The Crimson Hunt (Eldaen Light Chronicles, #1) by Victoria H. Smith

The Crimson Hunt (Eldaen Light Chronicles, #1) by Victoria H. Smith

Reviewed by Tavin

Amazon Blurb:
College junior Ariel Richmond is working on year three of Project Normalcy.

Her house reeks of keggers past and her bestie is just a slight bit vulgar. But the thing is—they both aid in making life refreshingly uneventful.

So much for hard-earned mediocrity when Luca Grinaldi appears on the scene.

Luca’s sudden presence on campus is hard to ignore. Those bright eyes act like a beacon to unsuspecting females, and with features like his, he’s got to be moonlighting for GQ. Luca hopelessly captivates Ariel with his confidence and charisma, but the mysteries surrounding him make him nearly untouchable. And just when Ariel grows close enough to unlock his secrets, a tragic event sends her life in a downward spiral.

That steady life is no longer an option and allies quickly become scarce. The mysterious Luca seems to be the only one willing to help her—but with that trust comes the burden of his secrets. He has a dark mission of otherworldly proportions, and is willing to sacrifice as many lives as it takes to see it completed.

Gone are the days of simply maintaining normalcy, and if Ariel isn’t cautious with her trust, so soon may be her future.

When we first meet our heroine, Ariel, she’s the lone survivor of a tragic accident that left her an orphan at a very young age and we get an idea that she’s no ordinary girl. Flash forward and we meet Ariel for real this time, as a college junior, moving into a campus house with her best friend, Piper. She comes across as a normal girl – she has a best friend that she loves and at times would cheerfully strangle, the usual problems with her classes and some fellow students along with a serious peanut butter brownie addiction (a girl after my own heart!).



Things start to change however, when she meets Luca Grinaldi. He is, of course, gorgeous and someone Ariel is instantly fascinated with to the point of distraction. The author also has one of the funniest descriptions possible as well, when Ariel first encounters Luca:

"I gulped and blinked, scanning down. He wore a collared, hunter green button-up shirt rolled at the sleeves. The material did very little to cover up the lean, muscular body beneath. And those jeans...good Lord  those jeans. the dark wash, vintage style hugged every bit of him until they stopped at the brown leather shoes encasing his sexy feet.  Sexy feet? Did I just think that?"

I seriously *loved* the sexy feet comment!!!!

Luca is quite rude and awkward the first few times they meet which confuses Ariel to no end as one minute she thinks he might be into her and then he seems to contradict that by treating her poorly. All this is enough to cause any college student problems but then the proverbial crap hits the fan and the meat of the story really begins.

Ariel was perhaps the best developed character in the book which isn’t terribly shocking as you read the story from her perspective. She was a main character that I could respect and didn’t feel the need to continually pound my head on my desk in frustration over her being ditzy or helpless all the time. She responded to her ever-changing and challenging circumstances in ways that made sense to me. She wasn’t always amazing – she was afraid, she cried and questioned but in the end, she also pulled up her big girl panties and got down to work. The rest of Ms. Smith’s cast of characters were all fairly well developed with my favorite being Ariel’s best friend Piper – who was loud and outspoken, along with being fiercely loyal and sweet.

I’m not sure when I began to see parallels to Twilight while reading this book but it completely hit me over the head once I’d had a chance to digest the story as whole. Ariel is a more believable (and much less frustrating) version of Bella – klutzy but capable. She has flaws and insecurities and really likes the hot guy who she cannot believe could really like her in return. Luca is a similar hero to Edward; he’s introspective and wants to protect Ariel at all costs, even to the detriment of their relationship or himself. This book is its own story though and while there are parallels to Twilight, don’t read it expecting Stephenie Meyer’s world to suddenly jump off the pages.

I don’t want to say too much more about the story as I would hate to spoil any of the authors’ well thought out twists and turns. I haven’t seen a lot of New Adult Sci-Fi on the shelves at Amazon and it was nice to dip into a story that had romance & drama but also a touch of the fantastic as well.  I recommend this book to those looking for a story that is more than just your normal YA/NA fix (not that there’s anything wrong with that). It’s possible that you might just end up like me, eagerly waiting for book #2 to come out so you can read more of Ariel and Luca’s story.