Hunter’s Blood *Special Edition* by Marianne Morea

Freebie Spotlight is a feature highlighting eBooks (either Amazon Kindle or B&N Nook) that are available to download (for free) right now.

PJV Quickie: Today’s Freebie Spotlight is Hunter’s Blood (Special Edition) by Marianne Morea. All in all, it was a promising (albeit short) first book in a paranormal romance. Honestly, I’m just glad I finally found a freebie that I actually want to recommend to people!

Revenge…it’s a way of life for psychic, Lily Saburi. Haunted since the brutal murder of her best friend and partner, she’s obsessed with retribution-a vigilante bent on striking a blow for humanity against the shadowed world of the supernatural. Prey turned predator she aims to even the score-one bullet at a time starting with the beast that changed her life forever. Prepared for Armageddon she’s in for the fight of her life. But when mortally wounded by a diseased and insane Were, Lily is rescued by a most unlikely savior-Were-hunter, Sean Leighton. Sexy and powerful, Leighton is charged with destroying anything infected with the deadly pathogen threatening the survival of his pack, and that includes Lily. But their immediate attraction leaves them both breathless and confused. As Lily grapples with truth about herself, Leighton is faced with the looming reality that he will most likely have to kill the woman he’s falling in love with. Only time will tell if they are destined to be together or if they’ll fall victim to the Hunter’s Blood. (synopsis courtesy of GoodReads)

I must have some sort of eye problem, because I completely missed the part where this is a novella, not a full length novel. I don’t know, maybe the page number should have tipped me off, or maybe the sentence right before the synopsis that used words like “short story” and “novella”. Don’t get me wrong; I love novellas, especially when they come in between main books in my favorite series. I’m just not sure it was a right choice for book #1, but I digress.

I was pleased to find that I could connect with the characters fairly well, considering there was only 176 pages in which to get to know them. Lily Saburi is our heroine, and the author wastes no time in plunging her into some action. Lily is out to avenge her best friend Terry, who was attacked and viciously killed by a werewolf. Terry isn’t completely gone though; for some reason she is stuck between life and death, and Lily is the only one who can see her, at least at first. I could feel the anguish and guilt that Lily suffered over her friend’s death, and her desperation to kill whoever had done it. Of course this made her hate pretty much all supernatural creatures, so it’s no surprise that she’s wary of Alpha werewolf Sean Leighton at first. I thought Sean was a very likable hero; he was handsome, patient, and kind, as well as protective of Lily. I love a strong, chivalrous hero.

“I just have to bide my time, and let diplomacy do its work, but I promise you, if forced, I will restore the power of the Alpha and the absolute rule that goes along with it to protect you. You are my life, and nothing and no one will stop me from having you at my side.” (Sean to Lily, Loc. 2122 on Amazon Kindle edition – sorry, no page numbers for some reason!)

That leads me to a problem I had with this book. Actually, it’s the problem I already mentioned. Because this was only a novella, time skipped by in months from chapter to chapter. One chapter they would just be getting to know each other, and then months pass in which we can’t see their relationship blossom. All of a sudden they were in love. Normally that would be a deal breaker for me, but since I saw the potential in the characters and the series it didn’t bother me as much as it has in the past. I still wish this would have been a full length novel. I feel it would have allowed more time to get to know Sean and Lily, and make their relationship seem more genuine. However, I think the author did an excellent job of telling this story and setting up the rest of the series with such a limited amount of pages.

I liked that there was a twist on the traditional werewolf tale, with the disease aspect. It threw additional conflict into the mix, threatening Sean and Lily’s bond and directing the entire story line. I liked how Lily wasn’t just an ordinary human also; she had psychic powers that added another interesting facet.

Overall, this was a nice setup for the Cursed By Blood Saga, and think it fulfilled its purpose of getting me interested in the series. I definitely plan on reading book 2, called Twice Cursed. The synopsis sounds amazing and it’s considerably longer at 318 pages! If you’re looking for a new Paranormal Romance series, I highly recommend checking out Hunter’s Blood.