Hey Curious One! We ended on a pretty good note with Wolf’s Bane by Aimee Easterling last time, and the good vibes should continue pretty well with this next book. Written by Anna Lowe, Desert Hunt is one for those who love to be proved wrong about what they think is best for themselves.
From the Start
Rae and Zack both had their work cut out for them from the start. Rae is from an extinct bloodline, the last of her kind, a night huntress who keeps the balance between herds of animals and the pack she belongs to. Zack is part Navajo which gives him both coyote and wolf shifting abilities, making him a “mutt” of a bloodline that is half worthy of anything.
Nevertheless, Rae and Zack are “mates” and destined for each other.
In the beginning of Desert Hunt, Rae is sold to another pack. That’s where she meets Zack. She was sold as an exchange between her current pack and her future pack. Rae would marry into the alpha bloodline to give the pack prosperous fortune in all things and the pack would send a male from their alpha bloodline to marry into her old pack as “payment”.
A bit old-school if you ask me. Desert Hunt seems to be set-in modern-day Arizona. If I remember correctly, Rae called the trade “medieval” in terms of payment. She’s right and it was really strange.
Anyways, Zack isn’t part of the alpha bloodline and he’s a mixed breed, so therefore she’s not allowed to mate him. She’s forced to be the mate to Ty, who is the current old alpha’s eldest son. Ty has no interest in her and is the best friend of Zack.
It’s all a bit convoluted, really.
Plot Twists in Desert Hunt
None of it matters, really, because we all know they will end up together in the end. There were a few good twists though!
As it happens, you don’t have to mate willingly. If the alpha bites you and leaves the ‘mate mark’ then you are mated. Whether you reciprocated as the female in the situation or not doesn’t matter. That was an interesting twist to me.
Especially when you pull in the character from a few packs ago in Rae’s past; Jed. Jed is the epitome of gross, selfish, arrogant, brute of a wolf. He hunts her down and after being foiled in his first kidnap attempt by Zack, he gets a second chance when Rae runs off again in ridiculous anger.
Let me clarify really quick. I understand that most, if not all YA books run off drama and the absurd notion that if you run away and “throw a fit” you will be chased down my your “soulmate” and everything will be solved and fixed. It’s getting on my nerves.
After a night of heated love and passion and coming to terms with falling in love with Zack, Rae and Zack get pulled into a meeting with the alpha and his leaders. She’s informed that she will be mated to Ty that night. Without even asking if Zack knew about it, she overreacts and runs away. I mean that literally. She runs through the ranch and is cresting a hill when a pack of wolves catch up to her. She assumes it’s Zack and her pack coming to take her back to mate Ty when it’s really Jed and a few of his new followers.
Meanwhile…Back and the Ranch
Zack and Ty are fighting to the death over who “gets” Rae when now she doesn’t want either of them. Turns out, after throwing some bone breaking punches and realizing that what they were doing was stupid, Zack and Ty decided that Rae would be free to choose herself what she wanted and screw the old alpha and his rules.
They broke the fight with laughter and went in search of Rae who was now trying to not get killed, kidnapped, or unwillingly mated to Jed who had showed up out of nowhere. Again.
Rae raw back towards the Twin Moon Ranch, hoping that she would meet up with whoever the alpha sent to get her back. Of course, since she ran away, she had no idea that no one was coming until Ty and Zack decided to go after her, long after she had run.
In the end, she was almost forcibly mated to Jed, which she saved herself from, angering him past the point of return to which he tried to kill her. Zack came to the rescue just in time and saved her. Though, she wasn’t going to allow herself to want him because he betrayed her. Remember, she never even asked him about it. She just ran and left without TALKING about anything!
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Broken Hearts in Desert Hunt
Zack then gave Rae his bike and let her go. She, of course, being stupid as f*** took it and left him behind. Wanting her freedom was all she was looking for, and he gave it to her.
She was gone for over two weeks before coming to her senses and realizing that Zack was different than all the alphas she knew beforehand. He wasn’t going to control her, and he certainly hadn’t betrayed her when he brought her back to the Twin Moon Ranch.
The epilogue was nice. Short, simple and sweet. It jumped three months down the road after Rae came back to the ranch to be with Zack. The pack had slowly began to accept her and knowing her bloodline and what she did for them, it grew in support. The alpha was still furious at being disobeyed, but Rae was finally mated to Zack and they couldn’t change it now. It ended with Rae taking some of the Twin Moon Ranch pack on a hunt. She led it as the Mistress of the Hunt.
Inner Demons
There is nothing I understand more than battling inner demons. The voices inside your head are good at telling you one thing when you should believe another. However, Desert Hunt goes overboard. With all the inner monologues going on between Zack, his coyote side, his wolf side and Rae with her wolf side, you would think that she would come to realize that Zack was different.
I guess I’m saying that it didn’t make sense that she jumped to the conclusion that Zack was betraying her. There was ALMOST complete trust in him up to that moment. But then she suddenly flips her switch and ignores her wolf, believing the worst in him.
She was constantly saying that she would never mate or want an alpha because they are controlling, and she would never have the freedom she needed to be the Mistress of the Hunt for the pack if she was the alpha’s mate. As far as I could interpret, Zack wasn’t an alpha.
He had a strong bloodline, but he wasn’t full-blooded so he would never be an alpha to a pack. Especially since he had set up roots within the Twin Moon Ranch Pack. I was a bit confused why she was so clearly adamant that he would be too alpha, even after she realized his coyote blood tempered the “beast”.
Behind the Pages of Desert Hunt
Desert Hunt was good, but also annoying. I would suggest it to those who like easier reads (what I call candy books) as a distraction for a few hours. If I got the other books in the series about Ty and him finding his mate, I would read them. However, I’m not sure I would take the time to discuss them individually here. Unless, of course, you asked me to Curious One.
Anna Lowe did good, and I would certainly try one of her other series. Maybe her dragons within the magical world of the Aloha Shifters would be a nice change!
Lowe still posts on her website and if you sign up for her newsletter, you get some free materials! Check her out on Facebook and Twitter too!!
As always, Curious One, I hope the end of March of finding you safe and ready for some spring weather!
Spring is the perfect time for another book…
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