Quick to the Hunt, Cameron Dane

Read this ages ago but had to put this on here as Cameron Dane's books are a great love of mine. This one's so good.

- Review by Kazza K

This is the best book of the Quentin Montana/Hawkins Ranch series and that's saying something as, for me, they have all been a good read. It deserves every bit of the 5 star rating, it's terrific. I always knew there was a dark writer inside of Cameron Dane and Quick to the Hunt is proof positive of that.

First of all, in order to get the most out of this book, you need to like/be comfortable reading M/M, dark psychological content and some fierce/angry sex scenes. Over 80% of this book is not spent in a comfortable or happy place.

Hunter Tennison is Sarah's brother (she's an MC in Becoming Three), he has come back after several tours of Iraq/Afghanistan. He has been stateside for approximately a year but has hidden this fact from his sister. Hunter is a very disturbed man who is self harming to deal with the pain of loss and enduring what humans aren't meant to - the atrocities that go hand in hand with being in a war - killing, friends being killed and bodies permanently maimed. Hunter is a good man who has been through the emotional wringer. He is now trying to adjust to being in his home town, working, endeavouring to fit back into everday, civillian life, but he is not coping. You can't help but feel for him and his plight.

Alex Quick was also made familiar as a secondary character in Becoming Three. He is the head of a multi-million dollar empire of real estate and other business ventures, he's in Quentin to develop land into housing. Alex had a rough childhood, however, a steady constant in his life has been Mack. Mack is ill during Alex's time in Quentin but he is a tough guy and slogs through his illnesswith his usual 'I'll be fine' manner. Alex goes back and forth between Mack and Quentin but eventually Mack dies, leaving Alex to deal with losing an important part of his life. I just want to say that I truly love Alex Quick, he is a wonderful character, he may not be your stereotypical alpha male, but he is all man. Someone who will stand by a partner in their darkest hour and love them unconditionally encapsulates a real man to me.

Alex and Hunter develop an attraction towards one another despite their best efforts not to act on it. Hunter, because he is not of sound mind, and Alex because he's not sure he wants the desolate man that he sees in Hunter. Basically, while they do get together sexually, it is not pretty. Hunter cannot handle love or being loved, it triggers all sorts of self-loathing and panicked reactions, whether that be about Alex and himself or his sister and his best friend. Sarah and her partners, especially Jace, who has been Hunters' best friend, are worried about this 'new' Hunter. Alex develops feelings of love for Hunter which are reciprocated with angry, violent sexual and physical encounters. Hunter will not go and see therapists that Sarah and Jace have organised for him and now believes self harm is the best way to keep him from feeling, but all he is doing is pushing himself further into a dark mire.

I have to say, even though it is violent in nature, one of the hottest sex scenes I've ever read is in this book, in the farmhouse being renovated, bloody hell! is all I can say. Cameron Dane surpasses herself in the writing of the erotic content in this book, it is desperate, but it is scorching. I love Cameron Dane as a writer, she creates and develops her characters with such love and layers, and this shines bright in Quick to the Hunt. Lord she must have had some bleak times writing this, but she shirks nothing and does the topic and characters justice. I love the fact that the book takes place over a year, that the chapters through to the epilogue are headed up by a month. It gives readers a timeline of how Hunter's mental health issues take time to be worked on, they just don't just suddenly, magically go away.

One of the reasons I love M/M books is the writers have the ability to be sexier, grittier and more aggressive than standard romantica (if they so choose) and I for one do gravitate to that type of book. So, if you are like me and enjoy M/M erotica with a sting, then do yourself a favour and pick up Quick to the Hunt for a great, emotional read. I hope that this is not the last in this series because that would just be a travesty.