~ 3 Stars~

Hunter Kiss is the Prequel to the Hunter Kiss series by [a:Marjorie M. Liu|35022|Marjorie M. Liu|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1268491375p2/35022.jpg]. I recommend reading this before you start [b:The Iron Hunt|2281814|The Iron Hunt (Hunter Kiss, #1)|Marjorie M. Liu|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388187239s/2281814.jpg|2288010] book 1. Hunter Kiss is full of action, romance, in the non-traditional sense, and intrigue from beginning to end.

The prequel is written POV and explains about Maxine, her background story, as well as her meeting Grant. She is someone who has no home, no roots and avoids men like the plague. She sure did fall into bed with Grant very quickly and I did not feel that much chemistry between them. Not to sure about this relationship. Will see how the books work this one out.

Maxine also has tattoos that come to life when the sun sets and these tattoos are no ordinary tattoos. The author explains the myriad species of spirits and demons who have invade this world. Humans who are possessed and that Maxine can see them.

The story was interesting. The writing style though made the book feel more formal and old fashioned. It's not in the past nor was it decades ago. This style made the story move more slowly and hard for me to connect to the characters. I plan to read Iron Hunt and see what happens next, though I'm not in a big hurry to check it out.

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I began reading Iron Hunt and was having a confusing time of it when someone mentioned that there was a prequel (thank you, Kendra) so I put Iron Hunt down and read this. It explained how Maxine met Grant and described some of her background, all very helpful but for someone who constantly moves around and avoids men like the plague, Maxine sure did fall into bed with Grant very quickly, they're not even well-matched or have much chemistry. Grant gravitated towards Maxine like a moth to flame and Maxine appears to be settling with Grant because she doesn't want to run any more, she wants a home and Grant can provide one.

The story was interesting, however the writing made it hard for me to connect with the characters despite it being written in the first person. I'm a big fan of first person narrative but the language was so formal and old fashioned with a lot of "I cannot" and "I did not" instead of "I can't" and "I didn't". This wasn't set in the past nor was it written decades ago, it made the story move more slowly and Maxine seem very detached and unemotional which left me feeling bored, bewildered and very thankful that this was only novella and not a full-length book.

The action at the end had me wondering if this storyline was going to be continued because the resolution was too quick and easy. One minute Grant was going to die and become enslaved and the next they are both out of danger and dismissed with a warning.

I will read Iron Hunt and it's sequel as they were impulse buys at a closing down sale but if I hadn't have done that I wouldn't bother reading them after suffering through this very dry ebook. ( )

I had to stop reading The Iron Hunt and read this in order to get the backstory. While reading The Iron Hunt, I was very confused about timelines and how some characters knew each other. This story explained so much. ( )

I recently purchased the first two books in the series and was pleased to find this companion novella that was available for purchase on my Kindle. It was originally a part of "The Wild Thing" anthology. I was very pleasantly surprised to find a fully formed story with quite a bit of world and character building. This story truly seemed 'novella' sized.

I was captured right away with the book's premise. Maxine Kiss is a young huntress covered from neck to toe with tattoos that at night remove themselves from her body to become physical little demons...literally. I will admit to a little confusion as I tried to acclimate myself to the world and its rules but I was completely charmed by Maxine's demons. The climax ended a little too easily to feel completely satisfied but I know that I want to continue on with the series and I plan to stary "Iron Hunt" very soon. ( )