Back on June 16th, 2026, I was contacted by Braise Orion out of the blue, I suspect from LinkedIn. In her blind email she made me aware of an “online reading club” called Hunt Down We Read (HDWR) and indicated that my book, “Short Stories About a Tall Woman – Remembering Genevieve, had been “steadily gaining traction among independent literary circles” on their platform. According to Braise, their platform (https://hunt-down.lovable.app) boasts about 700 readers with almost 200 being active each month. Each quarter these readers are “challenged” to read specific books and provide their feedback and Braise suggested my book would be perfect for this endeavor. I would, of course, receive all reader feedback. I even got a certificate to put on my social media.
To make a long story shorter, over the next few weeks we conversed via email (Braise could not make or receive calls – just not part of their “business model” I was informed. As I researched the platform and the co-founders, of which Braise was one, I found it hard to get anything of substance. That said, and being skeptical, I did agree to pay $207.00 to have my book be part of the next challenge. The money was to cover and admin/set up costs. I knew this was a risk but went with it anyway. At this time I provided a professionally produced 9-minute video introducing the book to share with the HDWR community.
I fully expected to see my book put forward as a challenge for Q3 but that did not immediately happen. After numerous attempts to reach Braise, she informed me that she had a medical emergency and apologized for the miss. She did assure me that it would be in the challenge in the next day or so. She then went on to say that folks that had watched the video suggested a companion piece would be advantageous to the readers. Braise could help me put something together for an additional fee. It should be noted that the video is exactly that – a companion piece. It should also be noted that no one in the community, at this point in time, had indicated that they had read the book.
Braise continued to encourage me to add another companion piece but I declined stating that I would consider it ONLY after I received input from actual readers.
Here is why I shorten this story even more. The book was entered in the challenge and, as agreed, I waited 30+ days for reader feedback.
Nothing. Add to this Braise completely ghosted me and no one else from HDWR ever tried to contact me. Event over! Interaction stopped, even after numerous attempts by me to reconnect.
Conclusion: Well, it cost me $207 which isn’t the greatest, but not the worst either. I honestly believe this HDWR is an AI operation. I don’t think it is that sophisticated or successful, although it did get $207 out of me.
As an author and being on LinkedIn I am regularly approached by folks wishing to help me with the book. To date, no one that has contacted me has ever read the book but know they can help me…..at a cost. I even had one person tell me that he was very interested in helping me as my book was aimed at an “underserved demographic” that demographic being “tall women.” Seriously, tall women! I worked in direct marketing for years and we used extremely fine segmentation strategies, but I cannot recall tall women ever being one of them.
Anyway, final word on HDWR – buyer beware!
