Title: Ever the Hunted
Author: Erin Summerhill
Pages: 400
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Source: Free ARC from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group
Rating: C
Note: As stated under the Source (above), I received this book for free from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s Book Group via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review (and trust me, honest is always what you’ll get).
Review: Overall, a pretty good story. I liked the characters, dug the romance aspect(good chemistry), and I’m always all in for magic. The writing was decent enough. I had to keep reminding myself that it’s YA and the range of YA can be huge in terms of writing style. At first, I really struggled because this book felt like it was geared towards the very young end of the YA range, and I tend to prefer more mature YA (perhaps because I’m, um, 40?). However, as the plot thickened (and it did), I found myself quite lost in the story and the writing style/age range was no longer a factor.
It also did feel like a lot of other YA fantasy. It was perfectly fine, but nothing stood out for me. And the ending was entirely too satisfactory for the beginning of a series. There’s a teaser of course, but not a big enough to hook to leave me chomping at the bit for the next one (though, in all honesty, I’ll probably read it anyway!).
If you enjoyed The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen, this book is likely to be right up your alley.
P.S. Beautiful cover!