Hunted by Meagan Spooner

Hunted by Meagan Spooner is a YA Fantasy Re-Telling of Beauty and the Beast.

“Beauty knows the Beast’s forest in her bones—and in her blood. Though she grew up with the city’s highest aristocrats, far from her father’s old lodge, she knows that the forest holds secrets and that her father is the only hunter who’s ever come close to discovering them.

So when her father loses his fortune and moves Yeva and her sisters back to the outskirts of town, Yeva is secretly relieved. Out in the wilderness, there’s no pressure to make idle chatter with vapid baronessas…or to submit to marrying a wealthy gentleman. But Yeva’s father’s misfortune may have cost him his mind, and when he goes missing in the woods, Yeva sets her sights on one prey: the creature he’d been obsessively tracking just before his disappearance.

Deaf to her sisters’ protests, Yeva hunts this strange Beast back into his own territory—a cursed valley, a ruined castle, and a world of creatures that Yeva’s only heard about in fairy tales. A world that can bring her ruin or salvation. Who will survive: the Beauty, or the Beast?“

First off the narration of the Beast-character in this audiobook was perfect for the story. The deep voice brought out that rustic, dark feel to the book.

The Beauty and the Beast elements follow in the two POVs. One of the huntress trying to avenge her father’s death and then the beast with the mysterious, short snip-bits that slowly merge together. There were a lot of similarities in the stories that make this a good fantasy retelling.

Even though the plot starts out strong, the story begins to slow down about halfway through to the point where I was bored at times. There are a lot of repetitive moments where she just wants to kill a character. Over and over again.

I could tell that there was a slow-burning romance in the mix that could burst at any second. The Beast became caring and sweet to the huntress, but her POV just kept bringing in her harsh reality of vengeance.

There were a few OMG plot twists mixed which brought back the faster paced vibe. I would say that the beginning and end were a great read, but the middle was pretty blah. Which led me to giving this book a 3 out of 5 stars. But I will say that the cover matches the story very well and was what drew me to pick this audiobook up!

Published: 14 March 2017

Publisher: HarperTeen

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy / Re-Telling

Pages: 384

How I Read It: Audiobook

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