Book 4.7:
Hunter's Season: Xanthe and Chancellor Aubrey Riordan
Purchase this book on Amazon: Thea Harrison - Hunter's Season (Elder Races)
Summary:
From Goodreads.com
A Novella of the Elder Races
Duty. Devotion. Desire. When fate brings two isolated people together, love is in the cards.
As a palace guard and assassin for the Dark Fae, Xanthe always wore a mask, hiding her emotions to do her duty. But when her identity is compromised, she trades undercover work for guarding Queen Niniane—a position that often brings her in contact with Chancellor Aubrey Riordan.
Aubrey’s trust is shattered. A year ago his wife tried to assassinate their new queen in his name, a betrayal of everything he believes in. And now an attack on his life is proof the dark conspiracy is not yet over. Although injured and weak, Aubrey can’t help but be drawn to this shy assassin and loyal protector. Xanthe is everything Naida wasn’t, and the passion she stirs in him is something he thought had long passed him by.
Warning: Take a man recovering from an assassination attempt, the assassin sworn to protect him, add in a magical Tarot card deck and an isolated cabin, and watch the sparks fly!
Review:
I adore Thea Harrison and her Elder Races series. They add a refreshing mix to the paranormal genre. She writes heartwarming funny stories that rarely miss their mark. This is another solid addition to this series.
In this story I’m so glad we got to return to Tiago and Naida’s domain. I’ve missed them and seeing them did my heart some good. However, these two while are scene stealers the story belongs to Xanthe and Aubrey and they can hold the story down on their own.
Xanthe has had a hard year tracking and finally killing the last of the traitors that tried to take out Naida. The year has taken a toll on her and she is happy to be home. In her first meeting with her boss Tiago, Chancellor Aubrey Riordan is in attendance and her flutters. She has been admiring him from afar for most of her life. When she finds out that he is being threatened she doesn’t take kindly to that as he is such a good man. She never acts upon her desire for the Chancellor as their stations are too far apart and he has never noticed her. But when he is almost killed all of her protective instincts come out and she volunteers to hunt down the assassins. What she got instead was the Chancellor in her house all to herself! Xanthe is a quite person which I can get down with, not everyone has to be outgoing and talk all the time. She is basically a loner and has been all of her life, but she finds she likes the Chancellor in her space. She takes such good care of him while he is injured. Xanthe is a very easy character to like, her heart is warm and she has been so alone you are thrilled when she finds someone.
The Chancellor Aubrey Riordan has also had a tough year. He was betrayed by the person he trusted most, his wife. She went behind his back and tried to kill the rightful queen. For that she was killed and the betrayal almost killed him. Now he is being threatened by her family and possibly almost killed by them? Aubrey wakes from his injuries and see Xanthe at the foot of his bed, at first he expects the worst and then he assimilates what he knows of her and realizes she is friend not foe. Since his wife’s betrayal he has felt nothing for the opposite sex but as the days pass and Xanthe takes such incredible care of him he begins to feel things he hasn’t in years. Aubrey knows what he is feeling is rare and acts on it. I love that he doesn’t care about their difference in social status. He sees Xanthe as a woman and the woman that he wants and that is it. He loves her protective streak and determination. He doesn’t care what a relationship with her would mean to him socially.
The passion between these two burns bright and there is never a dull moment in this novella. The romance is at the heart of the story and what a great romance it is. Although, this tale is short I didn’t feel cheated. I feel like we got a full story out of this novella. The characters were not lacking and there was plenty to keep you entertained. I quite enjoyed it from beginning to end.
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