I'm happy to be a part of the Blog Tour for Victoria H. Smith's The Crimson Hunt, hosted by Xpresso Book Tours. You can get the full details and schedule of the tour Here
Series: Eldaen Light Chronicles, #1
Publication date: November 8th 2012
Purchase:
Amazon / Barnes and Noble / The Book Depository
Synopsis:
College junior Ariel Richmond is working on year three of Project Normalcy.
Her house reeks of keggers past and her bestie is just a slight bit vulgar. But the thing is—they both aid in making life refreshingly uneventful.
So much for hard-earned mediocrity when Luca Grinaldi appears on the scene.
Luca’s sudden presence on campus is hard to ignore. Those bright eyes act like a beacon to unsuspecting females, and with features like his, he’s got to be moonlighting for GQ. Luca hopelessly captivates Ariel with his confidence and charisma, but the mysteries surrounding him make him nearly untouchable. And just when Ariel grows close enough to unlock his secrets, a tragic event sends her life in a downward spiral.
That steady life is no longer an option and allies quickly become scarce. The mysterious Luca seems to be the only one willing to help her—but with that trust comes the burden of his secrets. He has a dark mission of otherworldly proportions, and is willing to sacrifice as many lives as it takes to see it completed.
Gone are the days of simply maintaining normalcy, and if Ariel isn’t cautious with her trust, so soon may be her future.
Review:
The Crimson Hunt starts off in a shroud of mystery with the prologue. We know that there might be something otherworldly involved, but what. We experience Ariel’s somewhat normal life in the first part of the book. She is a college student trying to make it into the big Art show but thwarted by her mean girl arch nemesis. Then enters Luca the mystery boy crush who is a jerk one minute and then charming the next. The next thing you know the book takes a turn for the dark and sinister as people start showing up dead, including ones close to Ariel.
As far as the book tempo it did start off slightly slow, but it was appropriate for setting the scene and keeping you in suspense. I found myself anxious to find out what was going to happen so it kept my attention. Once it picked up, it hit the ground running and there was action around every corner. What a great concept for the book, I loved the sci-fi mix with a dash of paranormal. I also loved the idea of why there are these beings here and that as humans we are almost just unfortunate causalities in the bigger picture.
Ariel was a strong self-reliant character. I liked the way she interacts with her friends and other characters. I also like that she has a history of relationship failure, I’m not even sure why but it made it seem more real. She is a little more reserved when she meets Luca, even though she is attracted to him she tries to keep her head on straight and not fall to hard. Even though she ends up doing just that of course who wouldn’t.
I’m not all together sure how I felt about Luca; I didn’t feel like Ariel needed him which was kind of nice change. He liked to run hot and cold but once he warmed up it was hard not to be at least fond of him. He had trained himself to not feel so when he really starts opening up to Ariel we see a different side of him. He is sweet, kind and of course gorgeous. He might be the next great love my life but I thought he was a good character and also a good match for Ariel.
At first I did not like Piper, Ariel’s best friend; I was like why is she friends with this girl. I don’t understand this relationship. As we get to know Piper we find out how she truly is loyal to Ariel and actually a really good friend. There were other side characters involved all that I found some kind of fondness for. Even the villains were interesting and very evil at times.
I really enjoyed this book and I loved the fact that it’s New Adult. The College Campus setting is perfect for this type of story and it really gave the characters more leeway with things. I really don’t want to give away too much of the mystery because that’s the best part about it. It mixes in a little mystery as we learn about the characters roles, which makes it intriguing to the last page. I will definitely pick up book two because I’m curious about how everything will end up resolved.
Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Victoria H. Smith has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. She puts it to good use writing romance all day. She resides in the Midwest with her Macbook on her lap and a cornfield to her right. She often draws inspiration for her stories from her own life experiences, and the twenty-something characters she writes give her an earful about it.
In her free time, she enjoys extreme couponing, blogging, reading, and sending off a few tweets on Twitter when she can. She writes new adult fiction romance in the sub-genres of science fiction, urban fantasy, and contemporary, but really, anywhere her pen takes her she goes.
Victoria H. Smith Links: Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
