The Bride Hunt of Elk Mountain is a dark southern gothic tale interweaving religion with patriarchal standards as girls fight for the right to decide their own futures.

This was a hauntingly well done book! I am absolutely floored at the amount of representation in it and how well it's done. Each and every scene sucked me into the novel, making me want to learn more and more about this town and what plans they had for the girls during the bride hunt. I really enjoyed how the religious element was both explained and criticized, it wasn't as one-dimensional as I feared it would be and felt very realistic.

There were only a few critiques I had for this book, one of the main being that the scenes sometimes change rapidly between paragraphs. I do wish breaks had been utilized more often rather than just transition words. There are a few minor editing issues I found as well, but I'm sure those will be polished up before the release!

I can't wait to check out more of Lumen Reese's books, The Bride Hunt of Elk Mountain definitely sucked me in and made me want to read more by this author! I think this is a great thriller, despite it's slow moments and minor issues, and is a pleasant read with a satisfying ending!

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing for providing me with a copy for an honest review.

Thank you, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, for allowing me to read The Bride Hunt of Elk Mountain!

Thrilling and horror-ish, The Bride Hunt of Elk Mountain was a quick read a very good one.

Engaging and gripping, I couldn't put it down and read it in almost one sitting. Well written 2with well developed characters.

Some of my favorite books growing up (Out of the Dust, a Tree Grows in Brooklyn), were ones I randomly encountered in the library and just felt like I needed to pick up. This book is the NetGalley equivalent of that. THE BRIDE HUNT OF ELK MOUNTAIN is perfectly dystopian, with deeply lovable characters and fast-moving action (I got approved for this title yesterday afternoon and finished it this morning). In this novel we meet three sisters who are subject to their community's ritual every five years that involves the men and boys of the town literally hunting for their wives--including sweet fourteen year old Nellie. Throughout, we watch the sisters and townsfolk alike wrestle with this barbaric tradition and what it means for their "Winter Catholic" upbringings.

Aside from some minor editing that I'm sure will happen before the book's September pub date (too many commas!!!), it's nearly perfect--though I will say it reads more as YA to me. It is very simply written without sacrificing any personality in its many prominent characters. Though the book is clearly speculative fiction about feminism and religion, it also touches on disability with a deaf and signing character, and has a beautiful f/f love story.

This is a book I'm going to think about for a long time, and while it doesn't appear to be set up for a sequel, I'd love even more of the Marlow girls and their unlikely comrades.

Wow.

I had never heard of this author before before reading this ARC, kindly provided by the publisher and Net Galley.

This has everything I love in a story:

- Religious/political/societal questioning
- Disability Rep/Race Rep/Sexuality Rep
- Gorgeous writing
- An excellent storyline

In this story we follow sisters Nellie, Beck and Lizzie as they discover that they are all being put into the Bride Hunt this year. Five years ago at the last bride hunt, their sister Julia was killed by the man who wanted to claim her simply because she refused him. Adrian, the man in question, was pretty quickly forgiven by the town because it was deemed to be the will of God as Julia refused this "natural selection".

Dan has just returned to Elk Mountain as the announcements are being made. Dan is the man that Julia loved and some on Elk Mountain deem him to be responsible for Julia's death as it was for him that she refused Adrian. We follow the perspectives of Dan and the three sisters through the period from announcement to the bride hunt itself.

What I loved about this though is that as we have a patriarchal society, these girls needed some forward thinking men to support them but this is no white knight scenario, these girls used their own strengths and knowledge to get them through the hunt. Lumen has created well rounded characters who each have their own personalities and motivations, both men and women.

Let's talk about the disability rep in this. The eldest sister Lizzie is deaf and of course this plays a large part in her own motivations and fears about the Bride Hunt. It is always a worry that rep of any kind can become a token gesture and with us having race, sexuality and disability rep in this one story it could well have been. On the other hand it can become all the story is. A good test for me is whether the story would still work and still be compelling if the factor in question (in this case disability) were removed. And in this case, each case of representation just adds a beautiful extra layer to an already brilliant story.

5 stars, I've now purchased 3 more of Lumen's books and just wish this were going to be published physically!

This was a very good story. Kept my interest and read in one sitting. Look forward to more by this author

This was an interesting book. I have to admit, the title is a bit off-putting. It's dystopian and of course, that means that the women in this future US (at least in this mountain town), have little to no rights and yeah, there's a literal bride hunt every 5 years. I feel like the novel could have leaned into it more and made it more sensational and have all the female characters revolt and kick ass and bring it all down. That's not really what happens. It's kind of tepid and not really what I wanted from a dystopian novel about a bride hunt. I don't know. But, the characters seemed well-developed and I stuck with it to the end to see how it all turned out. Just not my cup of tea.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC to review!

3.5 stars!!

I was really pulled in with the story premise and hit request straight away. I really liked this, especially with how things are going in the world right now this would probably be the last thing I'd want to read giving how women's rights are. But! With how this story goes and how the traditions are done really made it an enjoyable read in the sense that I was rooting for the girls every step of the way.

The only thing that let me down was there was a big build up to the hunt, you get somewhat attached to these girls and want them to not have to participate in the hunt but given that they don't have a choice you want them to fight or at least find someone they actually love within the hunt. So, after this big build up and the hunt kicks off, it seems to just end quickly. I was expecting it to be more of a focus of the book along with Griffin's fight, I was hoping to see that lol

As soon as the hunt is done, I thought oh okay, but let's see how things go after, will people just keep to this 'tradition ritual' or break away from it. The aftermath itself is also very quick and over with right away. Again, I thought the aftermath of trying to get these people to stop doing this, to break away from their ritual would take longer since they were so stuck in their ways.

Despite this, I enjoyed reading this and was really pulled in by each of the girls.

The Bride Hunt of Elk Mountain, by Lumen Reese, is a dystopian novel about a hunt that take place every 5 years, in which men hunt for the women who will be their brides, in an event in which almost anything goes. The latest Bride Hunt is coming up, and the last one had tragic consequences that affect all of our main characters.
I adored this book! I think the idea is really cool, I loved the inclusion of Mina and Becks relationship, and couldn’t wait to see what happened with Griffin and the Marlow Girls in the hunt.
I’d recommend this to mature readers who love dystopian fiction.
4/5 ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️