Hunter by Mandy Harbin

Hunter by Mandy Harbin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Hunter. Hmm…. Where do I start? I’m in a bit of a quandary on how to rate this book. While I did enjoy reading Hunter, it just didn’t pack the same punch as Brody did. I appreciated that Ms. Harbin gets straight to the action in the first chapter because it helped set the stage for the romantic suspense elements. I also liked the use of Hunter’s dream flashbacks and memories as an appropriate vehicle for providing background on his past and explaining his protective attitude over his sister Heather. But once the foundation for the story was laid, it felt like there were a few too many scenes where Ms. Harbin skimmed over what was happening. This failure to develop the scenes fully reduced the intensity level of Hunter. I should point out that I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy the book, because I did. Rather I felt like something was missing from Hunter that made it not quite as good of a read as Brody was.

When Heather’s best friend and roommate gets targeted by a stalker ex, she does what any friend would do if their brother was part of a government-backed black ops organization – she drags her best friend off to another state to ask for help. Fortunately for Maya, Hunter isn’t the only one who has a soft spot for his sister and the men of Bang Shift agree to look into her ex. While they do, Hunter finds himself on babysitting duty with a woman who makes his blood boil and THAT feeling is mutual. Yet despite their instant attraction, neither Hunter nor Maya acted on it in the beginning. Quite the contrary, these two played the avoidance game admirably considering they were stuck together in the same house almost 24/7. We’re around 65% into the book before Hunter and Maya find themselves unable to deny the attraction between them and it was HOT! I’m starting to think The Bang Shift might have another meaning altogether.

Even though I felt like the suspense elements weren’t developed as fully as they could have been (especially when compared to Brody), there were still a few twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I was glad that Maya didn’t cave immediately to Hunter’s non-apology apology when the evidence proved her innocent – his accusations were hurtful and his lack of faith in her required more than an “we heard everything” statement to make things right. Thankfully the guys of Bang Shift seem to know how to grovel when they need to and Hunter executed that particular mission successfully. Overall, I enjoyed Hunter, I had just hoped for a bit more. But Ms. Harbin did set things up quite nicely for the next few books in the series and I’m really not sure whose story I hope to see next – Roc’s, Bear’s, or Blade’s. Any one of them works for me and I will be adding it to my reading list as soon as I can.

I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!

Check out the HUNTER Tour Stop! blog post at Crystal's Many Reviewers!


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