Review: Good story but the romance lacked zing....
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 10, 2014
3 1/2 Stars for Hunter's Claim*****some spoilers in this review*****Hunter's Claim seemed very different to me than the other books that I have read that were written by Ms. Smith. Initially, I LOVED the story but as it progressed I ended up just liking it. I probably won't read it again, but you never know I suppose.The story is about an earth girl, Jesse, and an alien man named Hunter. It begins in a post-apocalyptic type of setting on Earth in which our h is trying to survive with her two younger sisters. The setting and situation on Earth was written extremely well. I could easily picture what was going on and the story INSTANTLY grabbed my attention. I read this part voraciously. Jesse had to sneak around trying to scavenge food up for herself and her sisters. She had become very good at hiding - which is what she was doing when a group of rebels drove a van into the building she was hiding in. The rebels had apparently caught an alien and were planning on torturing him to death. When Jesse hears the rebels discussing their plans for the alien, she realizes she can't leave him to die that way and decides to help him escape even though she would put herself in great danger. She is able to unlock the alien's (Hunter) chains and then slips stealthily away while he is fighting the rebels. Hunter and two other alien warriors  track Jesse and soon find her and her sisters who are living in deplorable conditions. Jesse and her sister Jordan are gravely ill and require immediate medical help. When Jesse awakens she learns that in order for Hunter to bring them into the warrior camp he had to claim Jesse as his "amate" or in essence "marry" her. Jesse, of course, didn't like that idea and so she and her sisters escape.At this point, I was seriously thinking this was one of the best books Ms. Smith has given us thus far even though I really prefer the way the H's in her other books instantly recognize their mate and react so fiercely to them. I love how normally Ms. Smith's H's are so instantly possessive and fixated on their mates. (I love it even more when the h resists the H's claim. That can be very entertaining.) That was not the case here. Hunter having to marry Jesse so he could bring her into the camp was a letdown for me and it came across as though he "settled" for he. He "married" her because circumstances forced him to do so and not because he wanted her/loved her/needed her and couldn't live without her. I really didn't like that part.However, the story in the first part of this book was so well done that I was hopeful that I would be able to overcome that disappointment. After the girls ran away from the warrior's camp, Hunter and his friends tracked them down, rescued them from another bad situation and then took them aboard a ship headed to their home world. It was at this point the story started to lag and my initial interest began to wane.You see, while Ms. Smith allows Hunter and Jesse time to know each other aboard the ship, which I appreciate very much, their relationship really lacked any tension. This lack of tension, made their relationship, (dare I say it?), boring at times. While I really appreciate Ms. Smith's writing style, imaginative world building and story telling ability, I read her books for the romance. Romance, to me does equal relationship building, which is here, AND tension, sparks, and chemistry between the primary characters. I really feel that was greatly lacking here. Jesse just accepts Hunter's Claim. There are no arguments, no bantering, no cat/mouse games and I really missed that. I believed Hunter loved Jesse and I believed in their relationship BUT it wasn't exciting to read about. It was just kinda there....I also felt that Hunter was not up to Ms. Smith's previous H's. He seemed pretty weak as a H to me. Previous books by Ms. Smith have the H fixated on the h and they had the "mine" mentality. They were super possessive OTT alpha males. Hunter does not come across that way at all. I REALLY hope that in future books Ms. Smith H's are stronger, more possessive, alpha males like in her previous books. I also really missed the delightful spunky h's that she has given us in the past. Jesse is likeable, strong and courageous but she wasn't spunky or feisty. Again, I missed this BUT had the H been stronger I would've overlooked it.The second half of the book was not as fleshed out as the first. A lot of the story felt rushed/glossed over. Frequently, things were mentioned but not explained in detail. There were big lags in time where months go by and we just get a summary of the events rather than reading the story. I'm good with this in an epilogue or a few times during the story if it's necessary to help the story move along. I didn't like how this occurred so frequently in the second half.Overall, I loved the idea of the story more than the execution. I still did like the story and we get a HEA but I found the romance to be somewhat lacking/kinda boring (not referring to sex here but the actual romance). If you enjoy sci-fi love stories and you aren't looking for a hot romance, you might really enjoy this because even on her worst day Ms. Smith is still a good author with great stories to tell.