Retro Reads #002: Night World #7 - Huntress by LJ Smith

Night World #7: Huntress by LJ Smith

Release Date: The original book was released in 1997 but this cover was on a UK reprint from 2002. So technically it fits the "retro" rules.
Purchase Date: 2003
Publisher: Simon Pulse/Hodder (for the UK version here)
Pages: 224
Reading level: Young Adult
My Rating:

Half-vampire vampire hunter Jez vows to be faithful to Hugh, the human she loves, but in order to catch one of the legendary Wild Powers, she must rejoin her old gang and risk tasting blood again.

Jez Redfern is unique. She's a vampire hunter...who's half vampire. Raised in the Redfern family, the girl with fiery hair and silvery-blue eyes was the undisputed leader of a gang of vampire raiders. Then came the discovery that shattered her life -- her mother was a human. Now, Jez hunts her former friends, protecting humans from the Night World.

But when Circle Daybreak sends her on a search for one of the legendary Wild Powers, Jez has to rejoin her old gang. They want her back -- especially Morgead, the gorgeous green-eyed vampire who used to be her second-in-command. Jez wants to stay faithful to Hugh Davis, the human she loves. But Morgead swears he's her soulmate and he'll do anything to lure her back to the old ways. With danger and temptation around, Jez finds herself irresistibly drawn to him. And she's afraid that if she tastes blood again, she'll become the evil huntress she once was...

Apparently we have a "hunting" theme this week!

One of the best things about the Night World series by LJ Smith is that you don't necessarily have to read them in order to understand what's happening throughout the series. Basically theme is a group of good supernaturals trying to find special, magically gifted people called Wild Powers who will join in the end of the world to save it. There's always the evil and the misunderstood along the way that creates great tension and of course romance.

Probably the best part of reading this book was the romance. The rest of the story was okay, if a bit more of the politics of being part of a "gang" than I really cared about. But the romantic tension and the love triangle (which LJ does so well!) were key to the enjoyment of the book for me.

I highly recommend snagging this from the bookshelf, especially if you are a vampire fiction fan. But beware that this was written well before Twilight and doesn't contain any sparkly blood suckers. I can almost guarantee that if you enjoy ya fiction and vampire lit you will want to pick up more from this series if you haven't already.