Book Review: Dark Hunter's Touch by Jessa Slade

Author: Jessa Slade
Format: ePub (Overdrive)
Release Date: August 1, 2012
Pages: 67
Publisher: Harlequin Nocturne Cravings
Genre: Paranormal Romance

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Synopsis from Goodreads

Yearning to be free, Imogene has fled the idleness and cruelty of the phae court to hide in the sunlit realm of humans. When the Dark Hunters find her—and they will—she will face the Queen's wrath. But she is tired of running, and after a chance encounter with a seductively handsome stranger named Vaile, Imogene embraces the earthly passions within her, if only for one night. But has she fallen for a man—or an illusion?

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      Dark Hunter's Touch is a story about a phae named Imogene. She is on the run from the phae world because she is tired of the Queen's tyranny. Her eyes have been opened and she wants to be free. Of course, her freedom comes with a price. She escapes the phae realm and enters the human realm. The Queen has sent her Dark Hunters after her to bring her back, but Imogene continues to outrun them. But one day she comes across a fellow runner named Vaile (she runs for sport) and they fall hard for each other. But there is something about him that is different that may make things worse for Imogene.

      Slade is a new author for me. I thought I would like to start off with her novella. I liked this, but I wanted to love it. Slade definitely has a way with words and kept me on the edge of my seat. I have every intention of starting her Marked Souls series which looks delicious. The problem I had with this is book however is that it was too much for 67 pages. It felt like 250 page book condensed down to 67 pages. It was a bit overwhelming because it is so much packed into something so little.

      I really liked Imogene and Vaile. Imogene is scared and wants her freedom from the crazy queen. She wants a life not full of deception and illusions. I like the instant attraction between her and Vaile. Vaile has been running into for a while and he has finally gotten the chance to talk to her. But things fall a little short when they start running for their lives from the Dark Hunters. I liked the chase, but the chase alone revealed things that I expected very early in the book. Vaile is suspicious from the beginning because he didn't seem like your average runner. But it was odd because given his inner dialogue you would have thought something completely different. This will make sense once you read it.

      I liked the plot a lot and think this book has a great premise. But as I said 67 pages is just too short for this. The world is huge and very complicated. From the get go I felt a little overwhelmed by the story. But once we meet the characters and get some of their story, things start to fall into place. So it is best to keep to the book until the end. But even when you get to the end and things are explained, it felt a bit contrived and rushed.

      If this had 50-100 more pages, it would have been great. I think the suspense would be a lot better and drawn out. I figured things out pretty quickly because there wasn't that much build up there, but still. I liked the characters and I like the story though. I heard that this will be a series and I am extremely curious to see where it goes. The ending of this was pretty complete, so I don't know what the series will be about, but I am guessing there is more to this that we missed. Jeez, I usually don't write long reviews for short stories, but I just had to get this off of my chest. Overall, this is a good read, but could have been great.

Rating:

*This book belongs to the following challenge*

BCC's 100 Books In A Year Reading Challenge 2013!
BCC's Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Romance Challenge 2013!
Under The Covers Book Blog 2013 Immortal Reading Challenge!