Meljean Brook
Must Love Hellhounds (2009)
Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook
I picked up this anthology solely because I saw Ilona Andrews had a story in it. Charlaine Harris also usually writes decent short stories, but not always. But I figured, I like everything I’ve read by Ilona Andrews, and there should be at least one other decent story in there, so it’s worth it.
The book opens with Charlaine Harris story, “The Britlingens Go to Hell.” First off, this is not a Sookie story, which I liked, because I think authors need to branch out if they’ve been writing a lot of a single characters. Unfortunately, the story felt a bit uneven to me. The world building was not as good as I expect for a story set in a work that is very much not our own. There were plenty of nice touches, but overall it felt like it needed a bit more polishing before being released into the wild.
Two mercenaries are hired to act as bodyguard for a man who needs to go to Hell. I particularly liked the mercenaries/bodyguards. They were rough and strong and no nonsense. And Hell had the potential to be an interesting place–once I made sense of it. I also liked the surprise characters who appeared halfway through the story. I thought that was a nice touch.
What can I say about the second story, “Angels’ Judgment”? By the second page of the first chapter (I found the prologue interesting) I felt like cheezy porno music should be playing in the background. The story was little but “OMG HE IS SO HAWT!” “OMG SHE IS SO HAWT!” “MUST BOINK!” and random bits of plot thrown in here and there as a break from the boinking. It was obvious from the second page that the characters would have sex. I just didn’t realize that the story would be like listening to the brain of a 16 year old male, with sex coming up every thirty seconds. What made it all the more frustrating was that there was almost no explanation of the relationship between vampires and angels, which made the story even less believable. OK, angels make vampires. Because why? Who knows! Probably so they can have sex if the rest of the story was anything to go by.
Third was Ilona Andrews’s story “Magic Mourns” set in the same world as her Kate Daniels books, but featuring Kate’s fellow knight Andrea, and the were Raphael. Kate is still recovering from her misadventures in the last book, so in the meantime Andrea is taking her calls, and ends up heading out when someone calls in to report a dog as big as a house chasing a were. There were a lot of things I really liked about this story. First, I liked that we got to learn more about two important but secondary characters in the series. Second, Ilona Andrews did a very good job with the world building–I think she did a better job in this novella actually than she did in the first Kate Daniels book. There’s not much detail about why things are the way they are, but there are succinct explanations of how things are.
The final story, “Blind Spot” by Miljean Brook, I liked, though not as well as “Magic Mourns.” Maggie has been sent by her boss to “rescue” Geoff Blake, who had been attempting to rescue his sister, but had instead been caught by the demon who had kidnapped his sister. The world building was good in this story, which is good because the characters and their abilities are complex. Although I have to admit that Sir Pup is my favorite of the lot of them. The story is interesting, as is the discovery of the different characters and their pasts. I looked up some of her other books, and their listed as paranormal romances, so although I enjoyed “Blind Spot” very much, I’m not sure about reading a romance series–with boinking. We’ll see.
Rating: 7/10
Under Her Skin (2009)
with Jeaniene Frost and Ilona Andrews
So, this was the first full book I read on the Nook. I love Ilona Andrews and also really like Jeaniene Frost, so I figured I couldn’t go too wrong for three bucks. These are three short paranormal romances, focusing on shape shifters, but also with strong female leads.
The first story is “Pack” by Jeaniene Frost. Marlee is hiking in Yellowstone when she is attacked by a pack of wolves–werewolves of course, as these are paranormal stories. She is rescued and given medical treatment, but they pack refuses to let her go, aware that she may have become infected during the attack. She also finds herself falling for the man she sees as one of her captors–the pack enforcer named Daniel who claims she would be a threat to her friends and family if she returned home infected and undiagnosed, but also a threat to the pack if she returned and told people there was a pack of werewolves hiding in all but plain sight.
I like Jeaniene Frost’s writing, and so thoroughly enjoyed the story.
The second story is “In Sheep’s Clothing” by Meljean Brook. Emma is attacked driving through a storm on the way to her aunt’s house. When her friend and rescuer–the local sheriff arrives–she seems unharmed but understandably shaken up by the attack. This story and the first focus on the time right after a mere mortal is bitten by a were and the changes that manifest almost immediately. What I particularly liked was that Emma was NOT too stupid to live, but instead did everything she could to save herself. I like heroines like that. There were other things like liked about the story (hard to talk too much about a short story without giving everything away) but over all, it was for me the weakest story in the collection. This was also the only story that had boinking. Are those two facts related? Probably.
The final story–and the reason I bought the collection–was Ilona Andrews’ story “Grace of Small Magics.” None of the characters are were-wolves, so this story has quite a different feel from the previous too, as there are no familiar elements upon which to hang these characters and this world.
Grace discovers her family is indebted to another family, and that she is required to help this family perform a magical service of some sort, though she knows nothing about the family or what service she could possible provide. This story was the action/adventure/quest tale, and once I realized there wasn’t going to be a werewolf and once I paid more attention to the world building, I very much enjoyed the story. Again, strong female lead who does her part in rescuing herself. Always a favorite.
Yes, these are three relatively short stories, but the stories by Jeaniene Frost and Ilona Andrews were definitely worth the price of admission.
Only drawback about these stories is you can only get them in ebook format.
Rating: 8/10
Anthologies: Under Her Skin (2009), Must Love Hellhounds (2009)
Meljean Brook's website
