Hunted

A Paranormal Shifter Romance (Blood Moon, Texas Shifters, Book 5)

By: Kat Kinney

Narrated by: Amber Goode

River Caldwell has hunted fugitives ever since he joined the Tracers, the elite military unit that serves the werewolf council. As a powerful neural manipulator capable of reading minds and rewriting memories, he's taken down some of the most dangerous threats in the paranormal community. Now he's been tasked with apprehending Matteo Rossi, a violent and unstable projectionist who has targeted a research group led by Ellie Crowe, the human girl whose memories River was once forced to erase in order to protect the existence of werewolves and to whom he's now irrevocably linked.

Scientist and researcher Ellie Crowe is determined to find a cure for the neurodegenerative disease ravaging the vampire community. River is a complication. Bodyguard. Childhood friend and now maybe the only person ruthless enough to keep her alive with someone out there hunting her.

As attacks against the research team increase, Ellie and River will have to work together in order to prevent Rossi from derailing the project that may be the last hope for the vampire community, and shifters as well.

HUNTED is part of the Blood Moon, Texas Shifters series. Sizzling hot romance. Guaranteed HEA.

©2023 Kat Kinney (P)2025 Kat Kinney

Kept on the edge of my seat

I have to say that Hunted was probably my favorite of the series so far. I really enjoyed it. I was really excited to read River's book. I was quite interested to see how it would unfold, given what happened to Ellie at the beginning of the series. I couldn't put it down. I am excited to see how the rest of the series unfolds and look forward to reading more.
I do recommend reading the series in order; if nothing else, read the first book before this one. Even though it says in this one what happened, reading the first one will help it make more sense why Haydan is the way she is with River.
Each book follows its own couple, but the plot evolves more in each book.
This is more for 18+ readers as there may be some content that ins't suitable for some readers. I highly recommend reading Hunted.

An Intense Paranormal Mirroring Real Life Issues

The Blood Moon, Texas Shifters Series feels like the werewolf version of True Blood with the reality of today's real life oppression by the government on migrants applied,to supernaturals in the series.

River, a born werewolf, struggles with his uncle the Alpha of the pack both on a professional and personal level. His position as a Tracer, capable of erasing memories and replacing them with other memories in an effort to maintain shifters secret from humans. Having replaced the memories of his fated mate, a human, an off limits woman whom he had grown up with, nothing but trouble has come upon Ellie. The unrest within the werewolf community is compounded by the distrust with the vampires and the human push back against the supernaturals.

Ellie is a scientist researching a cure for the vampires afflicted by a disease only affecting their population. Caught between trying to help the supernatural and the condemnation by most of the unenlightened humans who would rather see the somewhat newly revealed shifter and vampire communities living within the world. Ellie and her colleagues are under protection by both werewolves and shifter who are at an uneasy détente. The whole adage, the enemy of my enemy is my ally fully comes into play.

Unlike the True Blood Series that focused on a single main human female caught between the supernaturals, each book in the Blood Moon, Texas Shifters focuses on a werewolf fated mate couple. The tension of the mate connection between River and Ellie comes to a head in this book. The overall storyline of the series continues to be developed with each book making it important to have read from the first to the last book in order. While picking up one of the latter books to start isn't impossible to follow, but there is,a bit more of an effort to catch on to the overarching story.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Testings and danger

River and Ellie story was packed with danger, betrayal, insecurities, secrets, and unexpected developments.
Their connection was a bit unique, wrapped in guilt, regret, and restrain, coupled with teasing, caring, devotion and loyalty.
It was interesting seeing River’s struggles with his powers and the decision that haunted him for a while, seeing how their relationship bloomed, how interacted with Ellie and her pets.
Thanks to his power some secrets are revealed, unexpected connections and the real identity of their enemy, as well as all the obstacles they had along the way.
I liked the narrator’s way of presenting the events, the teasing and the emotional scenes.

Great paranormal romance

Hunted is a captivating audiobook. It blends romance, intrigue, and detailed world-building, including biology, social dynamics between species, politics, and shifting perspectives. I haven't read the other books in the series, but that didn't impact my enjoyment of this book. I might listen to the previous books because this audiobook was difficult to put down and because I'm already starting to miss the world Kat Kinney created in this series.

The only downsides (for me) were the over-emphasis on Ellie's anxiety and some aspects of the narration. The focus on Ellie's anxiety slowed down the pacing at several points in the story (particularly in the book's first half) and became somewhat irritating after a while. The narrator's voice was perfect for Ellie's character in that she did a great job selling Ellie's anxiety, but again, it became too much. Also, a couple of unusual pronunciations (e.g., fondant, milieu) pulled me right out of the story. It wasn't severe enough to avoid the book—truly two or three words in total.

I recommend this book to those who enjoy paranormal romance with detailed world-building.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Family life

A great paranormal adventure as Ella is trying to find a way to safely let vampires drink werewolf’s blood and venture in daylight without after effects . There is so much tension, battles and rebellion going on there’s total chaos but I really like how the Caldwell family still has many moments. They gather for games, barbecues, carving pumpkins and holidays giving slices of real life. An interesting and exciting read.