The Witch Hunter

The Witch Hunter Saga #1

by Nicole R. Taylor

Alternate cover edition of ASIN B00BOXS8TC

Zachary Degaud was twenty three when he died. The problem was, he didn't stay that way.

Present day, he's just another vampire with another unremarkable story. That is, until he manages to provoke a two thousand year old witch named Katrin, who wants to make him pay in the most horrible way imagined.

Along with his brother Sam, newly made vampire Liz and their only witch ally, Gabby, his only chance for survival is to summon the ancient and unpredictable vampire known as the Witch Hunter.

Zac is just looking for a way out of his psychopathic witch problems, but instead will find himself falling head first into a blood feud that has stretched thousands of years.

Aya has been asleep for the past 150 years, until she was awoken by a haunting call. The witch she has been hunting for thousands of years, Katrin, has resurfaced and marked a young, annoyingly arrogant vampire by the name of Zachary Degaud. Unless she does something, he will die a slow and painful death. He has given her an opportunity to end the witch, but does she want to help him or leave him to his fate? Zac will get under her skin like no one else has and she just might find herself making the ultimate sacrifice before he is gone forever.

They will both have to choose sides and look deep within themselves before the end. But, what Zac learns about himself, will surprise him most of all.

Genres: Paranormal, Fantasy, Vampires, Urban Fantasy, Witches, Romance, Ebooks

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 20, 2013

About the author

Nicole R. Taylor is an Australian Urban Fantasy author.
She lives in the western suburbs of Melbourne dreaming up nail biting stories featuring bad-ass witches, duplicitous vampires, hunky shape shifters and devious monsters.
She likes chocolate, cat memes and video games.
When she’s not writing, she likes to think of what she’s writing next.


AVAILABLE SERIES:
The Witch Hunter Saga (Urban Fantasy) Series Complete!
The Crescent Witch Chronicles (Urban Fantasy) Series Complete!
The Arondight Codex (Urban Fantasy)

And more coming soon!


Find out more about Nicole and her books by visiting:
https://www.nicolertaylorwrites.com

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Reviews

[The Phoenix · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. It's about an ancient witch who has decided to try and kill a vampire for killing one of her vampires. And the summoning of the witch hunter and all her abilities and secrets.

I had attempted to read this one awhile back, but couldn't get into it. Decided to give it another try. It didn't interest me enough to want to read the next book in the series.

[Bitsy Vontrapp · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unreadable. Extremely poor grammar, characters copied straight out of the Vampire Diaries books, down to the tempers of the Salvatore brothers and generally horrid storytelling.

[Darcey]

DNF @ 40%

I just honestly couldn't be bothered. The writing style irritated me, and I couldn't feel the personalities that the characters were supposed to have.

Life is too short for bad books.

[Sheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Witch Hunter by Nicole R. Taylor is the story of four friends, Zac, Sam, Liz, and Gabby, who happen to be three vampires and a witch. Zac has a knack for getting himself into trouble and dragging his friends along with him. After Gabby calls on Aya, the Witch Hunter, for help getting Zac out of some trouble, things really get interesting.

As for the characters, my favorite was…Zac. Yes, I know he's kind of a jerk sometimes, but…hey, who doesn't like the bad boy? Sam is way too goody-goody for my taste, and Liz and him fit together perfectly. I also really like Gabby. She was not so sure of herself at the beginning of the story, but she was definitely finding her place towards the end. Aya, of course, was pretty awesome. I love a girl who can kick some butt.

There was a lot going on in this book. Vampires, witches, werewolves, you name it! Add them all together, and you have a fun, action packed story.

I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

[J.C. Cauthon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried. Dear God, I tried. I picked this book up and read a chapter and put it down so many times that I honestly almost finished it by giving up on it so many times.

Other than the names and the Aya character, there really is not an original thought in this book. If you want to not read this book, just go watch the first season or two of The Vampire Diaries, and you'll get the gist of the plot for the novel. It was the exact same to me.

Sam = Stefan, Liz = Elaina, Zac = Damon, and Gabby = Bonnie, Alastir = Klaus. There you go, in a nut shell. The first chapter is so verbatim from the television show that I almost screamed out "Plagiarism!" the first time I started reading it.

Two guys that died in the Civil War era - yep, Vampire Diaries.
Girl that was human, now a vampire, caught in the middle = yep, vampire diaries
Daylight rings for sun block = yep, Vampire Diaries
Witch still learning her powers = vampire diaries
werewolf/vampire feud = Vampire Diaries
Really old vampire dude = yep, Vampire Diaries
Witch can stop vampires by making their brain cells explode = yeh, Bonnie did it first.

I could not read the drivel for more than ten pages at a time, and I would just go turn on The Vampire Diaries instead.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars Hmmm... I can't decide whether I'm mad enough about that cliffhanger to go down to three stars. I am assuming it's a cliffhanger and not an ending or that would just be bullshit. I am OK with some open ended books when you know it's gonna be a trilogy or whatever because there should be an overarching plot throughout the series, but... this is a little much. Seriously?!? You're going to kill the main effen character! UHG, I'm sure Aya will be fine but I can't say I'm not annoyed.

Anyway, lets talk about the rest of the story. I did like it. Something about the jumping between 5 different characters (and a few extras here and there), although off-putting at first, worked because it was more well-rounded. And I could enjoy the story for itself while still disliking people. Liz was annoying, for example. Sam and Gabby were kinda... meh. And Zac really was was a selfish, immature prick. But it worked, and I would have like to see where things could have gone once he started coming around, but I guess I'll have to wait till the next book for that. And I know he was kind of an ass, but they were all kind of assholes to him (especially the girls) and I had a hard time figuring out if they were even friends. He could be a jerk but I wish they developed a little more of a relationship between him and the others, but maybe that was the point?

A few details that bothered me. I'm OK with Aya adapting quickly, especially with strong powers of observation and reading a lot. But screw reading, unless she crammed in hours of television and movies her language skills would not have been so blatantly 21st century in just a few days. And I just felt like they wasted a lot of time at the end during the big climax. I didn't get a huge sense of urgency. Gabby went to talk to her parents and wasted time even though they knew it probably wouldn't work, and even though Liz compelled them to forget she didn't even double check and ask them the info they went there for?! And I just didn't feel like they investigated all their options thoroughly they did the scrying, fine, but why couldn't they just summon her back?! Aya had been summoned away, they had the grimore now.? So I just wish they had explained a little more.

But definitely a good urban fantasy with some different ideas that I haven't seen before. There was a lot left unanswered why dies Zac's "blood sing to her"? but I assume more will be revealed throughout the series and, for the most part, I'm OK with that. Will be keeping an eye out for number 2.

Book provided for free from the author in exchange for an honest, unbiased review, as a part of R2R (read to review) in Lovers Of Paranormal Group. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Nickcole · Rating 5 out of 5]

I luckily received this book as a R2R from the Lovers of Paranormal Group

Stars: 5

Overall: What a nice and different take on the paranormal world. I really liked that the story felt very real and the situations seemed believable. I also really liked the relationships between all the characters, most of the conversations were either really witty and funny or stop and make you think deeper into the story to find the hidden meaning. The story had me gripping my kindle, not wanting to put it down because of all the action and forbidden "romance". My favorite character was Gabby, i can't wait to see where the story takes her on this crazy adventure. I highly recommend this book and this would be a good book to see turned into a movie.

Characters: Sam ; Liz ; Zac ; Alex ; Gabby & Aya

Page Turner: Once Aya wakes up the fun begins!! Yes!

Series Cont: It better!!

Recommend: Oh Yeah!!

Side Note: It was really refreshing reading about an ass kicking heroine that beats the shit out of the bad guys and takes names later. She's an AMAZING character and it would be fun to see what she would look like in a comic or something like that.

[Krissy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave up less than halfway through. A reviewer on the B&N site likened this to Vampire Diaries fanfiction, and I can totally see it...like the gang after the original book series, where Elena has officially chosen Stefan, and now I suppose we try to get Damon a girl of his own? Enter the "witch hunter." It's not a bad idea, it just takes too long to get anywhere, IMO. I mean this witch shows up and goes to Zac, 'you killed my child. You are soooo dead, you and your little friends!' But then...I don't know. A bunch of scenes where the characters hang out? Zac argues with Aya, Zac's friends apologize for him and try to act like her new girlfriends. Rinse, repeat. I just thought, how nice of this pissed off witch ghost to wait until Aya settles in before making good on her threat. I was bored, I moved on.

[Carrie (Book Fairy) Fort · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fabulous. It had the normal Paranormal that I LOVE plus some new paranormal that I hope to read more of!
Aya is what I will a super Vampire! I loved her character she is tough, sassy, and so powerful.
Zac and Sam are brother who are like night and day. Lizzie is the girl who both brothers love but, Sam is with.
Gabby is the witch of the story, and Alex is the human friend who finds put about them!! Then there is the evil witch Katrin who ugh I hated her instantly.
I was so into this book I looked at clock and it was 2:30 in the morning.
Vampires, werewolves, witches, and super Vampire LOVED IT!!!

I was given copy of book by author for an honest review

[Erth · Rating 4 out of 5]

now i am hooked. This was such a great, easy and creative book. i was hooked after the first page.

The characters were easy to fall in love with and follow, along with the story. the author made the mental visions so easy and vivid of the surroundings and the characters actions felt so real.

i would highly recommend this author and this book.

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been reading through the books in Paranormal 13, a free book that I downloaded with 13 stories from various authors.

Does this sound familiar? Two vampire brothers, one a good boy and the other a bad boy, in love with the same girl. The girl’s best friend is a witch and they all live in a small Southern town.
Ding-Ding-Ding! Yep, Vampire Diaries! But this book wasn’t Vampire Diaries; it was a copycat rip-off. It was so much like Vampire Diaries that I thought, “This must have been the book that Vampire Diaries tv series was based off of because nobody would be so lame as to write a book that is almost exactly the same, would they?” so I looked it up. And no, the series was based off of books called The Vampire Diaries. The first book was published in 1991. This book was published in 2013 so it definitely was the copycat.

The author even used the words that are trademark Vampire Diary words like “compel” and “founding” which just made the copycatting more blatant. Then there was the rings, spelled by a witch, that allows them walk in the sunlight which is also something that was original to Vampire Diaries, at least, in all my hundreds of paranormal books that I have read, I have never seen that used…until now. These similarities cannot be coincidence. I guess they can be but I think this author couldn’t come up with her own story so she just copied another story.

I’ll give you a summary and you can judge for yourselves.

Zachary and Sam Degaud died and became vampires during the Civil War. Sam has always been the good brother, trying to keep Zac out of trouble but Zac always seems to find it anyway. A few years ago, they moved back to their hometown and into the mansion that was once owned by their family during the Civil War.

Sam works as a gardener but Zac sits around drinking heavily every day. He feels he doesn’t have to work since they are rich. They met a girl named Liz who they both had feelings for even though Zac is too much of a bad boy to admit it. A year ago, a vampire attacked Liz and turned her. Sam found her in the woods and thought she was dead but when she woke up, he knew she was a vampire. He helped her through it and they have been together ever since. But Zac secretly pines for her.
They all can walk around in the daylight because they found a witch who spelled some rings to allow them to stand the sun.

Liz’s best friend is Gabrielle, a witch who is just discovering her powers. She grew up not knowing that she was a witch but always knew something was strange about herself. She found a note from her Grandmother who she calls “Grams” (sound familiar?) and a grimoire in the attic of her parent’s home when she was moving out into her own apartment. She remembers her grandmother ran away when Gabby was around 10 years old because her grandfather wanted to commit her to a mental hospital. Now, she wants to find her grandmother to help her with her magic.

Liz and Gabby also have another childhood friend named Alex but he is just a regular human and has no idea that Liz, Zac and Sam are vampires and Gabby is a witch. He is a gardener just like Sam.
Liz and Sam don’t like feeding off people so they feed off animals in the woods. While they are hunting one day, a pack of werewolves in human form harass them and tell them to stay off their land but it isn’t really their land. They just don’t like vampires and are trying to make encroach on their town.

They all hang out at the bar a lot. While at the bar one day, an unknown vampire approaches Zac and asks him if he has seen a dark haired female vampire. Zac knows that vampires think you are lying if you look away from them and even though he has not seen this dark haired vampire, he looks away from the ancient vampire anyway. Zac is an ass and just looks for trouble, not caring about the consequences. So this vampire, Alistair, gets angry and doesn’t believe Zac. They end up going into the woods and fighting. Zac kills the vampire even though he’s faster and stronger because he is a lot older. A witch named Katrin appears out of nowhere and tells Zac that she will get revenge on him by hurting everyone he cares about and then she disappears.

Come to find out, this witch is actually a ghost witch with a lot of power. She is one of the five “founding’ witches who betrayed the other four “founding’ witches because she wanted more power by creating the “founding” vampires. Gabby tells her friends that she has a spell in her grimoire that can call someone called “The Witch Hunter” so they do the spell using Zac’s blood. He’s just the one who offered since Gabby couldn’t use her own for some reason.

Aya is the witch hunter. She wakes up in a cave near Zac and Sam’s hometown after being asleep since the Civil War. She is over 2,000 years old and is a vampire but she is more than just a vampire. She has abilities that no other vampire has like she can enter people’s homes without being invited, she can ingest silver and garlic and she can rip apart people with very little effort. Her eyes also turn white when she is upset. The author tries to make her mysterious and badass. She wakes up and compels people into giving her clothes and food and whatever else she needs to live. She amazingly gets up to speed on what has happened in the world while she has been asleep by going to a bookstore and reading about it.

I have to say that Aya was the only original character in the story. She has embraced the fact that she is cold and has lost touch with her “humanity” but she has enough control to be able to blend in with regular people when she has to. Aya is the only redeeming quality to this book, not that I really liked her that much but because she is the only thing in the book that is original.
She agrees to help the group of friends with their Katrin problem, more because Katrin is also threatening her than because she wants to help out of the goodness of her own heart.

I’m not going to give away the ending of the book but it is a bit of a shocker and a cliffhanger. Now, I know it is a recurring them in the books of Paranormal 13. Every single book that I have finished is a cliffhanger.

I think if I had never watched Vampire Diaries, I would have liked this book but since I have watched it and since this book is almost a duplicate with the names changed and minor differences, I can’t like it. This author needs to come up with her own story and stop copying someone else.

www.paranormalromanceslut.com

[Nola Arganbright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Good

This is a good story. I enjoyed the complete personalities of the characters and the depth of the story. A good plot and descriptive wriing.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got through a little over a quarter of this book, but I just couldn't do it. It's just so poorly constructed and lazily put together. For starters, it seems there are 5 main characters that seem to be the focus of this book plus the witch after Zac, all of which seem to be pretty poorly put together (though with Aya, this might be because she was only just introduced, so I'll forgive that one). Zac and Sam are the two original vampires in this group who later come across Liz dead and already turned and teach her how to become a vampire. Later, the three of them meet Gabby, and then when Zack pisses off the wrong witch, they summon Aya.

Zac, the primary main character is a complete asshole and seems to have the maturity of a 13 year old teenage boy, despite being 147 years old. This, to me anyway, seems like it would be incredibly unlikely because you'd think after 147 years, he'd have learned not to be such an idiot and insult vampires who are older and more powerful than him for no particular reason. While he admitted that the first fight they had was his fault, he goes back because he believes this vampire is a threat to him and his brother and their "blending" in with this town. Now before I go any further, I think we should stop and think about this idea of "blending" because the way it is introduced in this book make absolutely no sense at all. For starters, if "blending" is such a priority, then why during the entire say 27% of the book I have read haven't any of the characters had even a single conversation with a human. You'd think being a part of human life would be an essential part of "blending" wouldn't you? I mean, it is mentioned that his brother, Sam, has a job as a gardener, but come on, that's it?! That's what you call blending?! Secondly even if blending really is a priority, what makes you think that this vampire would have been a threat to it? He was only there in the first place because he was looking for someone, and held back from hurting Zac at first despite the unwarranted taunts. It wasn't until Zac went back that the vampire hurt him. Thirdly, if blending is a threat with this guy, then how the hell is going back and insulting him some more, and then going back once again to kill him due to a hurt ego supposed to help with this supposed blending? Quite frankly, I think Zac deserves to die a slow and painful death from this witch, and if she hadn't have threatened is family and friends as well, I'd be right with her.
Now, as for the other characters, there doesn't seem to be much character development at all. Taylor seems to have put the minimal effort into explaining what the hell the character is doing there and that's about it. Take Gabby for example: We know that she's a witch and how she came about her powers and met Sam, Gabby and Liz, but according to the book there seems to be a hatred between witches and vampires, but her only explanation about how she became friends with them is:

"It took her a while to trust the vampire brothers, being their mortal enemy and all. She quickly came to realize that they were different, despite all their faults."

That's it? No explanation for why she trusts them or how they're different?
Or Sam and Liz for example, who we pretty much know nothing about other than that Sam is a gardener and how they found Liz, and that Sam and Liz are apparently together.

Another problem I have with the book are some of the errors with continuity. In the beginning of the book, it is mentioned that most vampires they come across are older than them. However, later in the book they say that they haven't met many vampires older than them.

I'm sure there would have been many more complaints had I continued to read this book, but because of the lack of explanations for the characters, I failed to gain any interest of compassion for these characters that might compel me to read further. I hope Zac dies, but considering that this is a recently published fantasy book that seems to be following the recent trend for vampires, it's more likely that he lives and becomes the hero and falls in love with Aya. Don't waste your money buying this book.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Note - This is a vampire/magic story.
*Note #2 - Has rather major and profuse amounts of swearing in it. Lots of "F-Bombs", assholes, etc. I'm not a massive fan of derogatory language, so that was a bit of a downer.
*Note #3 - I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.



I really enjoyed this story, I loved the characters and imagination that was put into it, and that cliff-hanger at the end was a cannot-believe-the-author-did-that moment. The end was deadly, effective, and has me guaranteed to read the second book.
At the start, however, it was REALLY slow. To be honest, the only reasons I kept reading was because it was free, an R2R and because it had gotten good reviews so far. So, I kept going.
I am SO glad I did.
After the first few chapters, the story really picked up. As soon as Aya (who, BTW, is an awesome character, and I won't say much more ;D) entered the scene, the story just took off. It was like I had been riding on a tortoise, and then suddenly found myself upon a race-horse going at a flat-out sprint.

The characters

Zac - I found that although he was all asshole-ish and I'm-too-cool-for-you, I could really understand him.
I'm probably the only reader who's said that.
It's just, I've met guys like him, who are all tough and reserved and suspicious, but it's only because they've either never been given a chance, or they're not sure how to give themselves a chance. I felt really sorry for him. I was really glad when he woke up and figured out he loved Aya :) Even happier when she loved him back :)

Aya - God, did I love her. By far my favourite character in the book. Such a bad-ass, responsible, duty-driven gal she is. Was, technically. She was such an awesome gal. I loved her independence, her strength, her instinct of right and wrong, her ability to tell people for who they are. I love her :)

Sam - He's alright, I suppose, Didn't get a really good feel of him, much. Has a nice caring personality though, from what I can tell.

Liz - At one point, I wanted to punch her. I know she's all insecure about being a "new" vampire and all that, but seriously woman, get some sense into that undead head of yours.
She had a very shallow character, but maybe that will be built upon in the following books. I won't say why I have the impulse to punch her, but read "The Witch Hunter" and all shall be revealed ;)

Gabby - Liked her well enough, but same as Sam, couldn't get a good grip on her personality. She seemed loyal and caring, if a little uncertain and vulnerable when it came to her witch powers.

Alex - An epic, human gardener. Notice the "human" inserted there. Human, not a vampire, not a witch/wizard (whatever) but human. A human completely oblivious to the supernatural world.
But, a pretty damn good human none-the-less.


Overall, it was an enjoyable read. It lost it's final star from the rather boring start, but that might just be me. But, on the plus side, I'm pretty sure this is the first Read-to-Review book that I have given more than three stars. So, Ms. Taylor, take that as a compliment :)

I recommend this book to anyone looking for a fairly good supernatural read, and someone who isn't afraid or repelled by common swearing.

:)

[Alicia Batista (Addicted Readers) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this in exchange for my honest opinion. Everything you are about to read is my full and honest opinion about the book!

Oh, Wow! That's how this book left me feeling! It was AMAZING! I really enjoyed every minute of this book! This new and AMAZING author has created a story unlike anything I have EVER read! Truly epic!


Okay, So here's the Plot....

The newly turn Vampire Zac is celebrating his 117th birthday at a bar drinking it up like usual (Which 117 years isn't old for being a vampire) when he is approached from a older vampire that demands information about a woman with black hair blues eyes. But Zac being the hard-ass that he is tells him pretty much to go fu*k himself! Well that piss the older and stronger vampire off. And not only does he piss the vampire off, but he also manges to piss a very old and powerful Witch named Katrin off as well! The powerful Witch vowels to give Zac a very slow and painful death!

So now with Zac having some very powerful enemy's he has nothing else to do but to turn to his own newly developed Witch named Gabby. But Gabby can only think of one thing to do. Summons the Witch Hunter! And that is where this book gets good!

Aya being the one known as the Witch Hunter has been in a slummber for 150 years. But when the call comes she is awakened out of her sleep. She must find the ones who called her and why. She is the hunter but that don't stop others from hunting her as well. So Aya is unsure if this hunting call is a
setup from the ones she was hunting before her sleep. She must decide if Zac is worth saving or if she should leave him to his own demise.


The writing is unique and very well written. It flowed from chapter to chapter was ease and understanding. Everything fit well in the story and was very believable. I really liked the characters. I especially like Zac and Aya. They were my favorite. Zac was the arrogant, know it all type of guy, but it fit well with who he was! And Aya was just amazing! I loved her SO MUCH! She was the harcore type of chic that could overcome just about anything. While being the strong tough girl that she is, she also has a very large heart that she just learns how to use when she meets her new friends!

Great book to a new series! The ending BLOW ME AWAY!!!! We have a serious cliffhanger that will have you wanting to scream! But will have you longing for more!

Overall its worth 4 Solid stars, maybe even more! I am Eager to see what Nicole has in-store for the coming series. I know it's going to be great, like this one!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to thank the author for giving me this book in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb for this book made it sound really exciting. Vampires, witches, a curse, what more could you want. Sam and Zac have been vampires since the Civil War, and the last few years they have returned to their original home in Ashburton. Zac is very impulsive and arrogant, while Sam is kind and rational. So it makes sense that Zac is the one finding and causing trouble. After a run in with an old vampire named Alistair, the trouble just keeps on coming. Zac finds himself cursed by a witch caught in the inbetween named Katrin. Now with the help of their witch friend, Gabby, they must try calling the witch hunter, Aya. This leads to more adventures with werewolves, more vampires, and even a few more witches. And a lot of blood:)

I found this story to be full of action. There was a little romance. And a lot of swearing. I consider this one more of an adult novel. I also found it to be a lot like Vampire Diaries. Maybe too much like it, which makes it perfect for fans of the books and show. Most of the story I could predict where it was going and wasn't surprised at anything, until the very end. The last page gives a big surprise that does have me wanting to read the next book to see if it is what we are led to believe or not. Killer cliffhanger. Overall I think this was a good first start to a series, and the author holds a lot of promise for the future.

Review can be found at www.enthralledbybooks.blogspot.com

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really wanna read the second one. Recommended for vampire lovers

[Stefanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abandoned at 5%. A whole lot of telling, no showing. Taylor has no concept of pacing or character development or natural human speech.

[Emily Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 20% for me 😕
To the other reviews that said it's exactly like the Vampire Diaries ... I can't now unsee it and I just cannot enjoy this one. This was my second and last attempt.

[Sharon Mariampillai · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read. I thought this book had potential, but the execution of the plot was lacking. I thought the characters were okay. I did not really enjoy them, but I also did not hate them. The story dragged a bit, and was boring at times. I had to put it down a few times because I was starting to lose interest. It was written in third person, and in alternating POVs. It made the story hard to follow. The ending was a cliffhanger. I will continue the series to find out what happens in the next book. I hope it is better than this book. Overall, an okay read.

[Crystal Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reminds me of the vampire dairies. And even the ones to follow have elements that are the same. It was still a good read but I stopped watching Vampire Dairies because of the constant drama and backstabbing. I don't think I'm going to finish this saga.

[Marsha · Rating 1 out of 5]

What is a story and characters without a soul? Words! In a nutshell, that is my review of "The Witch Hunter." This book had so much potential but fell flat due to poor editing, a lack of emotions, a a group of bland characters that quite frankly I cared nothing at. I really wanted to like this book but it just didn't do anything for me.

Zac is a vampire who has just killed another vamp. His brother is none too pleased especially considering how powerful the vamp was but Zach is arrogant and unapologetic. When he is visited by the ghost of an ancient vampire, Katrin, he is not feeling so confident. So, he enlists the aid of his witch friend and call upon the ancient witch Hunter, Aya, for assistance.

When Aya is awakened from her 150 year slumber she chooses not to reveal herself to those who have called upon her until she has had a chance to check them out. Then, st realizes her summoner is an annoying vampire named Zac. Sound promising? Unfortunately, the bland characters and uninspired story that follows just doesn't provide for a good read. Around 40% into the storyline, I didn't think I would be able to finish it. How could something with so much promise go so badly wrong? Well, it did.

Clearly this is not a series I will be following and it is a shame. However, in the end I just didn't care about the characters or the story.

[Annika · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off, I'd like to say that the cover totally got to me. It's gorgeous, isn't it?
Okay, moving on to the story:
Wow. Just wow.
The minute I saw this book, I just knew I had to read it. It wasn't just the cover that appealed to me; it was the summary too.
So I went a bit cuckoo for cocoa puffs on my search for this book and then gave up. Then, like maybe a few weeks later, I look back to this and I'm back to my nonstop demand for this book.
It's safe to say I literally screamed with joy when I finally got to read The Witch Hunter.
Nicole R. Taylor knows how to write one hell of a story and this was just exotic! Every single part of the story wrapped its way around my heart and I'm captivated with it for life.

Now, do I recommend this book? To anyone and anyone at all? Hell to the yeah.
This book should be cased in the finest glass of the finest museum in the finest world.
That kinda overdid it, huh?
Yeah, I'm kinda borderline obsessing over here.

Well, I guess it's time for me to go to sleep (I stayed up way too long to finish this mind boggling book).
Now I get to go dream about it in my sleep. ;)

[Angelica · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I'm reading the story, I'm getting this familiar feeling with the plots and characters with actuallu a lot of vampire/ paranormal stories especially TVD..brothers..one is good one is bad (somewhat)..in love with the same girl..get it? Thought it was a crazy remix of stephan-elena-damon love story..well luckily for me I didn't get bored and got to the part of the story with the aya-zac angle..which makes it really interesting if you ask me..i guess you cant really create a whole new set of fiction about vampires and witches anymore so the challenge when creating this kind of story is to really produce a great plot. I loveeeee..the cliff hanger at the end of the story...it makes me want to read the next one which for me as a reader is a success to the writer if that's one feels after reading the first one..especially if its a saga like this one.

I can't just seem to find an available copy online of book 2 which is annoying but I shall try again! Haha

Good luck to me! And hopefully I got to read it soon since I'm really excited to know what happens with Zac and Aya. Hopefully she's still alive..

[Eren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the author for an honest review.

This book was very different than the fantasy/paranormal books I've read, and I liked that. I loved the characters, in their own unique way. I think a lot of the time, authors make characters you've seen (or read) before. Not here. Ms. Taylor really knows how to make a cast, and damn did she do a good job.

The story itself was fun. It was never boring and had just the right amount of action and suspense, mind you, except for the ending. CRAP WHAT AN ENDING! I'm not a fan of cliffhangers. I've openly stated this before. Most of the time they piss me off. Ms. Taylor did great with the ending. The characters were very outspoken with their language and I loved that. My issue here, and it's not that big, was Zac. I just could not bring myself to like him. I think his "I'm gonna be a smartass and talk back" attitude got to me.

This was a great read and I highly recommend it.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quartet of strange friends are the heart and soul of this tale. Two brothers Zac and Sam, who are vampires and are 150 years old.. Gabby a witch who does not know how to use her powers. Liz, who is a newly turned vampire, helps to round out this gang of friends. Zac who is the oldest of the two brothers has a hot head and always getting himself in some type of trouble. Zac has gone to far this time! He has an ancient witch who wants to see him dead. Zac convinces Gabby to look in her book of spells for something to help him with his witch problem. Gabby finds a spell that will conjure up a witch hunter. The witch hunter name is Aya and she is 2,000 years old. Aya has been asleep for 150 years and is not happy to be summoned by Gabby. Aya is a mystery through out most of the book. Only in the end does she let her guard down to help her friends.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I must say that this book kept you on the edge of your seat. I cannot wait to read The Return, the second book in the series.

Initially, I was a little thrown off by how quickly you delve into everything without knowing more about the characters. However, the deeper you go and discover, the more you settle in and begin to bond with the characters.

I read this book in less than a day, I simply couldn't put it down. When the end came, it actually startled me because I didn't want it to end yet! I definitely look forward to reading more!

*This book was provided freely by the author of my honest opinion.*

[tony hinchcliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Game of Thrones with vampires

Just as GoT kills its heroes, so it would seem does this Author, the most interesting character bites the dust

[Mcf1nder_sk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always on the hunt for the next new author to follow, I discovered this series by Nicole Taylor. This is the first book in the series, and it follows Zac and Sam, brothers who were turned into vampires during the American Civil War. When Zac gets on the wrong side of Katrin, one of the original founding witches, he gets Gabby, a friend of his who happens to also be a witch, to cast a spell to awaken The Witch Hunter. This is supposedly a vampire whose sole purpose is to kill witches who use their magic for ill.
.
This seems like an interesting premise for a supernatural series. There are vampires, witches and werewolves, so what's not to like? Taylor has created a world of magic right under our human noses, and has developed characters that the reader can care about. Granted, some of them are real a**holes, but others are rather sympathetic figures. The story itself is slow at points, but creating the basis of a series, that can be overlooked. The editing and proofreading could have been better before release, with more misspellings than I would have liked. Overall, not a bad start to a promising storyline.
.
My Rating: 3.75/5

[Meche · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo disfruté, la protagonista es bastante poderosa, inteligente y sensata lo cual hace de ella un personaje bastante entretenido y se deja querer. Los demás personajes no pueden ser tan rescatables, principalmente Zac, el cual nunca hace nada q merezca q lo quieran tanto y Liz, la cual es una niña llorona q es demasiado inocente para ser una vampira.
El libro trata de Zac metiéndose en problemas y matando a un vampiro, lo q termina en él siendo maldito por una bruja. Llama a una caza brujas para q lo ayude, que termina siendo Aya, que les pasa el salvando el culo cada tres segundos porque ellos no se pueden defender de nada y a cada rato la critican.
Por alguna razón el libro intenta hacer un triangulo amoroso al inicio, lo cual sonaba bien xq la protagonista no estaba involucrada, pero luego Liz se beso con Zac y se arrepiente, entonces la autora como q se sintió mal y le dio un romance con Aya super estúpido y para nada desarrollado.
La trama es interesante y lo que más es rescatable es Aya y la personalidad de "me vale lo q uds piensen, yo tengo dos mil años, puedo hacer lo q see me venga en gana" La amo