“The Eternal” begins with a tragedy as Evelyn finds herself living with her Aunt in Scotland following the death of her family and to make things worse she finds that the town is harboring old secrets with deadly consequences and if she doesn’t act fast she might find herself on the wrong side of a bitter feud threatening to consume everyone she knows.

Upon my first read I was a little hesitant because of its similarities to some of the more recent ya books in this genre but upon my second time through there were a lot of things I enjoyed. The take on the vampire lore itself was interesting because it gives you some of the classic characteristics to the creatures themselves while doing away with some of the more gory aspects.

The romance didn’t really work for me with the main guy being a little too brooding and distant to really make a lasting impact but I really enjoyed his brother so if there was ever going to be a triangle this is one of the rare times where I’d hope for it because I really enjoyed his chemistry with Evelyn.

The cliffhanger sets the stage for a battle that’s been brewing for a long time amongst the immortal clans and witches hoping to bring back those from the past so we’ll see how it goes!

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

I am veritably astounded by this amazing piece of work - and I really mean that. This is no empty platitude, I simply feel in love with this book and finished it 3 hours from when I started - I may now be hungry but it was worth it.

“Of course, if I had known that I was going to die in Greyhaven, I would have run.”

That line, that’s the point where I first starting saying “what”, and I continued to say “what” throughout - the cliff hanger - again, I said WHAT. I LOVED IT.

I am very eager for the next instalment and oh so thankful I got to read this one thanks to Netgalley.

Recommended more than anything.

A great, atmospheric YA read. While this is a similar theme to many YA novels that are around at the moment, it's done well and keeps the audience captivated.

This was a fun mystery, romance, fantasy, YA read. The storytelling is great. It really shows the author took great care to wind all the facets of this mystery and the challenges Ellen faces with her romance so perfectly. The harmony and balance of this book makes it one you don’t want to stop once you start and I’m interested in seeing what the sequels bring to the story and to the characters whom I now feel invested and connected to.

If you read the pitch and thought it sounded like a lot of familiar YA tropes you'd be right but Hunter does it better IMO, delivering them in a fresh engaging way. This just tripped my guilty pleasure switches and I guzzled the book like it was chocolate. The plot is good with plenty of action and twists. The MC was dynamic. And thay was one hell of a cliffhanger whilst still delivering a satisfying conclusion. Really very good.

Sure the plot seems familiar. Sure the teen angst is familiar. IMO Hunter does it better. The suspense and story wind throughout so you are never quite sure what is happening. Romance does not bog down the plot although the insertation of the crushy worthy comments feel awkward. The cliffhanger is worth the reaf and I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

Wow! Just, wow! That was some story! It took a minute for me to get into it, but once I did I had a hard time putting it down. The reason for me and the slow start was the dream sequences at the beginning. I fumbled when they started to occur but then got into the rhythm of it all. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and a lot of the names are similar, and not something you hear every day.

All that aside, the writing is superb! The plot was fascinating and the descriptions of the setting were so detailed, elaborate and haunting! There was a bit of humor and romance but this is no Twilight (before you start hating, I loved them too)! This is a much deeper action packed piece where I consider Twilight really more a romance (plus no vampires). This was a welcome new genre for me.

That ending was perfect! I can’t wait to get my hands on the next one! Hopefully it starts with a good succinct synopsis of this story so the numerous characters get refreshed for those of us that read so many stories!! Highly recommend!

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for a copy in exchange for a review.

Evelyn has lost everything, beginning with her family and ending with her friends. Little by little she has being the catalyst for the death of all of them. When her aunt decided to take her back to Gravehaven, Evelyn hates it immediately, the only thing that makes it better are her new friends, Tristan, Astrid, and Adam. At night she begin dreaming about Astara a woman who lived 500 Years ago and who is tied to everyone I. Gravehaven. Enter Blake the mysterious, moody handsome boy, who is Tristan best friend and who is related to Astara. At first is clear that Evelyn and Blake will never be friends, however when Kate, Evelyn's aunt is murder by Evelyn's best friend Allegra, who turn out to be a 1000 year old witch, Blake and Evelyn turn to one another to discover the killer. This is when Evelyn discovered that Blake, Ravenna, Viktor, Tristan and Victoria are actually Eternal beings. They will live forever unless they are killed by removing their hearts. Allegra's plan is to resurect Astara and Evelyn is crucial to their plan, it is now up to everyone to stop both the witch and the ghost.

This just wasn't there for me. It had some good developments but it really just reminded me of a Twilight spin-off. The relationship between romantic characters sort of fell off for me as well. I will praise the horror writing though. Some of the haunting parts were so well described, they actually gave me chills. I just would have liked some more focus on the romance. It felt like every time Evelyn turned around she was getting kidnapped, haunted or hurt and it got tiring after awhile. Also, the ending sort of fell flat for me.

I loooooooved this
I loved Evelyn so much
I loved how fast paced it was written
I hated the cliffhanger it left us with. So I can't wait for the second installment.

DNF this book at 41 %

I guess this book would be easier to read for teens because I had big issues with some things, there was no logic in it. Younger readers wouldn’t mind it probably. Some situations just happened too conveniently, It irritated me, I ended bored and not interested.

I got the ARC from author and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This book surprised me a lot.
It was amazing! It pulled me in till the end.
In this first book I found suspense, mistery, a litle bit of thriller and romance: an astonishing mix.
The author made a very good job with plot, worbuilding and characters.
I could not stop reading until I finished it.
I need the second immediately!

I wasn't really blown away by The Eternal, but it kept my interest enough that I did finish the book. For me, the first half of the book developed very slowly; it seemed like all of these strange occurrences and dreams were happening with not many specific clues to help us figure out what was really going on.

The backstory that Hunter created was unique; she's crafted her own origin story for the immortal beings, so that was a plus in my opinion. It let her give the story a unique twist instead of recycling the regular immortal premise. However, while this part was original, the way that her MCs fell in love was not.

For me, the romantic connection just wasn't very believable; it seemed to be relying on the "fate" trope instead of feeling like a romance that had organically blossomed. The MC and her romantic counterpart do go through some dangerous situations together; however, there's no real time where they start to lay the foundation of even getting to know each other. When she does share some information about herself, her hopes, or dreams, it was actually just a small footnote in the middle of a dramatic situation.

I much would've preferred their relationship to change because they genuinely started to know each other. I'm hoping that part of the relationship building process starts in the second book.

Overall, I'm not sure if I would continue with the series. While intriguing enough to complete the read, The Eternal just didn't dig into my imagination; I'm not quite inspired by it. However, it has a lot of potential that might make it that inspiring read for others.

Oh my! What a book, sooooo bloody good, it kept me gripped from beginning to the cliff hanger ending, it’s going to be a long wait for book 2!!