Heartless Hunter

 By: Kristen Ciccarelli 

Location: FIC CIC

Genre: Romantasy

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Kristen Ciccarelli’s The Crimson Moth is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch… is falling in love.

Review by Cace

“The hunted had fallen for the hunter.”

This is what I want when I ask for a romantasy!! It was so good and so easy to read like you guys don't understand how busy my whole week was but I still managed to read so much and binge it when I got the time and I had to take so many breaks but never once did it make me loose interest, the short chapters made this book so fast and I honestly was flying through it, I had to stop myself at times because I would be so consumed in this book and honestly my first book by this author and it was such a banger. This is what I deserve when I go through booktoks recs because AHHH I went in blind but it surprised in every ways and I didn't know that it was going to be Enemies to lovers so it was so refreshing to read and find out about it because it just took me back to my 2021 reading era where I would just pick up a book blindly without looking at the tropes and it would be a surprise for me.

“Some people are determined to live out their own personal tragedies.”

This was easily a character driven story and I honestly was so consumed by it that other aspects of the book didnt even really mattered to me because the characters really shined for me. Rune Winters was easily one of the best characters to read about, she was badass, not easily manipulated, did what she wanted and was so sneaky! I loved it. Yes, at times she did do some dumb stuff but it felt natural and it made her characters actions just more rational and realistic so I liked the way that was showcased but her resilience and her determination was something that I really admired and honestly her in book 2 is even betterrrrrr. Gideon Sharpe, I am sooooo conflicted on his character because while I really liked him, I also hated him and I was so torn between liking him or hating him. He was complex because I didn't like his role but I really liked him with Rune and his backstory was so sad which made it even more worse but the way Gideon managed to me be even conflicted with a role like that is so impressive!! Alex Sharpe, THE MAN THAT YOU ARE!! I know you all love gideon but Alex?? my sweet, sweet cinnamon role you deserve so much and honestly the way things were ending, I saw a future with that but nooooo everything got ruined like whyyyy!! it could have been perfect but just know that I loved Alex so much!

“You are not the things that happened to you, Gideon.”

The romance was so conflicting!! I mean I can see the main couple and I am fully willing to root for them, I actually am and it's not even a love triangle lol but ughhh you guys dont understand :(((( but anyways the relationship between Rune and Gideon was so fun to read because while Gideon was madly in love with Rune, he also hated her alter ego so much and it made everything so much! their dates were so cute and I liked the spice as well, although minimal a nice addition but everything about how it was written was so enjoyable like it was written in a way where no matter what direction it took, I would have been happy but THE DIRECTION IT TOOK CAME OUT OF SOMEWHERE I WASN'T EXPECTING AND I WAS STUNNED.

“Your laugh is like a fuse,” he said. “It lights you up.” Rune’s heart thudded. No one had ever told her that before.”

Lets talk about that situation.....orrr lets not :(( the ending was sooooo bad (in a good way) to say I'm devastated is an understatement cuz I gasped and I actually threw my Ipad on the bed because what the fuck man!!!!! why would you do that to me?? it's not fair and honestly book 2 is going so well but its not the same and ugh I dont even wanna talk about it so I wont.

Overall, amazing and you all need to read this!