Witches versus witch hunters. Some rivalries never grow old for me, and this is one of them. When people speak of enemies to lovers, this is what comes up in my mind. This is the type of rivalry that makes the enemies to lovers  trope absolutely shine with brilliance. 

It also generally just makes for great stories. 

Heartless Hunter isn’t lacking in a great story, even if it isn’t breaking too much new ground. Heck, this book even has a nominal (keep that word in your mind) love triangle and I wasn’t hating it too much (and I hate love triangles). 

I read Ciccarelli’s Edgewood when it came out and was heavily impressed with her world building and magic system. It’s the same here: Ciccarelli has a great creative talent and it makes her world building glimmer from the costuming to the very ground on which the characters stand, yet she isn’t tempted to let all that sumptuous world building leak through her prose, for which I’m very grateful. We get what we need in the important moments, when the costumes and imagery are important, but our author knows when these details need to take a backseat. The magic system is clever too, with the unique witch marks, the kind of blood spilled for each spell, and the fact each witch leaves behind a unique cast mark when the spell is done. 

The book could’ve been an absolute delight if I had liked either one of the main characters. I didn’t feel like we really knew the whole measure of either of them. I didn’t feel connected to them. I didn’t like how either of them went about what they were doing and I really didn’t like Gideon near the end. I can’t agree with a lot of choices either of them made. It’s a little hard to fully enjoy a novel when you don’t connect with it fully. 

I bet I’ll end up reading the next book because I need to know how this ends, but I don’t know if I’m going to need to own this series. I do recommend the read though, because it’s pretty good. 

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.