To Tame The Hunter

by Stephanie James, Jayne Ann Krentz

The ruthless and seductive York Sutherland pursues beautiful Selena Caldwell as part of his revenge against his archenemy and competitor, a man with whom Selena had once been involved. Reprint.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Harlequin, Contemporary Romance, Category Romance, Fiction

218 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Jayne Ann Castle was born on 28 March 1948 in Borrego Springs, California. Her mother, Alberta Castle, raised her with her two brothers, Stephen and James. In 1970, she obtained a B.A in History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and later she obtained a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University, where she met Frank Krentz, an engineer. After her graduation, they married and moved to the Virgin Islands. She worked in the Duke University library system, where she began to write her first romance novels. The marriage moved to Seattle, Washington, where they continue living.

Now, Jayne Ann Castle Krentz with her seven pennames is considered a pillar in the contemporary romance genre. For some years, she only uses three pennames for each of three different periods from time: "Jayne Ann Krentz" (her married name) from the present, "Jayne Castle" (her birth name) from the future and her most famous penname: "Amanda Quick" from the past. She is famous for her work ethic, beginning her writing by 7 am six days a week. Her heroins never are damsels in hardships, they are often heroes. Her novels also contain mystery or paranormal elements.

Enthusiastic of the romantic genre, she has always defended its importance. To help educate the public about the romantic genre she became the editor and a contributor to Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance, a non-fiction essay collection that won the prestigious Susan Koppelman Award for Feminist Studies. She established the Castle Humanities Fund at UCSC's University Library to allow the library to purchase additional books and has given money to 15 Seattle-area elementary schools to enhance their library budgets. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Writers Programs at the University of Washington extension program.

Psuedonyms:

Jayne Ann Krentz
Amanda Quick
Jayne Castle
Jayne Bentley
Jayne Taylor
Amanda Glass

Reviews

[*CJ* · Rating 4 out of 5]

"To Tame the Hunter" is the story of Selena and York.

This is one of those absolute bonkers romances, where you will simultaneously go "Seriously WTF" and still be like "Yeaaaah".

The h is a divorced but successful woman, who is going out with OM. She meets the H at a party, who is the OM's arch nemesis. He immediately zeroes in on her and kisses as well as propositions her. She refuses, and then he systematically proceeds to remove OM from her life and make her his. The h eventually relents, but their relationship has to undergo battles of trust, surrender and love.

It was a bit creepy yet funny, because Miss James compared the h/H to hunter/prey, serial killer/victim on various instances. The H was absolutely insanely stalkerishly smitten with the h. The h on the other hand had enough of a backbone to fight him back, yet had ability to give into her passion. Ends in a neatly tied HFN.

Read it for a lot of eye exercise.

Safe
3.5/5

[Debby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the ‘alpha male in pursuit’ trope, so I thought I would really enjoy this.

And although he wasn’t an alpha male, I did enjoy his relentless pursuit in the first half of the book. Hence the 3 stars.

But then the book went downhill. Because one night, he leaves his papers from work on the table to go to bed with her, the next morning she reads all of them. Wtf?

And if that isn’t bad enough, she threatens to leak all the figures if he doesn’t drop his plans to take over the company of her ex. Wow. This woman can’t be trusted.

Anyway, the HEA was *bwarf*. She had told him all the time that the reason she blackmailed him was that she wanted him to change. Then in the end she assures him that she doesn’t want him to change. Oh please 🙄

In the HEA they endlessly bickered about who had won. He: “You won”. She: “You won”. He: “No, you won”. She: “No, you won.” He: ”No, you won”. She: “No, you won”.

She compares him to a jaguar all throughout the book. But he isn’t a jaguar, he isn’t an alpha male, he is just a little kitty.

[Azet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sexy and sizzling.."To Tame the Hunter" is a MUST-READ for all Romance Lovers!
I have read one other book by Stephanie before,and i really enjoyed it. Her stories are unlike the others: with really sweet love-stories with steamy love-scenes and worthy heroines who tame their Alpha heroes..!Do we not all enjoy that..hihi!

In need of vengeance to the man who once cheated him, the Jaguar-Predator like business Tyccon York Sutherland instantly gets attracted to the lovely lady beside that man,Selena Caldwell.They both fall instantly into each other arms,and Selena..knowing York´s ruthless intention towards her now ex decides to stop the man she loves from making a mistake-by taming the hunter through winning his love..but little does she knows that she already have it...

I totally just love this book-the hero and heroine were both amazing-and we watch heroine do something we rarely see in the land of Romance..:blackmailing the hero!
Wow,thats just amazing!Selena had York right twisted round her finger and she didn`t even know it haha..Their bickering and the so enjoyful conversations between them was all sooo wondeful to read-and to the top of all i just LOVE their steamy romance..York was so sexy i got swooned in every scene with him in it.He was sooo arrogant and sexy-and a really hero in pursuit.Like he said..he and Selena are totally made for each other...just GAHHH!

[Maria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I re-read Jayne Ann Krentz's Stephanie James books every other year or so. I find it interesting to see how she grew as an author. The early books are clearly not as good as her later books. The characters are less finely drawn, the dialogue is direct and without the subtle undertones of her later work, and the plots are generally shallow. Anyone who has tried to write a book will understand how this happens. Writing a book is harder than it looks. Published in 1983, this book is about Selena Caldwell and York Sutherland, who wrestle with each other to form a relationship. There is little action and not much in the way of other events to carry the story line, and yet it reads with the fluidity that is a hallmark of all Jayne Ann Krentz books. Since neither of these characters appeals to me or seems recognizable, I couldn't get into this book.

[rivka · Rating 2 out of 5]

I need to stop reading reprints of romance novels from the 80s. I always end up ticked off at men who think it's-not-rape-it's-seduction is ok. :P

[Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Her characters are always different than expected. I enjoyed all of her 80's books and took them for the era they were in and what was selling.

[fulano · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️


TW/CW:
Detailed beauty standards (western expectations), cheating (challenged), dub con, coercion.

This was actually pretty good. It’s about the romance between Selena and York, who are both headstrong and dominant people and so often crash. And this is them having to work through that if they want to be together. The heroine, Selena has been dating a man who is the enemy of the hero, the hero being York. York is an up and coming businessman who approaches the heroine solely to draw her away from the man she has been dating. He later ends up doing so by revealing to her that he is married. After this, she leaves for Utah for some much needed alone time because of how done she is done with men. Rightly so, and the story unfolds from there.

So what I liked about this is that the heroine takes no shit from anyone, least of all men. She had been previously married but was cheated on by him. She divorces and has since then been casually dating other men, this time the fulano she is dating isn’t worth her time neither, so she doesn’t blink before she leaves him. I didn’t expect her to have that much agency in a harlequin romance in the 80s. I mean she likes sex. Like, what a fucking concept??? That’s not to say it’s very politically correct either. It has its issues, the hero doesn’t really take no for an answer since he’s an alpha™. And there’s a dub con scene in the middle of the book. This didn’t bother me though, especially considering she’s an alpha too, who does some blackmailing herself no less. One thing though, it’s pretty instalovey, which I didn’t like but it didn’t bothered me towards the end. The pacing in the middle I found very very slow, but the payoff worked for me. Overall, I enjoyed it despite its issues.

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always wonder, reading books with such rape-y heroes, whether I’m the only one who dealt with real-life guys who used all the same “I know what you really want” sort of lines as this yahoo, except the real-life guys were completely wrong about the fact that I “really wanted” to have sex with them. I did experience ambivalence when dating over whether I wanted to commit to the guy and whatever, but I never had the least doubt about whether I wanted to have sex with anyone, and yet so many guys wouldn’t take my word for it, leading to some pretty ugly situations.

This hero drags his lady off to bed while she is still saying ‘no,’ but at least he doesn’t outright enter her until he’s sure she’s okay with it, but, still. He pushes way past the point where a reasonable human being would have accepted her ‘no.’ One of the reasons I didn’t read romances growing up is that I have never found that whole “you know you want it” trope remotely romantic. Nowadays I can look past my own feelings a bit if the heroine feels differently, although of course a lot of them don’t! This one does, though.

Stephanie James is really Jayne Anne Krentz, but the James books all tend to be more shallow, less believable, and full of jerk heroes. But at the same time her heroines have complete trust in the hero and never feel abused, which I appreciate even as I think the lady is crazy. This heroine has more reason to fear the hero than most James’ heroines, but at least when they’re actively having sex the heroine is neither scared nor angry. The Stephanie James books are not all that the JAK books can be, but those I have read still give me what I’m looking for from a romance.

[Connie · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could have done so, I would have rated this book a 0. In no way should an author ever insinuate that physical aggression is OK. The couple in this book started out with the male lead forcing his attraction physically on the female lead and reached the point of near rape in more than one incidence. To lead readers to believe that any act of aggression is OK because it may lead to a sexual connection us just wrong on so many levels. Just because the plot is manipulated so the couple ends up together in the end does not justify the seeds that were planted that it is OK for anyone to commit physical aggression on another person.

Usually I pass my finished books on fir others to enjoy. This one will go in the trash, and I will obviously not choose to read anything from this author again.

[Bona Caballero · Rating 1 out of 5]

Qué cosas veo cuando reviso mis lecturas de hace lustros. Esta novela la leí en 2007, y me pareció el peor libro de Jayne Ann Krentz que hubiera leído jamás. En los años 90 era una de mis autoras favoritas. Y seguí leyendo sus libros en el siglo XXI, bajo sus diferentes nombres. "Esto" es un Silhouette Desire publicado originalmente en 1983 y se nota lo viejuno. York persigue a Selena en busca de venganza, es un tipo tan prepotente que bordea la violencia. No es que muestre el menor interés por Selena como persona, claro que ella es el perfecto felpudo propio de la época. No hacen falta más detalles.

[Debby · Rating 2 out of 5]

York Sutherland is an architect/contractor who's made it from nothing in Pasadena. Selena Caldwell is an art supply store manager. When she starts dating Richard Anderson, a competitor of York's, Selena comes to his attention. He's ruthless, but they're very attracted. He follows her on a vacation to Utah and charms her. She fights him and they both try to control the other. They finally realize it won't work and both determine the other is their top priority. Sort of strange.

[Myrna · Rating 2 out of 5]

A relationship based on a series of power plays...

I love 'hero-in-pursuit' troupe and was anticipating the pleasure of reading this book. The beginning had me hooked. But then it all came to nothing.
I wished I'd enjoyed it more.

[Inès · Rating 3 out of 5]

Les 2 premiers chapitres étaient parfaits, le livre de maniere générale se lit d'une traite. Mais je n'arrive pas à me positionner sur York qui tantôt est rassurant et tantôt un peu psycho sur les bords ... je n'ai pas trop de conclusion personnelle.

[Mara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Appalling

[Tapa in lovezone]

Honestly I don’t know why but I just couldn’t get into this book.
Maybe later.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable, the books are slowly having the hero be less aggressive. I think it's the requirements of the publishers that are letting up.
Second read - As it says on the book covers "No matter what name she writes under, no one does romance better than Jayne Ann Krentz" I would add romantic suspense, Historical, science fiction,etc. She is an excellent writer. Her books flow easily and never get bogged down. I'm a fan of all her books.

[Sylvia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Modern

[Cem73 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Titre vf : Passion des nuits sauvages

[PAINTED BOX]

Sweet Revenge

Enchanting Selena Caldwell tried to escape the seductive grasp of York Sutherland, but he followed her like a jaguar stalking its prey. She was the key to his vowed revenge. By having her, he could destroy his worst enemy, his most heated competitor, a man who had once possessed the wild Selena.

Breathless from his kisses, shaken by passions she had never known before, Selena knew York had won, for now. But the ruthless hunter had finally met his match: a woman determined to triumph in the perilous game of love.