Customer Reviews

Must Love Hellhounds

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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"The Britlingens Go To Hell" by Charlaine Harris. This story is a bit hard to classify. The story involves two female members of an elite Britlingens guard (who appeared briefly as bodyguards in All Together Dead, Sookie Stackhouse book 7) for hire who accept a contract with a thief on a recovery mission to Hell. The setting is a planet in a futuristic alternate dimension. Translation: hovercrafts and time travel portals.

There are a couple historical cameos that pop up inexplicably in an attempt at comic relief; attempt being the operative word there. And Lucifer himself as the villain is more interested in sadomasochism then anything else. The obligatory hellhounds serve as prison guard dogs.

If I hadn't read Charlaine Harris before, this story would probably have kept me from seeking out her other books. This just feels like she phoned it in. The writing is not good, the characters underdeveloped (even for a novella), and the world convoluted and poorly explained. Since I know that Charlaine Harris is a good author, I'm going to dismiss this effort as a fluke.

Sexual Content: references to sadomasochism and male rape. Anatomical sexual incompatibilities.

2 out 5

"Magic Mourns" by Ilona Andrews takes place in the same world as the Kate Daniels series. While Kate is in a few scenes, "Magic Mourns" focuses on Kate's best friend and fellow Knight in the Order of Merciful Aid, Andrea Nash. If you want to read the series chronologically, the order would be:

Magic Bites
Magic Burns
Magic Strikes
Magic Mourns (novella in Must Love Hellhounds Anthology)
I'll admit it up front: I bought this anthology solely to read this story. The Kate Daniels series is hands down one of the best urban fantasy series today. I was a little disappointed when I realized that Kate (and Curran) wouldn't be front and center in this story, but my disappointment didn't make it past the first page.

Of all the stories in this anthology, "Magic Mourns" makes the best use of the hellhound concept using Greek mythology and the most famous hellhound of all: Cerberus. Familiar characters abound here, most notably the werehyena Rafael. He had been pursing Andrea since the previous Kate Daniels book and I loved getting to focus more on that relationship.

I also loved how thoroughly and quickly the complex world of this series and those that inhabit it (Masters of the Dead, The Pack etc) were explained and incorporated into the narrative. Longtime fans and new readers alike should love this edgy, and deeply magical story. And a BIG thank you to Gordon and Ilona for the pretty significant reveal regarding Curran at the end. Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels, book 5) is due May 25, 2010, and for me, the wait just got worse.

*"Magic Mourns" is my pick for best story of the anthology*

Sexual Content: References to rape. Implied sex.

4/5

"Angels' Judgment" by Nalini Singh continues her Guild Hunter Series following Angels' Blood. If your interested in reading this series chronologically the order would be:

Angels' Pawn (e-release, early 2009; this novella is written to stand alone, so it can be read at any stage in the series. Angels' Blood is the first book in the series.)
Angels' Blood
"Angels' Judgment" in the Must Love Hell Hounds anthology
Archangel's Kiss
In her Guild Hunter Series, Nalini Singh capitalizes on the two hottest trends in the urban fantasy genre today: vampires and angels. I know I don't normally associate the two, but Nalini makes it work.

Sara wasn't used to feeling sorry for vampires. Her job, after all, was to bag, tag and transport them back to their masters, the angels. -Angels' Judgment

If you're new to this series, the world building here spins traditional angel mythology completely on its head. Forget everything you learned in Sunday school, these angels are lethal beings of unimaginable power as well as the creators (and masters) of vampires. When a vampire tries to buck the system and go AWOL, Guild Hunters are called in to bag & tag them and drag them back to their angelic masters.

"Angels' Judgment" is a prequel to Angel's Blood and focuses on Elena's best friend, Sara. While on the hunt for a rogue Hunter who has been butchering vampires, Sara teams up with smokin' hot Deacon (aka The Slayer) to stop the killer and survive the `angel sanctioned tests' long enough to become the new Guild Director.

I loved the original angels in this world and the strong, yet still feminine, character of Sara. I'm not usually a fan of a lot of romance in short stories or novellas simply because there aren't a lot of pages available to develop a love story with any credibility. That being said, I thought the relationship between Sara and Deacon had more substance than most. I especially liked the scene where she `protected' him at the club.

For me, anthologies are a great way to try out new authors and possibly get hooked on their writing style. From there, good characters and unique world building will always reel me in, and with "Angels' Judgment," Nalini Singh has caught herself another happy reader.

Sexual Content: One brief non-graphic sex scene, one long semi-graphic sex scene, a scene takes place in a gay club without any description.

3/5

"Blind Spot" by Meljean Brook takes place in the world of her Guardian Series. It is not necessary to have read all the previous books in this series to enjoy "Blind Spot" as each story focuses primarily on a different couple. However, if you want to read the series chronologically, the order would be:

HOT SPELL (anthology) - The Guardians, Prequel Novella
DEMON ANGEL - The Guardians, Book 1
WILD THING (anthology) - The Guardians, Book 1.5
DEMON MOON - The Guardians, Book 2
DEMON NIGHT - The Guardians, Book 3
FIRST BLOOD (anthology) - The Guardians, Book 3.5
DEMON BOUND - The Guardians, Book 4
DEMON FORGED - The Guardians, Book 5
MUST LOVE HELLHOUNDS (anthology) - The Guardians, Book 5.5
Note to my readers: Although MUST LOVE HELLHOUNDS will be published a month before DEMON FORGED, the story in the anthology takes place after the events of DEMON FORGED, and "Blind Spot" contains minor spoilers for Irena and Alejandro's story. I have done my best to keep those spoilers to a minimum, however... -Meljean Brook

Ex CIA operative Maggie Wren (who appeared briefly in Demon Forged) has been working as a `butler' for the vampire Colin Ames-Beaumont (from Demon Moon) when she is sent to rescue his kidnapped niece, Katherine, along with the aid of his nephew, Blake. While not a vampire like his uncle, Blake, though blind, has his own talents that include being able to see through anyone else's eyes. Given the title of this anthology, I'll give you one guess what kind of breed his seeing eye dog is.

Despite having roughly the same amount of pages as the other authors in this anthology, Meljean delivers the best romance of the bunch in "Blind Spot." It drives me nuts in a story when character's stop for `sex breaks' during life or death situations (for example rescuing your sister from her demon kidnapper). Fortunately, while there is a satisfying amount of romantic tension here, both characters have enough self control to put Katherine's life ahead of their own attraction.

I really only had one problem with this story. I would imagine that growing up together, Katherine and Blake would have learned the most effective ways of communicating with each other, given their unique abilities. And I have to think that sign language would have occurred to someone by now. I mean how hard would it be to look at your own hands and even just spell out a message alphabetically?

This was my first time reading Meljean Brooks and I'm now going to have to add myself to her throngs of fans. Her writing, pacing, characters, and world are simply delicious. The next Guardian book, Demon Blood is due out July 6, 2010.

Sexual Content: References to sex.

4/5

Four of my favorite authors: Charlaine Harris, Meljean Brook, Iona Andrews and Nalini Singh all in one book, Yippee! Most of the stories were the perfect kind of connected shorts, ones which explore side characters so as not to take away from the main arc of the authors' popular series but which are still fun fill-ins for these wonderful worlds. If you are a fan of Brook's Guardians, Andrews' Kate Daniel's world, or Singh's Angel series, you are not going to want to miss this one. However if you are only a True Blood/Southern Vampires fan looking for a Sookie fix, you may be disappointed.

[Charlaine Harris' "The Britilingens Go to Hell"] was not at all what I expected, it was more fantasy, and not a Sookie Stackhouse story (apparently though the guards made an appearance in the series - see the comment on my review by Lynda for the details). Two female body guards in an alternate dimension with magic are given the job of escorting a thief back to hell to recover a stolen item he was force to leave behind. - This is the only one of the stories that wasn't a romance all though there is a reference to the heroine `doubling her pleasure and doubling her fun' by taking advantage of the leading man's `special' endowments off screen. The story was okay, but it was basically just a walk-about in Hell, it had almost a MaryJanice Davidson feel. (3 stars)

[Nalini Singh's "Angel's Judgement"] is a romance complete with the promise of a happily ever after. Set before Angels' Blood, we get the backstory for Elena's friend Sara as Sara is on the brink of accepting the job as Guild Director - should she live through the Angels' and vampires' test. Fortunately, using the pretense of aiding Sara in the hunt, for not a vamp but a rogue Guild Hunter, uber dark and sexy Slayer Deacon is on tap as backup. - I have to admit it, I read this one first and I had such high expectations - since I really really liked Angel's Blood - that I liked it when I read it but didn't love it. Unlike Singh's earlier Angel's Blood e-prequel (Angels' Pawn), this prequel doesn't really have the flavor of Angel's Blood. But still this might may be a good thing if you prefer her PsyChangelings, because Singh does write a good short story romance. I liked it better, on the second read with the different expectations. (3.5 stars 1st read, 4 stars on the second)

[Iona Andrews' "Magic Mourns"] was my favorite of the stories, Kate's off recouping from the events of Magic Strikes. Series regulars hyena shifter Raphael and closet hyena beastkin Andrea take a turn in the spotlight, and get a chance at romance while tackling a problem that involves a hellhound, a ghostly shade, some apples and a snake - okay as I mentioned above the short is a nice little carve out from the series. You could live without finding out whether the yummy Raphael and the weapons loving Andrea finally get their hook-up, but why would you want to? This story really has the flavor of the series and does such a good job of weaving in the mythical elements and of course the romance. (5 stars)

[MelJean Brook's "Blind Spot] - Former CIA operative Maggie (a bit player in Demon Forged) finally thought that she had a place to belong with her job as guard and trouble shooter to Savi and Colin (Demon Moon), but a ghost from her past presents a possible conflict of loyalties in Maggie's hunt for a missing woman. Blind hero Blake seems an unlikely ally to help Maggie find his kidnapped sister - but then again Blake is more than he seems. Maggie's going to need Blake's special talents and a hellhound with a sense of humor, to make the right choices - I have to admit that I have a soft spot for Brook's Guardian series, I just love her heroes, and Blake is a good one. Brook also does a good job with the relationship between Maggie and Blake by setting up a pre-existing connection on Blake's part and, instead of rushing to bring the romance to completion, leaving us with a promise of a HEA for Maggie and Blake. (4.5 stars)

SYNOPSIS:
In this book you will find four stories which actually fit the title of this anthology. That's a huge plus all by itself.

Charlaine Harris, "The Britlingens Go to Hell", 80 pages
Two bodyguards from the Britlingen Collective are chosen for the duty of taking a client to retrieve an item he left.....in Hell. These two bodyguards are absolutely the best at what they do, so figuring out how to escape their prison cells shouldn't be too much of a problem for these women. The hellhounds who are guarding them have very different ideas.

Nalini Singh, "Angels' Judgment", 92 pages
Guild Hunters have a very specific job, hunt down runaway vampires and return them to their Masters. Those Masters just happen to be angels and in exchange for making a person immortal the new vampire owes their master 100 years of service. Someone is out there decapitating the undead as they try to run out on their contracts. It looks like a Hunter has gone rogue. Unfortunately Lucy the hellhound's master is suspected of being the hunter gone bad.

Ilona Andrews, "Magic Mourns", 90 pages
Andrea Nash is trying her best to fill in for Kate Daniels while Kate recuperates from her latest stressful case. Unfortunately everybody who calls in wants to talk to Kate. When Andrea gets a call telling her about a hound straight out of hell as big as a house she loads up with all the weapons she can carry to go find out what it is all about. Raphael, the werehyena who really, really wants Andrea to be his girlfriend needs for her to help him find the dead body of his mother's mate. Did this hound steal the body? Why would Cerberus, the hound from Hell, want to steal the body of Alex Doulos, a Greek pagan?

Meljean Brook, "Blind Spot: A Guardian Novella", 91 pages
After leaving the CIA Maggie Wren has taken a job as butler in the home of vampire Colin Ames-Beaumont. When word comes that Mr. Ames-Beaumont's niece Katherine has been kidnapped Maggie boards a plane for New York City with Sir Pup, the hellhound, to meet Geoffrey Blake, Katherine's brother. Nothing in his dossier had prepared her for the fact that Geoffrey is blind or for the even more unusual facts which are about to be revealed about Geoff and Kathrine.

OPINION:
These are four truly excellent stories. Well written and well plotted so that the hellhound element is contained within each story as a very natural, vital aspect of the activity that takes place. The idea to have these four authors write stories which showed both the good and the bad sides of these hounds was really a stroke of genius. Each of the stories is entirely different. They all go in completely different directions and so the book never became boring or tiresome for me. Usually there is one particular story in an anthology which entertains me the most but this time I would be hard pressed to chose only one favorite. Plus the authors kept very light touches in the stories, allowing the humor to show through in order to keep things from getting gruesome and too overwhelmingly dark. Have you ever thought about Narcissus flirting with the Devil? Well neither had I but that character was hilarious. My personal favorite was drawing with a Sharpie on the face of a sleeping werehyena who was considered by the ladies as really hot stuff. I chuckled over that one for a long time.

RECOMMENDATION:
Yes. Absolutely. Go buy this book and enjoy four great stories from four super talented writers. I loved it!

I love the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, which is why I purchased this anthology. That story alone would have been worth the price of the book. But what surprised me is that I also enjoyed all of the other stories. In other anthologies, I've often found that some of the stories were good while others weren't so much. It was great to find a collection that I liked all of them.

1. The best of the bunch, the Ilona Andrews tale is focused on Andrea and Raphael, Kate's friends. Occurring in the time period between books three and four, we see their relationship develop and their fight against Cerebus a giant hellhound to return Rafael's step dad's body to his mother for burial. It was a great read. You can read it standalone, but it's better to read the first three Kate Daniels books first because there are some things talked about that you just won't get without the back story. Also, important for Kate Daniels fans, YOU LEARN A KEY THING ABOUT CURRAN AT THE END OF THE STORY THAT IS NOT MENTIONED IN THE EARLIER THREE BOOKS. I can't wait for book four, so this short story was nice to help pass the time.

2. My second favorite, the Nalini Singh story was part of her new Guild Hunters series. I loved the first book of the series Angels Blood; I liked it even better than her Psy-changeling series. This story was focused on Sara and Deacon's relationship and occurs just before Sara takes the Director position. Sara plays a role as Elena's BFF and boss in Angels Blood. Provides a good back story to Angels Blood.

3. The Meljean Brook tale focused on Maggie, a former CIA agent who is working for
Colin and Savi (who we met in Demon Angel and Demon Moon). She works with Blake and Sir Pup to help find his sister who has been kidnapped. Like Brook's other stories, this one was well-written and engrossing.

4. The Charlaine Harris story was a surprise. I expected Sookie Sackhouse (which I like), instead it was more of a fantasy story about bodyguards helping a theif get into hell to steal something from Lucifer. An entertaining little read, but not quite what I expected.

No better way to make this short story more special than to receive it from the authors themselves!! I'll certainly cherish the copy! Ilona Andrews rocks!

But that aside, I will review as objectively as possible. Magic Mourns is a short story included in the Must Love Hellhounds anthology that shifts the focus from Kate Daniels to her best friend, Andrea Nash. She's been handling Kate's affairs at her office until she gets a call to investigate a weird three-headed dog that seems to be running free. It turns out it's a Hellhound (well, at least the title of this book isn't false advertising!) She goes to investigate only to run into Raphael, the werehyena who is hopelessly in love with her. Coincidence Coincidence. They end up working together to do away with the fiery canine as well as the adversary that has summoned him.

I really appreciate how the authors were able to inject the full effect of the Kate Daniels world in a few pages, while using few familiar characters. There was a lot of action and suspense packed into such a little story, and it was nice seeing the use of tech (Andrea prefers guns while Kate prefers her magical slayer sword). The descriptions were also really well done. I ended up reading this *after* I read the fourth book because there is an obvious major plot development when it comes to Raphael and Andrea that is explained in this book. It's a short and fun read, and definitely worth your time if you're a Kate Daniels fan. Andrea has one of the funniest scenes of the whole series in the 4th book, launching her onto my "favorite heroines list," so I was happy to have a novella with her own personal development and back story.

The only reason I've taken off a star is because I wish it were longer. Andrea is a character that's interesting enough to have her own spin-off. I could also just be a greedy fan that will take any of the Kate Daniels world that I can get.

I was disappointed in all of these stories. Not one captured my undivided attention nor kept my interest. I kept waiting for more but never got it. I don't recommend this book, suggest you pass it up and spend your money on something that you can sink your teeth into.

Must Love Hellhounds is an anthology that includes novellas from four authors, starring minor characters in their larger series. Each story also includes some sort of hellhound and an introduction into the worlds that each author has created.

The stories begin with Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series. Batanya and Clovache, of the Britlingens, who are hired bodyguards from a different dimension, star in this story. In the series, we saw them most notably as they valiantly saved the Vampire King of Kentucky from a hotel bombing in the book All Together Dead. Tricked into going to hell so that a thief can recover an artifact he stole and hid from Lucifer, Batanya and Clovache must guard him with their lives.

Next, we delve into the world of the Guild Hunter Series by Nalini Singh. Here we follow the story of Sara Haziz, Vampire Guild Director and friend to the usual main character Elena Deveraux. This story tells the tale of how Sara met her partner, Deacon and became the director. In this novella, Archangels rule the world, and decide to test Sara on her abilities and loyalty. To prove both, she must find a traitor in the guild that is killing vampires that the Angels have made, and neutralize them.

Third, we follow writing team Ilona Andrews and their Kate Daniels series. In this story Kate Daniels is out from work on medical leave, so her shift is covered by friend Andrea Nash. It's not so quiet for Andrea, who must find out why Cerberus, the three headed dog and protector of Hades is thrashing around the city. To do so, she must partner with Rafael, a man she has been trying to stay away from rather than confront secrets about who she is and what she wants. Together, they must set the balance of life and death back to its rightful place.

We end the anthology with Meljean Brooks' Guardian Series. Maggie Wren has been given a task by her employer: find his niece and punish the people that have abducted her. Aided by her employer's blind nephew and a hellhound, Maggie sets off to do just that. But as she gets closer to the truth of the kidnapping, she becomes more certain that she knows the captor personally. She must face her past in a way she has avoided in order to save the girl and get her home safely.

One of the things that surprised me about the book was how thrown-together the actual topic was. One would think, by looking at the cover and reading the title, that all the stories would be united in having stories that centered on hellhounds. However, not only were the hellhounds more often than not irrelevant to the story, they seemed tacked on for the most part. The most obvious exception is the Ilona Andrew's story Magic Mourns. In fact, it was distinctly out of place in that you could not have the same intact storyline without Cerberus. In every other story, you could have taken out the hellhound, or made it a normal dog, with no real repercussions to the plot. This baffled me, as I grew up on the Sword and Sorceress anthologies, and I don't think that Marion Zimmer Bradley would have allowed anything in those novels unless it dealt with the subject at hand. Not that I minded overmuch, I'm not too enthralled with the actual subject and I liked the stories. (Maybe if it had been hellcats?) But if someone was going to cobble together this anthology, wouldn't a more apt title be, Must Love Sidekicks? I know I do love sidekicks! I always want to know more about them! And then no one would have had to force these authors to shovel in a character that didn't belong to the story.

What I did take away from this anthology was that there were three more series that I would be interested in taking a look at. Besides the hellhound angle, I found all of these characters quite engaging. Ilona Andrews' story still haunts me, because there is so much to the back story of that character, and I imagine the author(s) could write an entire series on Andrea Nash once they were done with the current Kate Daniels series. In fact, I was impressed with how all the authors could distill their visibly thought out worlds and dimensions and present them so clearly in a rather limited amount of space. That kind of tight writing leads to books that will be enjoyable too. Although I have only been in the Sookie Stackhouse world, this book gave me an appetite to try these other stories and characters.

Let's not leave out the romantic aspects as well! I'm a big sucker for romantic fantasies, and three out of the four stories did not disappoint on that front. Most of the book was slathered in unresolved sexual tension, which just makes everything even more interesting to me. How will these crazy kids make it work? The only story that didn't do it for me in that regard was Charlaine Harris' The Britlingens Go To Hell. At the end of the story, when two characters got together, I was left scratching my head over the motivation.

As I stated before, this book is like the hors d'oeuvres to the main course. I suspect that the point of this anthology is to give audiences a preview of these authors and their fantasy series, in order to hook more readers. If that's the case, consider me hooked!

(This review is cross posted on [...]

It is hard to go wrong buying an anthology with the authors Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews and Meljean Brook. As the title promises, each story features hellhounds in one way or another.


The Britlingens Go to Hell - Charlaine Harris

Batanya and Clovache are bodyguards hired by a thief named Crick to help him retrieve a conjuring ball that he lost in Hell. Crick has stolen this conjuring ball from Lucifer, and in his haste to leave, he misplaced it. He needs the ball back because he was commissioned to steal it and if he doesn't produce the item to his client he will be killed. Of course his chances of surviving his trip into Hell are not that great either - but that is why he hired Batanya and Clovache.

This was my least favorite story in the anthology. I was confused about the type of world the story was being told in. I know it is a short story and you have to jump into the action quickly, but I would have liked a bit more description of the rules of the world. Crick, Batanya and Clovache have some witty dialogue between them and the story itself of going into Hell and trying to steal from Lucifer was engaging. I did have to roll my eyes at who was imprisoned in Hell, lost in time travel. I won't say who it is , but it seemed a little hokey to me. The hellhounds show up in Hell as a type of prison guard. Overall, this story just gets an ok from me.

Angels' Judgement - Nalini Singh

Set in the same world as her first book in the Guild Hunter's series, Angels' Blood, this is the story of Sarah and Deacon. It takes place before Angels' Blood. Sarah is still a hunter, one who brings in vampires who have fled their angel masters. She has been offered the head position of The Guild, and not all the archangels are thrilled to see a change in leadership. While she ponders her decision, the current head of The Guild, Simon, who is seeking retirement, sends Deacon, the slayer, to watch over her. Simon knows she may be tested and there is also a hunter going around killing vampires. Deacon can hunt the rogue and keep an eye on Sarah at the same time. Sarah is no pushover however. She wants in on the hunt, and Deacon soon realizes she has everything it takes to be the next Guild Director.

I loved Angels' Blood and was very excited to get back to that world again. Although we don't get to see a lot of the angels or vampires in this story, we get a very hot romance between Deacon and Sarah. Deacon is all bad ass and scary, and very attracted to Sarah. Sarah doesn't think a relationship will work out between them - how can she be hoity-toity Guild Director while dating the very secretive slayer? She decides to jump in for a fling, but finds it very hard to let go. I have a new favorite saying now too - Sarah may not be getting much sleep with Deacon around but she is "amped up on happy hormones." LOL. I love happy hormones! A great story with lots of action and steamy romance - really enjoyed it.

Magic Mourns - Ilona Andrews

This was my favorite in the book. This story takes place shortly after the latest Kate Daniels book, Magic Strikes (A must read series - trust Smexy). Kate is recovering from injuries, and Curran is doing his self-imposed punishment of hard labor. This story is told in Andrea's POV. Andrea is Kate's co-worker and best friend. Andrea is also a hyena shifter, and another hyena shifter, Raphael has been trying to woo her for awhile now. Raphael is known as a bouda, and will hump any female in sight. But his attraction to Andrea is far different - more serious and mature. He has been trying to prove that to her but it is hard for Andrea to see through his past. Someone close to Raphael dies and his body goes missing. When Andrea first runs into Raphael in this story, he is being chased by a hellhound as big as a house - a big house. They soon learn their may be a connection to the missing body.

I loved getting Andrea's POV! She is such a great character - not quite as sarcastic as Kate, but she knows how to handle herself and has the confidence that Kate also exudes. She likes to use big guns too...I always like a heroine that loves weapons ;) She does her best to try to stop the advances from Raphael although deep down she knows he is being sincere. One of my favorite quotes from her as she is looking at Raphael:

If I weren't a trained professional, I'd have fainted from the sheer overload of his badassness.
Raphael is a lethal killer and the combination of him and Andrea's skill are no match for what they face. However he is a bouda, and bouda males prefer the beta role. Andrea is a natural alpha, giving orders, taking the lead. I find that fascinating in this couple. A fun role reversal. I loved this story and can't wait for more from this world.

Blind Spot - Meljean Brook

I have a confession - this is my first Meljean brook book. *hangs head in shame* I have her Guardians series in my tbr, but just haven't gotten to them yet. *ducks rotten tomato* I really enjoyed this story though and I am looking forward to reading more from her. Although I believe there are references to previous works and characters in this story, it read well on its own.

Maggie Wren, with hellhound Sir Pup, arrives in New York to retrieve Geoffrey Blake and find his missing sister. Much to Maggie's surprise, she finds Geoff is blind, but he is not completely helpless. With the help of Sir Pup and some other hidden talents, he can make it on his own quite well. Someone from Maggie's past comes up in the hunt for Geoff's sister, and the question of whether she can be trusted comes into play. Maggie's employer, who is also Geoff's uncle looms in the background, ready to strike if an allegiance goes astray. Maggie, Geoff and Sir Pup must quickly find Geoff's sister and find trust in one another.

I really enjoyed this story - I immediately liked Maggie. She is ex-CIA, tough and independent. She takes her job very seriously. Even though this was a short story, much of her past was talked about which really helped see where she was coming from. Geoff was a little bit more of a mystery to me. He is definitely sexy and sure of himself, but not overly alpha which I liked. And while there was romance, it was more of a promise of something in the future then an immediate conclusion. Which just means I will really have to start this series now. My favorite part:

[...]he saw darkness. He heard the scrape of her chair. Warm lips pressed hard against his. Her fingers raked through his hair. His shocked inhalation brought her into him. Christ, she smelled incredible. Tasted like heaven. He wanted more, wanted to see her, too.

That's hot.

Must Love Hellhounds was a very enjoyable read, a nice fix until further novels come out.

Must Love Hellhounds is an anthology with four new adventures by the four great authors. First, in The Britlingens Go to Hell by Charlaine Harris, Clovache and Batanya have to follow their charge they have just been hired to protect into Hell to steal one of Lucifer's toys. Following that is Angels' Judgment, written by Nalini Singh, where Sara Hasiz has to find a traitor who's killing vampires. With the help of a hunkie stranger named Deacon.

Then in Magic Mourns, thanks to Ilona Andrews, we meet a three-headed dog that guards the gates to Hades and why he's suddenly appearing, hunting for something - or someone. And last, there is Blind Spot, written by Meljean Brook, where a vampire's butler is in search of her employer's niece, with the help of a blind, sexy man, and of course, a hellhound!

These four amazing stories have one feature in common - hellhounds! And I enjoyed every single one. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of anthologies, I always want more but these four stories left me nicely satisfied and I loved Must Love Hellhounds. While I really enjoyed reading all four, there were two that I just absolutely loved, Angels' Judgment and Magic Mourns. Angels' Judgment is a prequel to Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh and I loved reading about Sara and Deacon and how they met. These two characters rocked and I'm so looking forward to more of Ms. Singh's new Guild series. And I liked Lucy, too! In Magic Mourns, the plot focuses on Andrea and Raphael, but our beloved Kate Daniels makes an appearance, sort of.

It was nice to read an extension to Sookie's world in The Britlingens Go to Hell, those bodyguards are pretty cool. And Blind Spot was just really the perfect end to a wonderful book. Overall, I had a blast reading Must Love Hellhounds, an anthology about four devilish dogs, featuring awesome characters and great romance!

When I read this book I had only read books by two of the four authors.
I promptly went out and bought everything I could find by the other two.
All four stories were full of interesting characters and plots, and they all involved hellhounds. (Two of which made this reader feel like running out to find one to adopt.)
The thing I liked most about all four books, was that I didn't have to wade through page after page of explicit sex and torture scenes. Somehow all four writers managed to include adventure, fantasy and romance without offending the senses.
Good plots, good characters, good writing, what more can you ask?