Hunted by Meagan Spooner
Genres: Fantasy (YA), Romance (YA), Fairy Tale Retelling
Pages: 384
Goodreads
Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them.
So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance.
Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?
*Content Warning:View Spoiler »
I didn’t have any expectations going into this one. I’ve read several Beauty and the Beast retellings and none of them have impressed me – so I went into this one fairly neutral. I was disappointed in it by the end.
The story heavily relies on the romance. This book is about people rather than an actual fantasy plot line. This means the romance had to be pretty on point for it to work – and it simply wasn’t.
There was no build up of their relationship, no defining moment that determined they were meant for each other, no chemistry – nothing. It felt flat, unconvincing, and like they didn’t even know each other so how could there be a romance blossoming?
However, if there was much more focus on Yeva’s relationship with her sisters – now that is a story I’d be interested in. Spooner created a wonderful family around Yeva that I just adored. I loved every scene with them, cherished every time they were mentioned, and I wanted more of that sisterly bond. I wanted to see them do something together, live their lives. Forget about the Beast, let’s follow the sisterhood.
Unfortunately, that’s not what we get.
There also wasn’t much of a fantasy element to this. I know, that makes no sense, I mean, there’s a beast! There wasn’t enough fantasy, there wasn’t enough magic. There needed to be more of that world. I wanted an epic quest to figure out the curse, a battle, a magical being swooping Yeva away, something, anything other than the short few pages that we get that even resemble a fantasy. There was so much build-up that eventually led nowhere.
Most of this book wasn’t for me. It’s slow, drug out, very little action or climactic moments, and the romance was stale. Although, I will end this on a positive note: Spooner’s writing is glorious. It’s beautiful and poetic – I kept reading just because of her writing. It’s the book’s saving grace, without it, I would have given up.
| Rating Report | |
|---|---|
| Plot | |
| Characters | |
| Writing | |
| Romance | |
| Overall: | 2 / 5 |
21 Comments
I wasn’t crazy about this one, either, which was a disappointment because it was such a highly anticipated book. It felt very long but at the same time, not much happened. I agree that the parts with the sisters were the best.
Agreed! It was long … with nothing happening. haha
Same, I actually enjoyed the first half of this but then around the middle it went downhill, too bad because I was excited :/
YES. Agree! I was SO into it in the beginning, then it started to lose me.
great review, it is good to see the negative side of it. I’ve seen so much love for it. I will be reading this eventually. But the hype was killing it for me
I only saw good things about this, so definitely a disappointment. Maybe because you’ll be going in with lower expectations, you might enjoy it a bit more than I did 🙂
I completely agree. This was a mediocre book and I didn’t really see anything amazing about it. 🙁 Sorry you felt the same way. Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! <3
Ugh, so disappointing because it was so hyped!
Darn! I was looking forward to this book, but then the reviews started rolling it and it looks like most people have been disappointed.
I hadn’t seen any negative reviews before reading it so I went in with such high expectations! wah haha
Boooo, sorry you didn’t like this one. I haven’t read it, but I know how much it sucks to waste our time on 2-star reads 🙁
Ugh yes! But it didn’t put me in a slump so YAY! hah
Ahh I’m sorry. I really looked forward for this book because it seems like this might be the book to revive my love for retellings. But I’ve heard mixed reviews about it, so I think I might skip it. Thanks for sharing though!
Personally, I didn’t like it (obviously). And a lot of other people who I trust didn’t either. So maybe skip! I’m sure there are better retellings out there >.<
Oh no sorry to hear this one was a let down! I have seen mostly positive reviews regarding this but it didn’t really appeal to me so I’ve not really been trying to hunt down a copy. Not sure if I’ll still read it but thank you for your honesty Molly!
xx Anisha @ Sprinkled Pages
If you’re not interested, I’d say skip it! hahah It’s not that great (obviously) xD
Totally agree with you, sadly. I felt very underwhelmed (though I also agree about the writing, it was quite lovely). I felt like I knew what would happen anyway, so I was just kind of.. meh about the whole thing. I didn’t really feel the romance either. Sad. Sorry this didn’t really work for you either!
Yes, I was very underwhelmed! It was so hyped. Ah, oh well, hopefully I enjoy my next one lol
Oh no, I’m sad you didn’t enjoy this one. Maybe I’ll have to give it a miss.
Megan @ http://wanderingsofabookbird.blogspot.co.uk/
How disappointing. I’ve seen a few eh reviews for this one, so it’s fallen down my TBR list. I do like what you said about the protagonist’s family, but sound like that was a major missed opportunity. Thanks for your thoughts!
It was a missed opportunity! If you ever read it, I hope you enjoy it more than I did!