Kill the beast. Win the girl.
A strange beast stirs fear in the kingdom of Lochlanach, terrorizing towns with its brutality and hunger. In an act of desperation, a proclamation is sent to all of Eurona—kill the creature and win the ultimate prize: the daughter of King Lochson’s hand in marriage.
Princess Aerity understands her duty to the kingdom though it pains her to imagine marrying a stranger. It would be foolish to set her sights on any particular man in the great hunt, but when a brooding local hunter, Paxton Seabolt, catches her attention, there’s no denying the unspoken lure between them…or his mysterious resentment.
Paxton is not keen on marriage. Nor does he care much for spoiled royals and their arcane laws. He’s determined to keep his focus on the task at hand—ridding the kingdom of the beast and protecting his family—yet Princess Aerity continues to challenge his notions with her unpredictability and charm. But as past secrets collide with present desires, dire choices threaten everything Paxton holds dear.
The start of this book was slow, but that's about where the flaws in this book stops. As soon as the plot picks up after the first couple of chapters I was hooked - and as soon as we get to know Paxton I was in love. Damn, the relationship between Aerity and Paxton - I was so sold by every aspect of it. I loved them both individually and I loved them both together. Aerity was the perfect heroine - she's a princess, but she's not afraid of stepping over her bounds and she isn't stuffy. I expected Aerity to be a stuffy main character, as did Paxton, but she wasn't. Paxton was also an amazing human being, he was upright and hid himself away a bit, but he has his reasons for it.
At the start, there was a lot of information given to us and it was difficult to keep up, but throughout the book I began to understand the characters, the setting, the magic and it's history. It was such a brilliantly crafter setting and I just loved it so much. At first I felt the whole plot set up was ridiculous, but the great beast is terrifying and Aerity's father had absolutely no other options but to offer Aerity's hand to anybody who could hunt the great beast. It led to some brilliantly written action scenes as well, I love me some brilliantly written action scenes.
This is the first book by Higgins that I have ever read and I will read the others. This was such a well written and engaging stories, it's rare these days that anything takes me off guard - I definitely enjoyed The Great Hunt much more than I had expected and I honestly cannot wait for the next book to be released!
Book released 8th March 2016 by HarperTeen
Book received from the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review
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