Enemies-to-lovers doesn’t get more high stakes than a witch and a witch hunter falling in love in bestselling author Kristen Ciccarelli’s latest romantic fantasy.

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Kristen Ciccarelli’s Heartless Hunter is the thrilling start to The Crimson Moth duology, a romantic fantasy series where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch…is falling in love.

Series:

Crimson Moth

Book 1

Can be read as a standalone

Book Type:

Fantasy / Romance

Review: Heartless Hunter

In a world where no witch is safe as the Blood Guard hunts them, the Crimson Moth rescues them under the guise of night.

Rune Winters’ life was forever changed the day her grandmother—a witch—was taken and purged. A devastating revolution consumed her life, the lives of the Sister Queens, and the lives of many other powerful witches. Now, under the guise of a vapid socialite, Rune hides her own emerging magic while collecting information she can use as the Crimson Moth—a vigilante who rescues her kind from being killed. Now that she’s eighteen, the pressure to marry mounts and she decides to wed strategically, finding someone who can give her the most valuable information for her nighttime proclivities.

Gideon Sharpe—the seemingly heartless and ruthless commander of the Blood Guard—has good reason to hate witches. He still bears the scars of his past to prove it. His primary goal is to uncloak the Crimson Moth, who continues to smuggle witches out of the republic. Gideon abhors the superficiality of women like Rune, but without alternate recourse, he decides to court her to ferret out clues to the Moth’s next moves.

Caught in an unexpected dance between desire and hate, Gideon and Rune get to know a side in each other they never saw coming—but the more they uncover, the more complicated everything gets especially as the magic everyone thought was waning suddenly re-emerges darker and more dangerous than ever.

Deeply romantic, mesmerizing, and thrumming with forbidden magic, this novel was so much more than I ever expected. This is the book everyone should be talking about with its sizzling chemistry and addictive storyline. Told in alternating viewpoints—and inherently exploring dissenting perspectives—this compelling, high-stakes fantasy touts unforgettable characters, rich worldbuilding, and non-stop action.

Witch and witch hunter, enemies and lovers, cat and mouse, romance and fantasy – the best of all worlds collide in this scintillating series starter that has me clamoring for more.