Hunted by Meagan Spooner Review
Hello Again!
After a very long weekend, I wanted to do a review of a book I read in February, Hunted. I bought this book as an e-book because it was on sale and was excited to read it because of the description. See what I thought below! Enjoy!
Synopsis
Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them. So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance. Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?
-GoodReads
Review
This book was not on my TBR for February but I read a couple of books last month that weren't on my planned TBR that I enjoyed reading. I liked this book more than I thought I would and read half of it in one sitting! My fiance picked this book for me to read and I'm glad he did. I bought this book purely because of the gorgeous cover and didn't even know it was a retelling of Beauty and the Beast until I had started reading it. This was one of two Beauty and the Beast retellings I read last month but I enjoyed this one far more.
I love fairytale retellings because they take inspiration from the original tale but differ in several to many ways. One of the things I enjoyed about this version is the strength and skill of the main character, Yeva. She is portrayed as someone who can lead the family and do the "dirty work" her other fairer sisters are afraid to do. She has an inherent talent for hunting which makes her pretty badass.
Although this story functions with few characters and spends most of its time focusing on the development on the main 2 characters, it didn't feel like the other characters were underdeveloped. The way this author writes, you feel like you get a good sense of who the characters are although they may not be the main protagonists. Another facet of the story I enjoyed was the relationship between the beast and Yeva. It's a relationship that builds slowly over many pages and is quite enjoyable to read, it doesn't feel forced.
I enjoyed the story between Yeva and the beast so much but I wish there had been more of it. It took a little too long, in my opinion, for these main protagonists to meet and I don't think as much backstory was required for their pre- meeting. One of the things I think would have made this an even more enjoyable book was if it was done from both the beast and Yeva's points of view. It seems as though this beast is more animal than man, but it would have been interesting to get more of a view into what he was thinking. There were also quite a few magical elements that don't get explained very thoroughly and felt brushed over.
Other than these things, I thought this was one of the best fairytale retelling I have ever read and was a great read. I wish there were more books in this series because I would have enjoyed reading more about this story or even another fairytale retelling.
Conclusion
Overall, this was book was unique and a pretty good read. The relationship and story development between our main protagonists was excellent. I enjoyed the way this story was written and will probably seek out more of this author's work.
Length: At 384 pages, this length felt appropriate for the story!
Story Development: A little slow leading up to the protagonists meeting but otherwise well paced.
Romance: Well written, not over the top!
Protagonist Strength: Above Average
Re-readable? Yes
I give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars
