Customer Reviews

Royal Hunter

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Talia Trahaern, rescuer of animals and an empath, grew up listening to fairy tales her mother told her. Little did she know that they weren't fairy tales, but the recounting of the mother's real life hundreds of years into the future. The bedtime stories were destined to remain pleasant memories until Devlin Archer and his friend, the wizard-like Baleweg, appear at Talia's door, demanding she follow them back to the future to help save their dying queen.

To say Talia is skeptical is a gross understatement, but gradually Baleweg convinces her to embrace her 'gift' and Devlin convinces her to embrace him. She finally agrees to help them and they travel to Devlin's world where we find the most wondrous discovery---tooth decay has been completely eliminated. Seriously though, Talia and Devlin work toward saving the pregnant queen's child while fighting off evil forces who would rather see them all gone. All the while, Talia and Devlin grow closer and closer. But a bold move by the opposition threatens to separate them forever.

Until "The Royal Hunter," I had never read a futuristic-type book, but as long as Ms. Kauffman continues to give readers a can't-put-it-down, good-to-the-last-page story such as this one, I will continue to read them.

Twenty-five years have passed since the healer Eleri Trahaern vanished and all efforts to find her have failed. Now a dying Queen Catriona orders businessman Devlin Archer to find the missing healer so that at least the baby she carries will inherit the throne and the Dalwyn line will continue to rule.

The quest seems impossible to Devlin until the "Old One" explains that Eleri escaped into the past. Devlin and the "Old One" go back in time to learn that the healer is dead, but her child, now an adult, lives in Connecticut as an animal rescue worker. The two males from the future fail to persuade Talia that her mother's tales of yore were true stories of the future. As they struggle to convince a skeptical Talia, someone else has a different future in mind starting with the modern day death of Talia even with Devlin trying to keep his now beloved from harm.

Putting aside the paradoxes caused by time travel such as why not leap to a time before Eleri left the twenty-third century or even before she died, readers will enjoy this speculative fiction romance. The characters are warm and feel genuine and in turn make the mission of THE ROYAL HUNTER even more adventurous for the audience to follow. Throw in a strong romance on top of the main plot and a wonderful cast and fans of time travel and science fiction romance are left with a tremendous royal tale.

Harriet Klausner

Many times we pick up a book and if it is futuristic romance, we usually put it back on the shelf. I can't honestly say that I didnt think about doing that to this one. However, I am certainly glad that I didnt. This book was well thought out and excellently executed. The story line takes a 28 year old woman named Talia who resides in the 21st century to the 23rd century with a mercenary who has heart named Devin Archer. Together along with a few important side characters such as Baleweg and Ringer, they are able to delve into Talia's special gifts and save a kingdom in grave danger. This was truly a wonderful read and I highly recommend it. I can't wait to get my hands on her next book The Charm Stone.

Having just read "The Charm Stone", I was ready to be impressed with this book. It was a disappointment in most ways. It takes about 200 dull pages to come the point, (which, by the way, the reader will figure out about page 60), and is generally slow. I never managed to identify with either the hero or heroine. In fact, the heroine is dropped out for a couple of chapters and you find that you don't even notice or care. The ending was superficial and unsatisfying.

This book had the potential to give us an intriguing Otherworld, but simply fell short.

Talia Trahaern runs an animal shelter in Conneticut. As a small child, she remembers her mother moving them around frequently and assumed it was because of her strange gift of communicating with animals. Her mother died when she was six years old and she grew up in foster homes and was never able to love anyone again. Although she is able to feel animals emotions and pain, she doesn't even allow herself to get attached to any of the animals she takes in. When two strangers Baleweg and Devin Archer show up claiming she is the royal healer to an the Wales royal family two hundred years in the future, she thinks they are nuts. When a man attempts to kill her and then Baleweg is able to tell her about events her mother told her as a child, she starts understanding they are telling the truth. Baleweg was a sort of mentor to her mother and he explains that she must go through time to heal the young queen who is dying and save the queen's unborn son. Devin, a royal hunter, was sent to retrieve Talia and bring her back safely to the queen. Talia and Devin fight an attraction but soon give into it and become lovers. Before long, Devin realizes he is losing his heart to Talia. Devin was sold into slavery by his mother and he thought he was no longer capable of love. When he starts having feelings for Talia, his goal to keep her safe becomes personal. When they must go back to the future to help the queen, Devin faces that although he loves Talia she is above his station and their relationship can never last.

My problem with this story is that at times it just gets kind of boring. Also, at times the story just doesn't seem plausable and yes i know its fantasy but you should want to make the story one you believe. This book tries but kind of falls short of "heart." It was just okay to me.

As always I can count on Donna for a great read. I know when I open a book of hers I am in for another exciting trip thru someone's interesting (and romantic) life. And again she did it. Donna tends to ad feeling, emotion and exciting people in all her books and I just loved Talia Trahearn. Devlin and Talia were both exciting people. I have to add tho that Archer was wonderful and of course Ringer stole the show. This is a book no one should miss. It would be a great read no matter what type of reading you enjoy.

Donna Kauffman takes you into the future and back again in this book. But if you are looking for true rip-roaring adventure in your romance, this may not be the book for you.

Only a very small part of the story actually occurs in the future and much of the "action" takes place in the heroine's mind. That is there where the secrets are buried.

Devlin has shades of Han Solo and Baleweg conjures images of Gandalf, but these are not bad things within the context of the story. The actual crisis in the future is treated rather lightly in comparison to the growing empathy between the hero and heroine. Hey, that's is how I like it! The inner reality is much more interesting than the outer reality.

I must say that this was not what I thought it would be, the book I mean.
I have read two books of Ms. Kauffman and it seems like this story is missing something.
In Royal Hunter, I thought that when it comes to the main char. the story is going somehow very slow and rushing when it was about the others.
When I was about 2/3 of the book, still nothing happened in the story.(saving the future queen and country)
If I've known I'd chosen another book to read but I think it's ok when you really have nothing special to do.