It is taking a lot of self-control to not do this. And to you know… continue doing the work that I’m actually supposed to be doing (that I get paid to do).

This isn’t the fast-paced novella that I was expecting. Although there are demons and external impacts on Grant and Maxine, most of the story is about them getting to know each other. Specifically, it is about Maxine being introduced to her reader in all of her weird and abnormal glory. And what an introduction it is… now to hide The Iron Hunt somewhere safe so I can be a little more productive in my life…

<- Paradise

The Iron Hunt ->

Image source: Amazon