Heartless Hunter

Two years ago, the Republic was founded when rebels killed the witch queens. Thus ended the tyranny of the Reign of Witches and began the dawn of a “better” world. However, not much has changed since the cruelty of the witches has been replaced by the ruthlessness of the Blood Guard. Now, all witches are condemned and executed. Those who sympathize with or harbor witches also suffer a grim fate.  

Rune Winters is the perfect aristocrat: shallow, fashionable, and arrogant. After turning in her witch grandmother, Rune Winters is the darling of the Republic. But what the Republic doesn’t realize is that this image is an act, put on to protect Rune’s secret identity as a witch vigilante, the Crimson Moth. 

Rune, as the Crimson Moth, is focused on protecting and saving girls from being purged. She was on her way to save her grandmother’s friend, Seraphine, but got there too late. Now to save Seraphine, Rune will need insider intel, and her target is the captain of the Blood Guard and witch hunter, Gideon Sharpe. Gideon has been locked in a deadly game with the Crimson Moth, as every witch he captures is magically spirited away by her. New intel has led him to suspect Rune Winters, and so his current objective is to get close to Rune and figure out her secrets. As the two of them flirt, scheme, and manipulate to reach their goals, they find themselves betrayed by the thing they least expected, their own hearts.  

Rune has never forgotten the day she had to turn in her Nan and channels her pain into saving others. She couldn’t save her grandmother, but she can save the next innocent girl taken by the Blood Guard. Readers will be absolutely captivated by Rune’s strength of will and heart, as she continues to risk herself in order to save just one more girl. As an aristocrat and beloved by the Republic, Rune doesn’t need to endanger herself, but she does. She uses her privilege to help witches and witch sympathizers who are looked down upon by society. Rune’s stubbornness and determination make her likeable and admirable because she refuses to compromise or give up when things become difficult. Rune is a role model for audiences because even as she struggles with conflicting emotions and harrowing circumstances, she always tries to do the right thing. 

Rune is not alone in her quest. She can rely on her friends Alex Sharpe and Verity de Wilde. Alex is the genuine heart of this book with his steadfast loyalty and caring nature. While everyone is consumed by hatred, he alone sees a future where witches and non-witches can live together in peace. When he discovers that Rune is a witch, Alex accepts Rune as she is and continues to love her. While Alex helps Rune because she is his friend, Verity assists Rune because she is just as committed to saving witches. Verity is smart and dedicated to Rune’s cause because of her love for her dead sisters, who were witches.  

Rune even captivates Gideon Sharpe, Alex’s brother, with whom she falls in love. Gideon is a tortured soul and absolutely committed to the cause of hunting witches. He thinks that witches are all ultimately evil, but this belief comes from a place of hurt and trauma. His beliefs are ultimately tested when he starts to fall for Rune. Like his brother, Gideon is loyal to a fault and compassionate. He cares about everyone so much that he will do whatever it takes to protect them from the suffering he endured. Readers will find Rune and Gideon’s romance hopeful, but heartbreaking, as they find acceptance in each other for their scars, but must separate because of their competing allegiances. 

Ciccarelli creates an incredibly suspenseful story where one wrong move will cause Rune’s doom. The pace is perfectly timed as the buildup of Rune and Gideon’s romance is believable and heart-wrenching. Ciccarelli plays with her audience as Rune and Gideon’s burgeoning feelings give readers hope, only for it to be ripped away by lies, secrets, and brutal circumstances. This is a great first half of Ciccarelli’s duology where emotions are heightened to a fever pitch and the stakes seem insurmountable. Heartless Hunter’s characters are flawed and therefore relatable, just like their rich and deeply divided world.  

The characters’ differences lead to conflict, which also sets up unity that will be explored further in the next book, Rebel Witch. 

The novel reaches its climactic peak through a series of devastating revelations and sacrifices that fundamentally alter the story’s trajectory. The witch queen Cressida’s unexpected survival delivers a shocking twist, while Alex’s ultimate sacrifice to save Gideon casts a shadow of despair over the conclusion and simultaneously lays crucial groundwork for future installments. The story’s most painful element emerges in the final schism between Rune and Gideon, whose relationship fractures under the weight of competing loyalties and unresolved emotions. Despite sharing the fundamental desire to protect others, their divergent approaches—shaped by personal trauma and mistrust—create an irreparable rift that leaves readers with a sense of tragic inevitability rather than resolution.  

Sexual Content  

• While in Rune’s room, she flirts with Gideon. When things get heated and they are about to kiss, Rune suddenly spills her wine. “He’s going to kiss me, she realized. And the scariest thing was, Rune wanted him to… in this moment, she wanted to know how his mouth would feel against hers… if he’d give in to that ravenous hunger, taking his fill of her.” 
• Gideon measures Rune for a dress he’s going to make her, so Rune undresses. “Rune was already undressing. His gaze dropped to her lace bralette and remained there for a beat, before quickly shooting back to her face, his cheeks burning with color.” 
• Gideon says he’s going to start measuring at the top and move down, but he and Rune immediately think of a sexual innuendo. “She knew what he meant, but the way he said it made her imagine him working his way down her in a… less vertical way. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one. Gideon froze, opened his mouth to clarify what he meant, and coughed instead.” 
• Gideon is still measuring Rune, but gets distracted. “From here, he had a perfect view of the low scoop of her bralette, the delicate lace leaving little to the imagination. He had just measured her bust, so why it suddenly mattered, he wasn’t sure. He kept his gaze on the line of her throat instead.” 
• When Gideon worked for the witch queen Cressida, he would “fulfill her [sexual] needs.” He would be “punished… for neglecting [his] duties.” 
• Gideon thinks about when he and Cressida “traded kisses in empty palace rooms, hands wandering over each other.” 
• Gideon tells Rune how Cressida blackmailed him into sleeping with her. “When I told Cressida we were done, that I wanted nothing more to do with her, she warned that if I refused her advances my little sister would suffer my mother’s fate.” 
• Gideon discusses the abuse he suffered. “Sometimes, it felt like Cressida preferred Gideon unwilling. Like it brought her more pleasure to force him.” 
• Rune and Gideon go skinny-dipping in the ocean. “She pulled in a sharp breath, her blood running a little hotter at the sight of his muscled shoulders and arms. She coiled her fingers into her palms, pressing the nails into the skin, trying to stop herself from tracing him with her eyes: the rigid lines of his collarbones, abdomen, hips.” 
• Gideon gets fully undressed before going in the ocean, and “Rune wanted to drop her hands and look at him. Desperately…” But she does not. 
• Rune and Gideon are swimming when she thinks, “What would it feel like to have his body flush against hers? It was perverse, the way she wanted to find out.” 
• Rune follows her impulses and kisses Gideon, “dragging her fingers through his hair and pulling his mouth down to hers.” 
• Gideon is not immune to her charms, as he also wants Rune. “When her teeth grazed his bottom lip, a wicked heat surged through him, and he reached for her waist. So soft. He wanted to sink into her softness. To bury himself in her.” 
• Gideon and Rune continue to make out on land. “He moved lower, pressing his lips to a more sensitive place on her neck… Gideon moved lower still, to the base of her throat… When his teeth grazed her collarbone, Rune inhaled sharply, fisting her hands… She pushed her hands into his hair, cradling his head.” They eventually stop without going further. 
• One of Rune’s rejected suitors insults her, saying, “If the rumors are true, she’s as loose as a whore.”  
• After Gideon’s brush with death, Rune goes to see if he’s okay. They profess their love for each other and have sex. “He wanted her, and she clearly wanted him… The breath shuddered out of him. His hands tightened on her thighs, pulling her closer… It made the warm ache between her legs sharpen and grow… Gideon continued, moving against her. Deeper, harder, insistent.” This scene lasts for eight pages. 
• After Gideon betrays Rune, she seeks out Alex. He asks her to marry him because he has always loved her. “When his kisses turned hungry, she leaned in, open to the possibility of him. He backed her toward the desk and lifted her onto it. When he stepped between her legs, pulling her flush against him…” They stop when Rune accepts his proposal.  

Violence  

• The Red Peace was born after witches were massacred: “Two years had passed since these streets ran with the blood of witches and the Republic of the Red Peace was born.” This event began Rune’s quest to save persecuted witches.  
• The government marks the foreheads of children who are “descendants of witch sympathizers.” 
• A dangerous witch has been killing guards for months. “Three nights ago, another mutilated body had been found dragged under a bridge. Chest ripped open. Blood drained out.” 
• Gideon is talking with his colleague about the young witches he captured and put in jail. “He could picture them huddled behind the bars of the cell he’d locked them in: wide-eyed and trembling as they clung to each other.” 
• In order to save her life, Rune had to turn in her witch grandmother to be purged. “Blood Guard officer smashed his pistol into [her grandmother’s] face… they stripped the old woman down, found her scars, and dragged her off to be executed.” 
• Gideon became a hero of the Republic and a highly respected officer because “[he] risked his life leading revolutionaries into the palace and single-handedly killing two witch queens.” 
• Rune falls into a trap set by Gideon and fights to escape. She stabs Gideon. “With the weight of him gone, Rune was free to reach for the knife strapped to her thigh… Rune drew the knife from its sheath and stabbed hard, not caring where the blade went in, so long as it went in deep.” Gideon is slightly injured as he rushes to attend a ball after this fight. 
• Rune eventually escapes but is shot at and receives a minor injury. “A third shot rang out. This time, Rune felt the sharp sting of a bullet as it sliced her forearm. Warm, sticky blood seeped out.” 
• Gideon meets the leader of the new Republic in a boxing ring, where “Gideon was getting the shit kicked out of him nightly. Those matches always ended the same way: with Gideon hauling his bruised body from the floor of the ring, dragging himself to a table.” 
• Gideon’s parents were designers employed by the three witch queens. The two eldest cast magic on Gideon’s mother and drove her mad. “His mother accused them of worse things, too: her husband, of being unfaithful to her; Tessa, of poisoning her; Gideon, of abusing Tessa… And always, he could smell it on her: the coppery scent of a witch’s spells.” 
• While Gideon is telling Rune about his past, he remembers the worst of what the witch queens did. “He walked in on [Cressida] and her sisters standing over a body in a pool of blood.” It is implied that Cressida and the other queens killed this person and collected the blood for magic. 
• Cressida cast a spell on Gideon’s little sister, Tessa, to infect her with a disease. Then she barred people from treating her. “Tessa wept and begged from the other side, delirious with fever, calling for their mother. He screamed at Cressida, who only smirked. So he lunged and pinned her down. He had his hands around her throat, prepared to stop squeezing only when she went limp beneath him, but the guards dragged him off and chained him to the floor of a cell.” 
• Gideon explains that his parents committed suicide. “My mother drowned herself a day [after Tessa died]. My father hung himself a few days after that.” 
• Cressida branded Gideon with her crest. “He recalled the night she branded him. She’d pinned him to the wall with a spell so he’d be helpless to stop her from searing his flesh. He remembered his body spasming beneath the glowing iron, every muscle tightening at the lightning-hot pain.” 
• In retaliation, Gideon helped the new ruler of the Republic and “the other rebels take the palace, shooting [Cressida’s sister witch queens] in their beds.” Gideon killed those two witch queens, but he did not kill Cressida because Alex “had found and dealt with her so Gideon didn’t have to.” 
• Rune remembers when her Nan was taken and executed. “The chains raised her grandmother skyward, by the ankles. There she dangled, upside down… One of the Blood Guard stepped forward with a knife and sliced her grandmother’s throat. The blood splattered and gushed. Nan choked, gasping for a breath she couldn’t take, her body writhing like a worm on a hook.” 
• Verity tells Rune about her dead witch sisters, who their stepfather abused. “He would lock them up for days. Beat their bare backs with belts. Force them to kneel for hours on broken glass.” 
• Gideon and his officers find bodies with their blood drained, and this time, it’s soldiers in his squad. “[Gideon’s] gaze descending to the Blood Guard’s neck, which was hacked open like a second gaping mouth. White bone shone in the mess of torn skin, tendons, and congealed blood. James’s spine appeared to be the only thing keeping his head attached to his body.” 
• Alex found his brother getting beaten up every night in the boxing ring. Cressida was also abusing him. “That the young man getting beaten in the ring was Gideon. His face was so bruised and bloody, I didn’t recognize him.” 
• Gideon asks Alex if Cressida is still alive, but Alex assures him, “I shot her three times. ” 
• Alex tells Rune the truth about what happened when he confronted Cressida. “She woke to the barrel of my pistol pressed against her head.” Alex threatens Cressida, but ultimately spares her. 
• Cressida sets a trap for Gideon and his guards. “But before he could grab her arm and pull her back into the room, a loud BOOM! shook the walls and floors. The red-hot force of an explosion threw him backward, slamming his body into solid brick.” Gideon is only slightly injured, and some others go to the hospital for injuries. 
• Cressida sets a second blast at the guard headquarters. “Twenty-seven are confirmed dead and many more are injured.” 
• Rune is captured and learns that Cressida “killed Verity and stole her identity.” 
• In a bid to save Rune and the other witches from execution, Cressida finally reveals who she is.  She then kills a bystander to get blood for her magic. “As her victim screamed and fought, trying to get away, Cressida bared the girl’s pale throat to her knife’s crescent edge, and slit it.” 
• Cressida shoots and kills the leader of the Republic. “Silence bled through the square as the Commander’s body tipped slowly forward, collapsing in a heap. His eyes were blank as they stared at Gideon.” Cressida then aims for Gideon, but Alex is killed instead. “When the gun went off, [Alex] stepped in front of it.” 

Drugs and Alcohol  

• When Rune is flirting with Gideon and trying to get information, she orders some wine. “Lifting the decanter, she poured wine into both cups.” 
• After his parents and sister died, Gideon started drinking heavily. “He’d started drinking after that. Every day. Sometimes, as soon as waking up.” Alcohol was the only thing that would numb his pain.   
• While being abused, Gideon went to get beaten up at a boxing ring. “Like he came there every night, drunk or high, and let them beat him half to death. Like he thought he deserved it.” 
• Alex helped Gideon as best he could. “After the revolution, it was Alex who stayed by Gideon for weeks, helping him fight off his laudanum addiction. Alex didn’t leave Gideon’s side until he no longer shook with the cravings.” 

Language  

• Language is used rarely. Language includes fuck, shit, hell, and whore. 

Supernatural  

• The world of Heartless Hunter involves witches who are able to cast magic spells by using their blood and the blood of others. The blood is used to write magic symbols and activate the magic. The scars made from drawing blood turn silver. “Mirage Spells are simple illusions held for short periods that require little blood. The fresher the blood, the stronger the magic, and the easier casting will be.” 
• A witch can’t take blood without consent. “Blood must be taken with consent or given freely, as blood taken from an unwilling person will corrupt a witch and their magic… if a witch took someone’s blood against their will, the spell using that blood would corrupt the witch. She would crave the power it gave her, and resort to more coercive bloodletting, often killing her sources.” 
• Rune casts her signature magic spell, Ghost Walker, to conceal herself. This magic is made possible through symbols written in blood. “Summoned into being by the magic in Rune’s blood and held together by the symbols drawn on her wrist, binding the spell to her.” 
• Rune describes how she collects blood for her magic without cutting herself. “Rune had developed her blood storage system shortly after learning she was a witch… It was how Rune kept her body free of casting scars: by collecting her blood at every monthly cycle.” 
• Witches are not magical at birth, but come into their power at a certain age. “It was the initial sign of a witch: at the onset of your first bleeding, you didn’t bleed red, but black.” 

Spiritual Content  

• The people of this world believe in seven “Ancients.” These beings created the world and gifted magic to the people. “And each entry was named after one of the seven Ancients. Mercy, Liberty, Wisdom, Justice, Amity, Patience, Fortitude.”