Saturday, March 16, 2013

The Crimson Hunt by Victoria H. Smith

I participated in the blog tour hosted by Giselle from Xpresso Book Tours

Title: The Crimson Hunt
Author: Victoria H. Smith
Info: Website | Twitter | Facebook
Release Date: November 8th, 2012
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages: 340
Format: Electronic Copy
Acquired: From Author
Interest: Series
Age Group: Young Adult

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.

Another awesome tour by an awesome author presented by the amazing Giselle.

I really didn't expect myself to like it, which is bad, I know, but sometimes I get that feeling, like this book just won't be good. I'm glad to say my feelings about this novel were incorrect. I thoroughly found myself enjoying this novel from page one until the very end.

Ariel and Luca just left sparks in their wake and this twist on sci-fi is crazy. I know this is supposed to be "New Adult" but since I'm so against this new age group (even though, technically speaking, I am a part of it) I'm just not listing it as such.

So, I want to start with the cover. It draws people in and it is captivating and really tells a story. And I just love the red; it just looks beautiful and makes the cover 100% more attractive.

Now, onto the story. So, this book pretty much starts out dull. I'm just going to lay it all out there. It feels normal, it sounds normal; you may as well just call it normal. But there's the rub with Ms. Smith, because the novel is anything but that (it has to be because it's also classified as Paranormal and I do not do false advertisement).

I thought by now that I would be getting sick of this "cold" "distant" "bad boy" thing that keeps appearing again and again in YA fiction, but I was surprised to find that I really did like the way that Smith ended up working it in with Luca. There was so many times that Luca and Ariel should have just gotten together and I wanted to smack someone.

This is a novel that keeps you guessing and every time you think you have figured it out it proves you wrong. I'm actually looking forward to the second book!

This was a great novel. I recommend it to all.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

I like the cover on this one. His eyes really draw you, and it sounds like they draw Ariel as well. I agree that the red does look good with it. Sounds like it makes an awesome read, too. I'll have to see if I can fit this in my reading time somewhere!