Book Review: Hunted By Meagan Spooner

Title: Hunted

Series: N/A

Author: Meagan Spooner

Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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?

I recently borrowed this from the library on a whim and I'm so glad I did as this is up there with one of my favourite books of the year. 

Hunted follows Yeva who lives a comfortable if not boring life with her father and older sisters Lena and Asenka. After a poorly made investment made by her father they are forced to sell their possessions and go to live in a cabin in the forest where her father begins to show signs of madness in his obsession to hunt an elusive beast like creature.

When their father fails to return from one of his hunting trips Yeva decides to go in search of him, against the wishes of her sisters. While searching for her father Yeva is captured by the beast and the story unfolds from there. I don't really want to give anything away as I went in blind and I think that made me enjoy it more.

Yeva was a great heroine, strong, clever and resourceful but also kind of dark and violent. There was surprisingly NO romance for about 90% of the story which I actually liked as it would have felt a little out-of-place. The story was so atmospheric, I couldn't put it down and read most of it all in one sitting.

This book was just great and I would highly recommend it. Beauty & The Beast retellings are really hit or miss with me, but this is definitely one of my favourites (My favourite is Cruel Beauty By Rosamund Hodge).

This was the first book I have ever read from Meagan Spooner and now I can't wait to read more. I think I'm going to give Sherwood a go next.

Find it on Goodreads