Rainbow Reviews

BOOK BLURB:
Once a month, the Hunt begins ...

Hartley and his sister are cervidae, human in form with deer-like features. They're coming home from a late movie and only have a few moments before midnight strikes. When the Hunt starts. Hartley knows he's tempting fate and urges Giselle to run.

Almost silent in the darkness, a pair of felidae ~ half-human, half-lion ~ stalk their prey. The lioness, Leanna, chases after Hartley, closing in for the kill, while her cousin Tau races behind her, eager to catch the buck first.

But something more than bloodlust runs through his veins tonight. He's hungry for Hartley, yes, but Tau desires him for more than just a quick meal. He wants to claim the buck as his own.

Can the shadowed alleys of downtown Richmond hide this forbidden animal attraction?

BOOK REVIEW:
This is a very clever short story. J.M. Snyder has, in just over 6,000 words, built a unique world against the familiar backdrop of Richmond, Virginia. Instead of humans, we have sort of human/animal blends ~ equidae (half horse), canidae (half-dog), felidae (half-lion), cervidae (half-deer). Once a month, the Hunt is on and anyone out after midnight is fair game.

Hartley, a buck, is out with his sister Giselle, pushing the edge of midnight. When howling begins and the predators start the Hunt, he sends Giselle running toward home and goes a different direction to lead them off and keep her safe. But Hartley has a secret motive for being out so late. Not so long ago he started a very forbidden affair with Tau, a lion. When Tau hunts him down, it's not to catch his dinner.

I love the contrast of a very different, but internally consistent, culture against an eerily familiar world. The characters remain true to their animalistic natures and are not limited to human moral values. Food is food when you are on the hunt. The twist is that Tau and Hartley want each other badly enough to break the rules.

I highly recommend this elegantly constructed story.

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