One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Series: Night Watch, Book 1
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Formats: Paperback, Kindle


It's stating the obvious, but I read and review a lot of books, commenting on strength of plot, technical aspects of writing, character development, world building, etc. I have to admit, I enjoy detailing why I like or dislike something. Occasionally, though, I come across a book that hits all or most of my happy spots, not because the plot is so spectacular, or the writing is so technically impressive, or the characters stand out that brightly, but for some nebulous, purely emotional reason that doesn't translate as well to an objective review. Eternal Hunter is one of those books.

Erin is new to Baton Rouge, working as a tenacious Assistant District Attorney and working at hiding herself - both her location from a violent, murderous stalker intent on Erin as his mate and her Other nature from...well...everyone else. Jude Donovan, bounty hunter and supreme alpha male shapeshifter has a much different agenda on those points. From the moment he senses and scents Erin, he refuses to allow her to hide anything from him, and he sure as hell refuses to let any sick psycho shifter come anywhere near her. Both have secrets they guard, both have wounds that still haunt them. Both will learn that only together can they stop a creature bent on death and destruction.

Eternal Hunter is a quickly paced, sensual, and dangerous romp and I really, really enjoyed it. There's something about Cynthia Eden's style that appeals to me. I enjoy the world she's created, one that exists in the same universe as that of her Midnight Trilogy, and I thought the chemistry between Erin and Jude was top notch. I really appreciated Erin's strength, as that's a personal preference of mine, and I loved Jude's uber-alpha personality tempered with some emotional insecurity that made him even more appealing as that vulnerability humanized him. Their characters and relationship really worked for me.

I'm not going to be overly critical of the story elements, I'm simply going to say that the plot was perhaps not the most original I've ever read, the sexual and burgeoning emotional relationship between Erin and Jude was given much more room than the threat of the stalker, and the climax had some cliched elements. There were also a couple of plot threads that struck me as odd. None of that severely impacted my pleasure in the read, though, because I found it to be very satisfying on an emotional level overall. Sometimes, for whatever reason, a book just hits the right buttons for a person. Eternal Hunter hit the right buttons for me.