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Showing posts with label Hunters Series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hunters Series. Show all posts
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Review: Hunter's Rise
Hunter’s Rise
Author: Shiloh Walker
Release Date: April 3, 2012
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Hunters Series Book 14
ISBN: #978-0425248379
Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance
Format(s): Paperback (336 pgs), e-book
Book Source: Publisher
About the book:
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His past is a mystery, even to him—a werewolf with memories so lost in a fog that even the Hunter’s healers cannot help him. Two hundred years ago, Toronto awakened on an unfamiliar street, naked and alone. Dogged by the unanswered questions of his enigmatic existence, he fears he will never find the missing pieces of the puzzle that is his life.
The vampire Sylvia is no Hunter. She’s a take-no-prisoner mercenary that just barely skates this side of what the Hunters consider acceptable. She has no use for them, their laws, their rules. All she wants is to hunt her quarry, and make a lot of money. Her newest prey is a killer as devious as he is slippery. But her newest complication is of a more intimate sort: A blonde, blue-eyed werewolf who interferes with her plans in so many exquisite ways.
What B is talking about:
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Having been bitten by five werewolves when he was a teen, Toronto should be dead. Instead, he not only survived the attack and the violent hunger that consumed him afterward, but he’s become a master in his own right. Tied to a past he can’t remember, he lives his life as if his future is just as empty, fighting the monsters that roam the world out of a sense of obligation, rather than purpose.
Sylvia James is a vampire and a loner, and likes it that way just fine, thank you. She’s a killer for hire, taking vengeance on behalf of those that can pay her fee…and sometimes for the ones that touch her heart. For those victims, the blood of their enemies is payment enough. But, when her latest job puts her in the crosshairs of a werewolf that breaks down every wall she’s got, she knows she in serious trouble.
This is the first novel in the Hunters series I’ve had the pleasure of reading, but there’s a lot about it to like. Hunter’s Rise has a great assemblage of characters in the mix. I absolutely adore Toronto. He’s a pain and then some for the Master vampire he serves, he’s snarky and sarcastic, but he won’t turn his back on those that need him. He and Sylvia are perfect for one another; both wary and damaged, yet reluctantly hopeful despite the weight of their respective pasts. Walker successfully avoids dragging her story down with stereotypes, keeping the dynamics and characteristics within her story familiar without being clichéd.
Not just an erotic tale filled with the befanged and furry, Hunter’s Rise is a suspenseful whodunit with plenty of surprises to keep the action lively. I didn’t have any real suspicions about the outcome until much later in the novel, and very much enjoyed reading through to the end to see if I was right. There are a few disturbing passages throughout, but they fit perfectly within the story Walker is telling. The Hunters’ world is often a bleak one, but in this author’s hands it is engaging rather than oppressive.
The instant heat between Sylvia and Toronto is both erotic and amusing. Both are tough characters who believe themselves immune to the pull of the heart, and watching them wrestle with the reality of their feelings is highly entertaining, especially earlier in the novel. But as they fall deeper into the mystery they’re trying to solve, as well as each other, the complications gain momentum, the overall tone becoming ever more urgent.
Hunter’s Rise is, sadly, the final novel of the Hunters series, and I deeply regret having missed out on so many of the others. Both clever and sexy, it was a pleasure to read and extremely difficult to put down. If you’re new to the series, this addition reads very well as a standalone, with enough about the secondary characters to encourage plenty of curiosity about the other novels in the series. If you’re already familiar with the series, you will surely not be disappointed.
B’s Rating:
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Enjoyed - strongly recommend (A-)
Purchase Info:
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Author Interview: Shiloh Walker
Today I have the honor of bringing to you paranormal and suspense romance author Shiloh Walker. Shiloh has been writing since she was a kid. She fell in love with vampires with the book Bunnicula and has worked her way up to the more...ah...serious works of fiction. She loves reading and writing anything paranormal, anything fantasy, and nearly every kind of romance.
Once upon a time she worked as a nurse, but now she writes full time and lives with her family in the Midwest. She writes paranormal and contemporary romance, as well as romantic suspense. Please help me welcome Shiloh toThat’s What I’m Talking About.
Twimom: Shiloh, welcome and thank you for stopping by.
Shiloh: Thanks so much for having me...!
Twimom: I’m very excited to have this chance to chat. I’ve been a twitter follower for a couple years, but just recently read my first Shiloh Walker book, The Departed. I LOVED the story and started adding some of your books to my TBR pile. You have an EXTENSIVE backlist, do you have a favorite book or series? Can you pick one of your series and tell my readers a bit more about it?
Shiloh: Oh, that's hard...I'm partial to my Grimm series...I bastardize fairy tales in that one, but I know not everybody loves paranormal like I do. The Departed is one my FBI Psychic books and that's a good series to start with, I guess...it's more of a reality-based paranormal, the characters are psychics who work for a special task force for the FBI. So far, there are just two stories, The Missing and The Departed but there's a novella due out this summer in the Hot in Handcuffs anthology and then another full-length book due out next year, I believe.
Twimom: During this month is the release of one of your Hunters Series books, Hunter's Rise. Can you share more about the book and this paranormal series? Is there a place for a “newbie” to jump into the series?
Shiloh: Actually, almost any of them...I try to write them to work on their own and Hunter's Rise would work completely fine as a stand-alone. The only ones that aren't quite as easy to follow without some idea of what's going on would be the ones involving the storyline about Nessa, a slightly crazy witch. There are some older stories that I'm reissuing digitally if somebody wants to get in at the very beginning, although those stories are hotter and the focus was a little different than what it is now.
Twimom: Review team member, B, has a review of Hunter’s Rise later today (4 Stars), and agrees that you can read it as a stand alone.
Your books include paranormal, contemporary and suspense romance. Do you prefer writing one genre over another? Is one easier to write from a technical or research side?
Shiloh: Suspense is a little harder because you want to keep the 'feel' of it more real, but I enjoy writing all of it. I get bored easy and writing everything feeds into my need for changing things up.
Twimom: What’s up next for Shiloh?
Shiloh: Who knows...I'm hoping to sell another romantic suspense trilogy and I've got another idea for some FBI psychics, but we'll just have to wait and see!
Twimom: I look forward to find out! I always like to ask authors about their reading habits... What types of books do you enjoy reading? What is your favorite read of 2011 or so far in 2012?
Shiloh: I tend to stick with romance and urban fantasy. Some of my favorite authors are SL Viehl/Lynn Viehl, Nora Roberts/JD Robb, Stacia Kane, Ilona Andrews... favorite reads? I've really loved Oracle's Moon by Thea Harrison and Sacrificial Magic by Stacia Kane. There are a couple of others I really loved but I don't know if I'm supposed to mention that I've read them yet!
Twimom: Oh Man! Now I’m dying to know what books you’ve gotten your hands on already! ;-) What upcoming 2012 releases are you most excited to read?
Shiloh: Chasing Magic by Stacia Kane, Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews
Twimom: Oh! Gunmetal Magic is at the top of my list, too!
Shiloh, once again thank you so much for taking the time to tell my readers a little bit about yourself and your writing. It was wonderful chatting with you.
Shiloh: Thanks for having me!
You can find Shiloh Walker on line at
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