Final Hour of the Hunter by Bonnie Bernard

Today I finished Final Hour of the Hunter by Bonnie Bernard. This is the third book of The Midnight Hunter Trilogy. Like the first two, I was drawn in almost immediately.

We start out with Donna living a somewhat normal existence for the next two years after the battle from the last book. However, it was pretty short-lived from where we pick up the story. One day, on the way to the grocery store, she accidentally runs over/through Ursula, the goddess of chaos. Naturally, the goddess was a bit ticked off, and left Donna with a threat to end her world as she knows it. In typical Donna fashion, she avoids telling her husband, Hunter, about it. She simply wanted the peace she had been enjoying for the last couple of years to stick around a while longer.

Soon, we meet up with Cassie, the Prophecy Holder. She has continued with her job of translating the Underworld Prophecy that had been left by the gods. We soon learn that she is pregnant with Howie’s twins, which makes them a vampire/demon/human hybrid. Similarly to Donna’s daughter Lucinda, we later learn that these twins have their own place in the prophecy.

Before long, the goddess of chaos begins to fulfill her promise, with the help of The Trickster, and people close to Donna start to go missing. Donna, Hunter, and their vampire/demon/human family set out to defeat the goddess, and bring their loved ones back. Naturally, they run across several obstacles along the way, including a few that really just had me stunned into speechlessness, which is an incredibly rare occurrence for me.

As I said in both of my previous reviews for Bonnie Bernard, she knows her characters. She paints amazingly colorful and entertaining characters that really make this book (and the entire series) stand out. This is definitely something that consistently stands out for her, and something I admire about her.

This story is incredibly fast-paced and draws you in from the beginning. It seems something was always happening. Although, Howie is certainly not one to allow room for any boredom. 😉

One of the things I loved most about this series as a whole was the reminder that even though things are frequently labelled good or bad, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are. It was more true to life. In most stories, vampires and demons are bad. In those same stories gods/goddesses and humans are good. In this story, the author made sure to clarify that things aren’t quite so black and white. There’s always a lot of grey area. One of my favorite parts of this story was near the end when a father told his daughter (leaving names out to avoid spoilers) that she would find the man she’d be with and have a child with, and he’d be evil. Seeing this male character through much of the book, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself and think, “Well, he’s not evil per se … He’s more … chaotic neutral.” I love that the author made sure that her characters were more colorful and complicated than simply good or evil. It definitely makes the read more intriguing.

Dawn of the Hunter by Bonnie Bernard

It’s now 3:30 in the morning and I just now finished Dawn of the Hunter by Bonnie Bernard. This is book 2 in The Midnight Hunter Trilogy. Why am I still up at 3:30? Because I couldn’t put the darn thing down! That’s why! I’m hooked!

This book starts up a few months after the point where we left off in Midnight Hunter. We don’t get an easy introduction either. Right off the bat we find that Donna and Hunter’s infant daughter, Lucinda, was stolen by Stephan, Hunter’s brother who was previously thought to have been killed.

Donna was visited by the goddess Alicia and instructed to seek help from the weapons dealer that I mentioned I wanted to meet in the last book! And I have to say, I wasn’t disappointed! He is exactly as fascinating as I’d imagined, if not more so! On the way to their rescue mission, we are informed that a woman named Cassie has also gone missing. Cassie had found the lost copy of an Underworld Prophecy, and was able to translate it, making her a target for Underworld creatures.

One of the things I found most interesting was watching that prophecy unravel. When I started to really learn about it, and the characters that were foretold to be involved, I couldn’t help but wonder how in the world the author was going to pull it off without either having the characters destroy each other or having the whole thing be completely unbelievable for the reader. Yet again, I was pleasantly surprised. The author pulled it off beautifully.

This book was much more fast-paced than the one before it. It had much more action, but not so much that it leaves the reader overwhelmed or confused. Just the right amount. It definitely kept my mind wondering and guessing what could possibly happen next, and definitely not in a bad way.

Once again, I really have to give the author props for her characters. Bonnie Bernard definitely knows her characters, and she fleshes them out so well, they seem to hang around in your head long after you’ve put the book down.

Midnight Hunter by Bonnie Bernard

Today I finished Midnight Hunter by Bonnie Bernard. This is the first book in The Midnight Hunter Trilogy, and I have to say, it’s definitely a great start! I enjoyed this book from the very beginning even through the author bio in the back! Yes, I said it! I even read the author bio and it made me giggle!

Midnight Hunter mainly focuses on a young woman named Donna. Even from the beginning, Donna has strange dreams that seem to get a little too close for comfort. Soon enough, she even starts to sustain injuries from things that happen in her dreams.

Donna’s friend, Mo, decides she wants to take Donna to a club. What Donna wasn’t aware of at first is the fact that girls matching Donna’s description had been disappearing from this club. Preferring to stay further away from crowds, Donna head to a more secluded place in the club where she meets Hunter, your typical broody male vampire. We soon find out that Hunter is the brother of the man responsible for the disappearances.

While there are some pieces of this story that do fall into the category of “typical vampire romance,” I found myself drawn into this story by parts that were really very unique. I even found myself loving a few of the lesser characters. Really that’s something that Bonnie Bernard does very well. She knows how to bring amazing characters. In fact, there was even one character, specifically a weapons dealer, that we only got to meet through a phone call and a few brief mentions in conversations, that I would love to be a fly on the wall to watch inside his shop even for a day!

Overall, I loved this book from cover to cover! If you haven’t read it yet, you’re missing out!