HUNTER Tour Stop! ~ Crystal's Many Reviewers

After finally getting out of her disastrous relationship, Maya Carmichael has sworn off all bad boys. Sure they’re hot. The attitude? No thanks. But when her car is vandalized while on a night out with her roommate, she realizes her ex is truly sadistic. Her friend insists they lay low for a few days while the cops do their thing. Unfortunately her temporary haven will throw her in the path of another bad boy. Oh, she’s heard stories about her roommate’s brother, Hunter, and he’s just the type she wants to avoid. Until she sees him … and all good intentions fly out of her busted windshield.

Hunter Anderson might be the easygoing jokester within the Bang Shift crew—the small Arkansas town’s mechanics and the government’s secret mercenaries—but underneath his lighthearted exterior lurks demons of a past he’d love nothing more than to forget. Working on cars and taking the occasional contracted mission help, but he fears nothing will stop his past from coming back to haunt him. No one has tried penetrating the façade to get to the real person below. No one, until Maya.

The attraction is undeniable, but there’s more to Hunter than he can ever let on, and for Maya, this hot distraction makes it easy to forget the real danger she’s in. It has nothing to do with losing her heart to him.

When really it has everything to do with just that.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24582092-hunter?ac=1

Hunter. Hmm…. Where do I start? I’m in a bit of a quandary on how to rate this book. While I did enjoy reading Hunter, it just didn’t pack the same punch as Brody did. I appreciated that Ms. Harbin gets straight to the action in the first chapter because it helped set the stage for the romantic suspense elements. I also liked the use of Hunter’s dream flashbacks and memories as an appropriate vehicle for providing background on his past and explaining his protective attitude over his sister Heather. But once the foundation for the story was laid, it felt like there were a few too many scenes where Ms. Harbin skimmed over what was happening. This failure to develop the scenes fully reduced the intensity level of Hunter. I should point out that I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy the book, because I did. Rather I felt like something was missing from Hunter that made it not quite as good of a read as Brody was.

When Heather’s best friend and roommate gets targeted by a stalker ex, she does what any friend would do if their brother was part of a government-backed black ops organization – she drags her off to another state to ask for help. Fortunately for Maya, Hunter isn’t the only one who has a soft spot for his sister and the men of Bang Shift agree to look into her ex. While they do, Hunter finds himself on babysitting duty with a woman who makes his blood boil and THAT feeling is mutual. Yet despite their instant attraction, neither Hunter nor Maya acted on it in the beginning. Quite the contrary, these two played the avoidance game admirably considering they were stuck together in the same house almost 24/7. We’re around 65% into the book before Hunter and Maya find themselves unable to deny the attraction between them and it was HOT! I’m starting to think The Bang Shift might have another meaning altogether.

Even though I felt like the suspense elements weren’t developed as fully as they could have been (especially when compared to Brody), there were still a few twists and turns I didn’t see coming. I was glad that Maya didn’t cave immediately to Hunter’s non-apology apology when the evidence proved her innocent – his accusations were hurtful and his lack of faith in her required more than an “we heard everything.” statement to make things right. Thankfully the guys of Bang Shift seem to know how to grovel when they need to and Hunter executed that particular mission successfully. Overall, I enjoyed Hunter, I had just hoped for a bit more. But Ms. Harbin did set things up quite nicely for the next few books in the series and I’m really not sure whose story I hope to see next – Roc’s, Bear’s, or Blade’s. Any one of them works for me and I will be adding it to my reading list as soon as I can.

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Mandy Harbin is an award-winning, bestselling author of several books across multiple romance genres ranging from contemporary to paranormal erotic romance. She is also the number one bestselling author in teen romance under the pen name M.W. Muse with her popular Goddess Series. She is a Superstar Award recipient, Reader’s Crown and RWA Passionate Plume finalist, and has received Night Owl Reviews Top Pick distinction many times. She studied writing at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, earned several degrees, and even pursued an MBA until she realized becoming an author did not have to remain an unfulfilled dream. Mandy is a PAN member of the RWA and lives in a small Arkansas town with her non-traditional family, and although she is a direct descendant of British royalty, they refuse to call her princess. When she’s not penning her latest book, you can find her hanging out online where she loves to connect with fellow readers or stalking Mickey Mouse at Disney World.