Hunting in Bruges

Hunters' Guild, Book 1

By: E.J. Stevens

Narrated by: Melanie A. Mason, Anthony Bowling

Finalist for the 2017 Raven Award for best urban fantasy.

The only thing worse than being a hunter in the fae-ridden city of Harborsmouth, is hunting vampires in Bruges.

The medieval city of Bruges is quaint, but the local Hunters' Guild is understaffed, the canals are choked with dead bodies, and there's no shortage of supernatural predators as likely suspects.

On second thought, maybe Bruges isn't so bad after all.

With a desire to prove herself, protect the innocent, and advance within the ranks of the Hunters' Guild, Jenna Lehane hits the cobbled streets of Bruges with blades at the ready. Someone, or something, is murdering tourists and dumping their bodies in the city's scenic canals. With the help of a mysterious stranger, Jenna begins to piece together clues that are dotted throughout the city like blood spatter.

Determined to stop the killings, Jenna delves into a bloody local history that only raises more questions - but some secrets are best left buried. Jenna must put her combat training to the test as she struggles to unearth the truth about an ancient enemy.

"I quite enjoyed the tale." (Jana Oliver, award-winning author of The Demon Trappers series)

"Hunting in Bruges is a must read." (Book Lover's Life)

"I flat out loved it!" (Rabid Reads)

"[Hunting in Bruges] is a well-crafted and fun urban fantasy." (The Jeep Diva)

Hunting in Bruges is the first novel in the Hunters' Guild urban fantasy series set in the world of Ivy Granger. The world of Ivy Granger, including the Hunters' Guild series and the award-winning Ivy Granger Psychic Detective series, is filled with bloodsucking vampires, psychotic faeries, and snarky, kick-butt heroines.

©2014 E.J. Stevens (P)2018 E.J. Stevens

Really good Urban Fantasy

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This was a fun and entertaining urban fantasy story. I loved how the author handled the world building and character development. The narration was good as well. All in all, a REALLY good book.

Jenna's a focused hunter on a mission

*I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Melanie & Anthony are the same duo that's voiced the Ivy Granger stories. I might have liked a new voice for Jenna and the people she meets then works with, but they do well. As always they have clean audio with two voices. They break the characters as female and male, as expected. It's nice to hear the male voices voiced separately from the original narrator. Some of the characters have accents, which is portrayed by the narrators. Nice.

We start with Jenna and why she feels she's sent on this mission so suddenly. And getting to Bruges. This gives us a transition from Harborsmouth and Ivy to Jenna and Bruges We also learn about Jenna's ability to see and hear ghosts.

This story gives us insight into the Hunters' Guild. Interesting group of people. We start to get to see more of them with Ivy, but now we are in the inner loop.

The story feels tightly written. The case of the multiple dead bodies is something Jenna is on. She's determined to find the monster doing the work. But she also has to deal with the hunters guild here in Burge. She's quick to get started when she arrives in town. Though, she starts to make the current hunters look as though they are slacking with her quick work.

E.J. has a few red herrings tossed in there to get us to wonder about who is behind these events, but I figured it out from the beginning. And I was happy to see I was right in my thinking when I got verification in the end.

I like the chapter headings. It is a line from in the chapter, but it points out Hunter ways or Jenna's "rules". It's a neat way to highlight them and give us a feel of Jenna and a few other characters. Jenna's focused. And I get a feel she's modest yet aware of her abilities. She very much tries to follow the rules and takes being a hunter seriously. I like this about her. In the beginning Jenna came across as though she reminded me of another Ivy. As the story went, Jenna became her own person and I found I liked her. I really like she doesn't talk about herself like Ivy does, like she has to explain who she is. Jenna just does and knows who she is. I think I enjoyed Jenna and her story much more than Ivy's.

Jenna's quickly meeting people and making friends... and enemies. Grrrr. There is one man who is against all women in the guild along with supernaturals. He's a real jerk. I couldn't wait for Jenna to knock him down a peg, or five. Then there's Ash, he's a joy. I love her time with him although I want to shack her as she should have picked up the signs and hints about Ash right away. However, there is something different about Ash when he's with Jenna. I'm hoping we get answers to this in the future. But I do love Ash. He's a cutie.

All in all, I enjoyed Jenna's adventures. And would like to hear more of her adventures with her new crew. Sounds like these adventures could be interesting.

Great Series Starter

Hunting in Bruges is a good series starter. Jenna is a strong willed, egotistical workaholic. This story is fast paced with tons of action and interesting human and paranormal characters. I enjoyed both of the narrators distinctive character voices and they did a fantastic job bringing the story and characters to life. Ivy Granger is mentioned a few times in this story so I hope she makes an appearance in future stories. I look forward to more in this series and from this author

Hunting

Melanie A. Mason & Anthony Bowling did a great job bringing the characters and the world E.J. Stevens created to life.

Each situation and emotion was beautifully portrayed.

I enjoyed Jenna's character. UF is the best platform to create strong female characters.


Looking forward to the next book in the series. I would like to see Jenna grow both professionally and personally.

Bruges turns out to be more than she expected...

"Hunting in Bruges" introduces us to the "Hunters' Guild" series, with Jenna Lehane as the main protagonist and a bunch of other memorable characters as her sidekicks:)

It starts rather innocently - Jenna is sent to Bruges to solve the mystery of an overflow of dead bodies found in the town's canals. The task seems easy enough but very soon she discovers she has to deal with much more than just one or two rogue vampires... Unfortunately, the local Hunters' Guild is of almost no help, as they are heavily understaffed, and the few members still present there are not the best you could be looking for. Still, Jenna's job must be done, so she has to settle with what's at hand...

That's the starting point for the book that turns out to be a gripping, engaging and really entertaining urban fantasy. The story starts quite slow but soon gathers speed and doesn't slow to the end. Events that at first seem to have no plausible explanation soon start to connect and finally find their logical place in the big picture. And although it's a part of a series, the book has a satisfactory conclusion, at the same time leaving us ready to go on another adventure with Jenna.

As the main protagonist, Jenna takes the front seat among the cast of characters, but all of them have their 5 minutes in the story. Jenna is not this perfect, always-know-everything-never-miss-a-clue unrealistic character I met in other books, on the contrary, she feels very real and very human; she can be unobservant at times, she is not always right and the wrong decisions she makes have consequences she then has to deal with. She is strong when it's needed, but she also has a sensitive side she doesn't even try to hide... And her sidekicks? A witch addicted to mandrake, a blind archivist, an art student with secrets of his own... You really can't ask for a more colourful, unpredictable bunch of vampire hunters...:)

The interpretation of the book by Ms Mason and Mr Bowling, who respectively read female and male parts, is very good. It's fast-paced but clear, with very good differentation of the voices of individual characters and quite a bit of good acting added into the mix.

Generally, it's a really entertaining story in a very good interpretation. I listened to it in one sitting and will definitely look for the next part.

DISCLAIMER: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Hunting in Bruges

Jenna is sent in to investigate a series of murders in Bruges. Upon her arrival she meets a handsome yet quirky young man. He begins to grow on Jenna. I love the subtle hints about him throughout the story! The guild master needs to do some revamping of is guild. He should be the one in trouble for letting things get this out of hand and leaving one so incompetent in charge and not enough members to defend the city. The story is fast paced and super easy to listen to. The narration is very nice!

Great fantasy story

This book is about a hunter from the guild named Jenna. She is called to Bruges to investigate the deaths and their bodies left in the streets. The group she works with is a ragtag group of a witch, a one handed demolitions expert, and a blind guy. The story has a lot of action but a fun story. The narrators did a very good job. Enjoyed the fact that there was two narrators. They were very good ad giving each character their recognizable voices. I will be glad when the next in the series is ready to be read/listened to. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Kinda fun

The tittle pretty much says it all. Hunting super naturals in Bruges. I really liked the setting. The story was predictable and slow at times. But give it a try if you like snarky female MCs with swords.

Likable Characters, Action-Packed Story

Hunting in Bruges is the first novel in the Hunters' Guild series, set in the world of E.J. Stevens' psychic detective, Ivy Granger. This novel follows Ivy's fellow Guild member Jenna Lehane as she travels to Bruges to battle vampires and other supernatural threats. She also faces threats from within the Guild itself. Along the way she meets Ash, a companion who turns out to be more than he seems and who is just as likable a character as Jenna herself. The character interaction is what sets this apart from other urban fantasy novels and what has me looking forward to the next book in this series. The narrators of the Audible version, Melanie A. Mason and Anthony Bowling, do an excellent job of bringing the characters to life and setting the tone for this exciting, action-packed story.

Can’t wait to read the next one

I just finished the first book in the hunters guild series and I loved it. It’s a great urban fantasy with a sassy female action hero. I likes the unusual take on ghosts and the fight between good and evil.
The narrators also did a great job really bringing the story to life. I will definitely put the next books in the series on my wishlist, and I look forward to see how the series develops.