Book Review: Twilight Hunter

Twilight Hunter

By:  Kait Ballenger

Publisher:  Harlequin

Publish Date:  August 27, 2013

Format:  ARC 213pg, pocket books size

Genre:  Paranormal Romance

Series:  1st in Execution Underground series; 0.5 Book ~ After Dark: Shadow Hunter

Recommendation:  Looking for a sexy man and hot romance?  Oh yea.

Synopsis:
Hunters of supernatural, the Execution Underground are an elite group tasked with protecting humanity...but what happens when danger collides with desire?

Jace McCannon has one loyalty: the Execution Underground.  Despite his mixed blood, his hatred for the werewolves he hunts is legendary.  But in his search for a sadistic killer, Jace finds himself face to face with a stunningly seductive packmaster...and longing for a night with his mortal enemy.

Nothing can stop Frankie Amato from defending her kind -- or catching the rogue responsible for killing women in her territory.  For that, this alpha female needs Jace's skills more than she wants to admit.  But as their investigation exposes evil truths, need burns into a passion that dare not be fulfilled.  For to do so will have deadly consequences for them both...

First Sentence:
Jace McCannon palmed the Mateba and clicked back the gun's hammer.

Purchase At:
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**I read this for an honest review from the author.

My Thoughts and Summary:
Jace McCannon is hunting the killer of innocent women left with their organs flung around their dead bodies. He's got a trail and he's following it on this full moon, and his prime time.  Jace is outraged by the abuse and torture the women are put through before and after death.  The killers scent is everywhere and hard to narrow down.  Jace needs to find him now.  The leader of the Execution Underground Rochester area unit is on Jace's tail.  Could he be involved with the personalizing toward Jace that's surfaced?  Jace has to solve the case to prove he's innocent.   While checking over a recently killed woman, Jace comes face to face with what he hunts and hates, a werewolf and a female one at that.

Frankie Amato has tried to protect her kind as the Alpha and Packmaster she is, hunting the murderer killing in her territory, and now face to face with the rumored Hunter killing rogue werewolves.  Having thwarted the mating ceremony and her estrus cycle at a high, the Hunter's smell and sound plays across her mind.  She needs to try to stay focused and get away from the man holding her captive, or the night will heat beyond what either are ready for.

Knowing the history of his father and what he did to his mother, Jace doesn't want anything to do with the Alpha female he's got in handcuffs, but things grow to a point of not turning around.  The killer is watching, waiting, acting.  And Jace and Francesca stumble along trying to solve the case as they are distracted with their 'relationship'.

We get four POV's in this story.  Jace, Frankie, Robert, and David.  Hmm, Jace.  He's got some issues, but man is he a hot number.  He's a smoker, carries a flask of Irish whisky on him at all times, and curses worse than a sailor.  And...he's got a bit of Daddy issues as well.  He's even got a secret of his own.  Then we have Frankie.  She's fighting to keep hold of her position.  Robert is the sicko doing all these horrid things to the woman he kills and mutilates.  David is another Hunter, part of the Execution Underground, that's been friends with Jace for years.

I like the romance.  It works great with Jace and Frankie.  Jace is determined to fight what he finds he wants.  Frankie is a bit weakened emotionally with it being her Estrus cycle and mating call, which seems to maybe have affected Jace too.  When we get Frankie with her pack, she stands stronger as an Alpha.  There are parts that could be a bit more fine tuned with why or reasoning, an explanation strong enough to take the story in that direction.

It's a hot romance with the road Jace and Frankie travel.  And we even see a potential future for David and his love?  Hmmm, only time will tell.

I look forward to the growth of this world and of the author.  This is a series I'll be keeping an eye out for.  Lovely romance here.