I knew to expect Hunter by Stasia Black as a hot, sexy and steamy read, but I was unprepared for what I read. Hunter is so much more than that. It was emotional; full of true highs and lows, made you laugh, was full of drama and could leave you in tears. The author gave you the ability to delve into these characters and realize that they are more than where they came from and that family truly doesn’t just mean by blood.

Isobel is a third-year veterinary student, but has been on leave due to her father’s recent illness and passing. She comes from a broken home, but not in the standard divorce situation. She does have, however, a crazy stepmother that is just vile. While she was home for the funeral, she realizes that her boyfriend of three years has not been the most loving and faithful boyfriend. After an incident with her stepmother she flees her family home and ends up in Hawthorne, Wyoming.

Hunter is a large animal vet in Wyoming, but has been trudging through life the past year just existing. He meets Isobel one night at the bar and for the first time in a year he feels something for someone. Surprise, surprise they end up having a one night stand, but Isobel leaves early in the morning, due to insecurity issues she has.

Sometimes life just has a funny way of working out and they encounter each other that next day. The thing about these two is they both have insecurities, but don’t know how to voice their concerns with the other. This was frustrating for me, because I just wanted to reach through the book and shake some common sense into them. Ms. Black creates a wonderful emotional and physical dichotomy between these two that is hard to read about, but is truly leading towards a bigger picture. There was one scenario later in the book that I was thinking ‘for real?’, but lo and behold all was explained in the next chapter.

Stasia knows how to write one heck of a good book. I am so excited to read about the other characters in the book. This band of characters sound like a ‘hoot’!

“What if it’s not running away from the bad stuff? What if it’s more about running towards something good?”