Name: Hunting Season
ISBN: 9781605047881

Shelly Laurenston

Odin warrior Yager has wanted Neecy, a winged warrior for a Viking goddess, in his life--and in his bed--for a long time. Not just for a night, but forever. And, like any self-respecting Viking, he'll stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Hunting Season

Jo H

In this book, which was a pleasant KU find, there is so much to like (as always for this author for me)...

*Bloodthirsty Winged Paranormal Creatures, based on Norse mythology, that are not shifters! (But how to describe them? They are not gods, or vampires. They are also not demons (although their behaviour can be on the demonic side at times!) and are certainly not angels... I don't know what to call them, short of bird people which is also not entirely accurate either lol!)
* A really intriguing prologue (that was unfortunately not referred to ever again)
* POC, mainly women in this one, all over, including the FMC. SL writes realistic (whilst also absurd!) cityscapes in that way. And they are not walking stereotypes or tokens either, and neither is she trying to 'tell their stories'. They are just normal (relatively speaking... this is SL and they do have wings or are shifters after all!) 3D people who are not white (and we are reminded of that fact throughout because. y'know some readers are inclined to erase POC even when we are in the text!). Just like we are in real life. Huh, go figure.
*Lesbian couple. Side characters, minimal page activity, but the first queer people that I've come across in a SL book.
*Condoms all over the place, like in most of her books... she could teach many a romance author about that lol!
*Smart and capable female characters who (most of them anyway!) also kick ass who aren't all averse to their more 'feminine' attributes and like wearing skirts/dresses and heels etc at times
*At least three other couples I'd love to read about in future books (though I doubt that will ever happen which is a shame)
*Nice guy alpha males. Who of course also kick major ass. 

SL proves yet again that 'Alpha Male' does not need to equal total fucking asshole! Yager is a funny, loveable, loving and geeky guy who just so happens to be a kick-ass leader warrior to his god Odin (whom he tells us wears Armani and he once took to a strip club!) and who knows exactly what he wants and goes after it... and that is Neecy. He is strong and determined (perhaps a tad heavy on the determination!) but is not afraid to show his vulnerable side, even if it is sometimes mixed up with bluster when he's with his 'brothers'. He is not quite a cinnamon roll, but he's close to it! And you know what else? When he gets all growly and wants to take revenge on the one that hurt is lady love but is told categorically to stand down and let her take care of it herself... he does. And he is still an Alpha Male. 

And Neecy, prickly Neecy, rough around the edges Neecy (despite her very respectable and highly educated daytime career) who is desperate to redeem the sins of her previous life. For all of her frustrating posturing, all of her 'I don't need love' (although she readily agrees she needs dick! and especially Yagear's dick once she samples it!), all of her pretend ice-queen antics in front of the Ravens... she is just as loveable as her bae. She is also an Alpha personality, who takes much longer to be willing to show her vulnerable side and is a great foil to her 'nice but dumb' (she got that bit wrong!) suitor. Those that slay together and all that...! Oh, and she controls birds... real birds in the sky. That part was awesome!

Unlike all the other books by this author that I've read, it took a few chapters for the humour to kick in, but all that means is that is was simply really funny, rather than being falling over hilarious. And, like the Magnus Pack trilogy, I think there was far too much sex for the page count. Some people don't mind that, or even prefer it, but there was so much else of SL's signature storytelling that all the slamming, pounding, ramming (the friction!) and (yes, even!) the copious licking just got in the way of an otherwise entertaining story. There was just so much of it that it really affected my overall enjoyment of the book. 

And again, this is not a perfect book. But then I don't think one exists for anyone, given the highly subjective nature of any art or media. Like always I had other niggles, but really, nothing else that bothered me enough to mention. My star rating for this book reflects how much the too frequent (and frankly how unsexy they sounded) sex scenes got in the way of the story for me and the fact that I know there was never a follow up... which is a damn shame and left me feeling a sense of anticlimax. If not for these two factors, this book woud have been a four star for me for sure.

Lastly, I'll just say that there's a lot of people who don't like how many of SL's books include multiple POV's and chop and change between them regularly, sometimes at a frenetic pace. This is again something that to me just adds to the appeal of the stories. The only thing that would have been better in that respect in this book, would have been for there to be more books in the series for me to discover even more of these other characters' stories. Oh well, I guess I'll just read the Crows trilogy (different characters in a different location) instead.