Originally Reviewed At: Mother/Gamer/Writer
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Controllers
Review Source: Blog Tour
Reviewer: Me




The Crimson Hunt began as a slow read for me, however as soon as the plot thickened and we began discovering the hidden depths of Ariel’s world, I slowly began to fall in love with this novel and its story. With many secrets and people constantly dying, The Crimson Hunt is an interesting take on…well; I can’t give away what they are without spoiling the big reveal!

Ariel is a girl whose life was destroyed by fire. But she is determined to be normal and live the fullest life possible and always seems to do the right thing. Her best friend, a charismatic girl who lives her life on the edge, tries to shake Ariel into living a life that is free and uninhibited. So, she decides to take her advice when she meets heart-throb Luca, a guy with killer eyes who seems to ignore her at every turn. After Ariel’s world is rocked once again by death – and yes this death is so unexpected – she has to learn to trust the one person who may or may not have her best interests at heart.

Overall, The Crimson Hunt is full of wonderful surprises. One’s I never expected and was shocked after they happened. It’s a quick read with a lot of pizzazz, and I’m sure others will also fall in love with its charm. The author did a wonderful job of keeping me guessing and I would definitely read the next book in the series! ( )

The Crimson Hunt has all the potential to be a great science fiction romantic thriller. It has aliens, action, beauty and the beginnings of a very interesting world filled with some awesome super powers. I am such a fan of science fiction when it incorporates a sweet love story or a heroine coming into her own powers. The Crimson Hunt has both. But it is not without flaws.

Ariel lost both her parents, and nearly her own life, at the age of five in a fire. She has spent most of her life alone. Now, a junior in college, she is finding a life for herself. She is burgeoning artist doing well in school, she has a small close knit group of friends and Piper her bestie that doubles as a roommate. She's content until the day she, literally, bumps into Luca.

Luca is a conundrum. He's hot and cold within seconds. Ariel can not get a handle on him and is becoming more and more drawn to him. It's the relationship between Ariel and Luca that gave me the first pause. I am in no way a fan of instant love but the drag out of this relationship was so long and torturous it was almost as painful as if they had fallen in love at first sight. The attraction is there from the start but there is no action of any kind until somewhere after the books halfway mark. In fact the romance is quite tame and could be handled by many young adult readers.

As Ariel's relationship with Luca develops, her relationship with Piper strains and strange events begin to happen around them. Eventually the events become tragic for Ariel and she must go on the lamb with Luca in order to preserve her own life. This run begins the unraveling of the science fiction aspect of the story, which was my favorite part. The last ten percent of the book is where the action really picks up and I wish there had been more of it spread throughout.

I understand the need for details and buildup with this sort of a storyline but The Crimson Hunt felt overly long and wordy at times. I think there was too much time spent on the relationship at the beginning of the book and the story lagged there because of it.

Don't mistake me, I think there are many fans of romance that will enjoy the love story here. Luca is quirky, sweet and old fashioned and makes for an interesting hero. I just found the other aspects of the story more my suit and wanted more of it. I get a little rush from alien action, be it from books like the Lux series or shows like Roswell. I love to see how the creators come up with these alternate beings and the powers they wield. Smith is on to something with it in The Crimson Hunt, she's created an interesting take and I want to see how it all hashes out.

I look forward to the second book due to so many of the details being let out in book one. I am hoping it makes for more action and aliens as that is really the gem of this story. ( )

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.

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.