ARC Review: Mating the Huntress by Talia Hibbert // me, loving a paranormal romance?? more likely than you think

I was sent this book as an advanced copy by the author for reviewing purposes, but all opinions are my own. 

Summary: This Halloween, love bites back… hard.

Chastity Adofo knows a monster when she sees one. As soon as Luke Anthony wanders into her family’s coffee shop, she recognises the evil lurking beneath his charming smile and fantastic arse. The handsome werewolf is determined to have her—but she’s determined to cut out his heart.

Little does she know, Luke’s plans for her are far more pleasurable than murder. And when the full moon rises, all bets are off…

Warning: Mating the Huntress is 30,000+ words of red-hot, Halloween-themed romance. This novella contains one flirtatious, cursed creature of the night, one badass, knife-happy heroine, and forbidden lust at first sight. Please read responsibly!

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★★★★★

Honestly?? Leave it to Talia Hibbert to write a romance between a werewolf and a human and make me fall for it hard.

Y’all know paranormal romance isn’t my cup of tea but I trust Talia with my life and she didn’t disappoint.

So, this book is about Chastity, a Black fat woman from a family of werewolves hunters, who’s been forbidden to hunt since birth because of a prophecy. But her instincts are still those of a huntress, and she knows that the new customer at the cafe where she works is not a human but a werewolf. So she decides to take her destiny into her own hands and prove herself to her family, but things don’t go as planned when the werewolf doesn’t hurt her and is instead kind to her and wants to please her in every way possible.

This is a novella of a little bit more than 100 pages in its physical copy I believe, and yet both main characters were developed so well. The insta-lust is definitely explained and it makes sense in-universe so it wasn’t a turnoff at all. I also loved how awkwardly sweet Luke was at the beginning when he was trying to ask Chas out, honestly how can you not love a grumpy, artsy werewolf who has learned to control his violent instincts and is only trying to be with his mate?

Yes, after the first two times the word mate was used I managed to stop cringing and actually enjoyed this aspect too. Key – not overusing it, which Talia didn’t. Also, she did everything right. Consent was always there, the fact that Chas is his mate didn’t make him feel entitled to anything she might not have wanted to do, and everything that happened between them was in human form.

I also loved how low on external conflict this was, and the fact that the family was so open about the whole werewolf thing. It made me enjoy the romance without being worried about anything else coming up.

This also takes place around Halloween so if you’re into that and into romance this is definitely something you should consider reading around this time of the year. I 100% recommend it.