Review: Hunted by The Others by Jess Haines

Hunted By The Others by Jess Haines

They are the Others — the vampires, mages, and werewolves once thought to exist only in our imaginations. Now they’re stepping out of the shadows, and nothing in our world will ever be the same again...

IN A TOWN LIKE THIS, BEING A P.I. CAN BE MURDER

Shiarra Waynest’s detective work was dangerous enough when her client base was strictly mortal. But ailing finances have forced her to accept a lucrative case that could save her firm — if it doesn’t kill her first. Shiarra has signed on to work for a high-level mage to recover an ancient artifact owned by one of New York’s most powerful vampires.

As soon as Shiarra meets scary, mesmerizing vamp Alec Royce, she knows her assignment is even more complicated than she thought. With a clandestine anti-Other group trying to recruit her, and magi being eliminated, Shiarra needs back-up and enlists her ex-boyfriend–a werewolf whose non-furry form is disarmingly appealing–and a nerdy mage with surprising talents. But it may not be enough. In a city where the undead roam, magic rules, and even the Others aren’t always what they seem, Shiarra has just become the secret weapon in a battle between good and evil–whether she likes it or not…

Thoughts:

Haines has created a fantastic world where the Others (vampires, mages, and werewolves) have emerged from the dark. When 9-11 happened werewolves offered to help locate the victims stuck in the rubble, from there the rest came out. The rules and regulations put in place are very realistic. My favorite touch is that those who are consorting with the others have to sign wavers. So if their lovers kill them or turn them all the legals are covered. This just puts a smile on my face, after all just like the main character thinks, there are people stupid enough to sign these things. Of course not everyone is happy about the Others living among us. One of the names for the more fanatic groups is the White Hats, which just tickles me. Finding out the names of radical factions in UF books is one of the ups of reading the genre. Plus the White Hats, have pins to go with it!!

Shiarra—leading lady—is not some sassy loud mouth chic, who thinks she’s bad ass enough to throw her nonexistent weight to fight the baddies—not that those characters aren‘t awesome. Instead the reader gets to watch a polite PI grow into someone who knows when it’s time to break the rules and kill the baddies. A pleasant change in the standard UF heroine. The running dialogue is pretty funny too, and I love how the reader gets to see some of Shiarra’s witty remarks that she holds back from mouthing off to the baddies with.

There was one sour point about Shiarra that continued to grate on my nerves. At times Shiarra didn't have two cents to rub together, her moments of stupidity had me wondering if that was why her PI business was going under. Evil villains were telling her what they were going to do to hurt her and all of their evil villain intentions. The character blatantly goes home, and has other characters continuously reminding her that she needs to be careful and lay low. An idea of a safe hide away was her best friends sister's place, after the hotel was too creepy to stay at.

Side characters were really fun, but my personal favorite was the Hunter’s Belt. A belt that has the spirit--or soul--of an Other hunter in it. It has some stakes attached to it that will always return to the wearer and it can’t be taken off until the sunset after the wearer puts it on. The belt doesn’t get as much dialogue as I would like. If I think about it, maybe ten lines max? Still I have high hopes for the belt. (If you’ve ever read Mercedes Lakey’s Winds of Change book, it has a sassy warrior trapped in a belt that was an awesome character.)

The love interests are something to look forward to. Chaz the charmingly sweet Alpha werewolf--and I was complaining that they don’t exist. Sure he lied to Shiarra about being a werewolf, but only because she was prejudice against Others. It is fantastic to watch Shiarra get over her fear of the others, enough so that she’s trying to work things out with Chaz. Alec Royce is the missing vampire link in the standard love triangle for UF books. He’s not fully realized at this point, but he’s a promising character. Personally the heat for the love interests weren’t there yet, but that doesn’t bother me seeing as all the action in this book has doesn’t give Shiarra time to really deal with boy drama.

The action is pretty packed, and with the help of the Hunter’s Belt Shiarra can deliver! The plot is agreeably fast past and a rush of fun. I wanted to know why Shiarra was being dragged into this, and the petty excuse just made my day!

Bottom Line:

Jess Haines Shiarra Waynest books are clearly something to keep an eye on. The main character is clearly someone who grows on you, lets hope she grows some smarts. This is a promising debut, with some wicked new ideas to add to the genre. I’m eager to get my hands on the next book to see what shenanigans Shiarra gets in and I look forward to the series getting more fleshed out.

Sexual Content:

Pretty clean, I don’t believe there was to much sex chat, and only kissing.

Rating: 3/5- Good, I liked it.