Mating the Huntress by Talia Hibbert – B+ A light-hearted, funny, sexy Halloween-themed novella full of girl power where, no matter that the trope is fated mates, consent matters.

Luke Anthony is a werewolf who has the scent of his mate in his nostrils. Unfortunately, Chastity Adofo, his mate, comes from a family of Huntresses and is planning on killing him to cement her place in the family. She alone of all of her sisters has not been allowed to hunt because a witch prophesied at her birth that her first kill would “rip out her heart”.

The world building is somewhat unique among the oeuvre and very feminist – the women do the hunting and the men of the family are all caretakers and deeply in touch with their emotions. In this universe werewolves are largely solitary and, until they meet their mates, are not sexual. Luke doesn’t get an erection until he smells Chastity (and thereafter, it basically won’t go away. Of course.)

Luke doesn’t want to scare Chastity (he doesn’t initially know she’s a huntress). He thinks she’s a quiet and shy girl and he is trying hard not to overwhelm her with the whole werewolf thing. He cares so much he does hilarious research. It’s adorable.

Just the other day, he’d Googled How to ask a woman out without making her fear for her life—but the results hadn’t been particularly helpful.

There are more than a few nods to Little Red Riding Hood although in this version, Red is a badass.

As Luke plans to court and seduce, Chastity plans murder. Only along the way, she finds out that Luke is more than a slavering rabid beast. And he turns her on, wildly.

She swallowed the urge to claim that ‘friend’ might not, in fact, be the most accurate description. That things between them were… what? Romantic? What a ridiculous thought.

 

One fake-date arranged with the intention of murder, a single short but excellent make-out session, and a rather passionate fight to the death did not a relationship make.

The story all fits together neatly in a short word count. The world building hangs together well, with a simple explanation for a rather fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of werewolves. Luke is besotted with Chastity from the beginning and everything he learns about her – including when she tries to kill him – makes him adore her more. It’s funny and sexy and sweet and did I mention funny? Also, it’s 99c.

“I didn’t eat them so much as enthusiastically kill them with my mouth. Subtle distinction. Can we talk about this later?”

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A review of this book will be up soon at AudioGals.