First Lines: To survive these woods, a man has to be strong as trees, Papa had said. The memory is a whisper compared to the attention my cramping stomach demands.
As I was walking through the library one day, this book caught my attention. I’d never heard of it and I thought it sounded interesting. I don’t do that very often, so it meant the book lived on my shelf for a while until I got curious.
Britta grew up being informally trained as a bounty hunter by her renowned father, the legendary bounty hunter of their kingdom. But after her father is murdered, Britta finds herself alone, an outcast, and without rights to her inheritance. Desperate, Britta takes to the Ever Wood for survival, but she wasn’t planning on being caught for poaching. A death sentence, Britta is given one possibility of reprieve: her freedom for her father’s killer. But it’s not that easy when Britta learns the alleged killer is Cohen McKay, her father’s apprentice, Britta’s closest friend and the boy who broke her heart. Still, Britta is determined to find justice and, while her journey is perilous, she won’t rest until she finds out who did kill her father.
This was pretty good. It wasn’t the best fantasy I’ve ever read before, but it had a lot of action and the plot kept moving all the time.
Britta is an outcast even before her father’s death. That outcast status (and her father’s occupation as a bounty hunter) makes her tough. When hard times come her way, she fights back. And that attitude was cool to see throughout the story. Sometimes characters (mostly men) underestimated her and she took advantage of that. I liked that.
The plot, as I mentioned, was always moving. There’s a lot going on with the mystery of who killed Britta’s father, but there’s also a good number of fight scenes and other intrigue that I don’t want to spoil. Let’s just say there were a good number of plot twists along the way, even if you see some of them coming. It did take a little while for the story to get started, but then the story had me for most of an afternoon.
I didn’t feel like the world building in this was superb, but it wasn’t bad. It’s not Sarah J. Maas (is it ever?), but I understood the differences between the two countries and the source of the conflict. That seemed to be the main point and while I didn’t feel fully immersed in that world, I understood it.
For a summer read, this was good. Not very heavy, cute, full of action. I liked it.
Belle of the Library 
Will you be continueing this series?
I read this book in 2017 (I think) and don’t really have any desite to read the next books. Will probably DNF this series, even though the first book was rather entertaining.
I actually checked out the second book earlier this week from the library! I’m not sure when I’ll get around to it, but it’s definitely in the future! I’m a little leery about it (it looks like a developing love triangle and I despise those if done poorly), but I like the general concept of the story. Guess we’ll see!