Sandy M’s review of Hotter Than Hell (Hell On Earth, Book 3) by Jackie Kessler
Contemporary Paranormal Romance published by Kensington 1 Aug 08

Well, this is one of those books I have no idea what in hell to do with.  Pun probably intended there. Jackie Kessler is a good author, no doubt about that when it comes to her writing.  What has me struggling is the hero of this book.  I actually hated him almost from page one.  The more I read in those first few chapters, I very  nearly put the book down.  I kept going, though.  Only to be left with one heck of a dilemma.

See, I’m very simplistic when it comes to reading. I’m not a deep thinker when reading romance. If you read my Pondering however many months ago at how I look at reading and grading books, you’ll see what I mean.  I go for a sexy, handsome hero.  That’s the main draw in a book for me besides the romance. The heroine comes in second.  I know most of you like a kick-ass heroine, one who doesn’t whine a lot.  Either is fine with me.  As long as she can bring that hero to his knees by the end of the book, I’m okay with her.  Of course, a good storyline goes without saying.  Hence, that’s why I’m happy with most everything I read and I usually give high grades. (Although I do have my moments once in a while with much lower grades.) [Syb note: no you can’t request who reviews your book]

I don’t read between the lines when devouring a book.  I just want to be taken away in that fantasy world of true mates, love deeper than is imaginable, danger to overcome to bring the characters closer together, some awesome sex/love scenes, all to make me forget about real life for a while. I hear about everyone else’s problems in my job, life is too stressful and full of problems of my own, I don’t have the wherewithal for “realism” in my reading.  I want the true love fantasy every time. If I want deep thinking, I’ll go back to the classics.  Haven’t done that since college and haven’t missed it one damn bit. If I want accurate facts, I’ll read a resource book. I don’t need it in my books and if I don’t get it, doesn’t bother me. It’s all fantasy, for heaven’s sake.

Okay, Daun is a demon. An incubus. One of the top dogs of the Sin of Lust.  He’s supposed to do bad, ugly things.  And he does.  He does them darn well, with complete enthusiasm.  He has no redeeming qualities at all.  Until he meets the “client” his boss has picked out for him in a test to become a Prince, second only to Pan himself. I found that I did eventually sympathize with Daun’s character once his dilemma is thrown at him by the King of Lust. I still didn’t like him very much, however; but I certainly didn’t want him to bite the dust on the whim of someone who relishes languishing in the pits of Hell even more than Daun himself.

He must entice a heaven-bound soul into sin, to burn in hell for eternity.  Virginia is a woman hiding from something, and when Daun thinks he’s got her all figured out, he magics up the facade she should go for and homes in for the kill. To his surprise it doesn’t work.  So he needs help. He goes to a former love, Jezebel, who apparently is in previous books too, for advice. (I kept asking myself if I had read those previous books might it have made reading this one easier if I’d known Daun better.  No idea.)  Unfortunately, Daun still doesn’t really get it after Jezebel’s advice.  Not until much later.

When it all sinks in, though, things begin to change.  Not only for Daun, but for me too.  When he starts to see Virginia as a woman, a person, a human being instead of something to screw to slake his lust, he begins to grow some feelings, the first he’s ever had and something he knows demons don’t do.  I began to grow some like for him.  He’s still not a hero that’s going to make his book sit on my keeper shelf, but he does learn something in his journey of seducing Virginia.  In between all of this, he’s got other Sins coming at him with death in their eyes. He can’t figure out what’s going on and why they want to kill him. It’s the what-won’t-kill-you-will-make-you-stronger thing, according to Pan, which actually works, but not the way the boss thinks.

So I did thaw a little toward Daun when he finally began to change, inside and out. I might have gone even further than that, but then I felt jerked around with the way the book ended. I feel like I wasted my time.  Not because there isn’t the usual HEA, which I would have liked after all the hell I went through to get to the end (pun intended again), but it seemed that so much time was wasted throwing Daun and Virginia together, leading us down a rosy path that wasn’t meant to be; though I do realize we had to go that route for Daun and his attitude adjustment. Which is another reason I’m not sure what to do with this book.  I’m given good reason for things, but those things still stuck in my craw.

In the hands of a lesser writer, I would have graded this book much lower.  However, even though a lot of it isn’t what I’d like to see in my romance, dark or otherwise, I do have to give kudos where it’s due for the finer points of writing and storytelling. But I have a lot of residual ambivalence after the fact. I’m still thinking of doing a take-off of the old “He loves me/He loves me not” routine – I love this book/I hate this book….

Grade: B

Read Gwen’s review.

Summary:

The incubus Daunuan loves his job: seduce a lot of mortals, bring their souls to Hell, party at the best interdimensional pub this side of the Astral Plane. But when the King of Lust makes him an offer he can’t refuse, Daun has to give up all the tricks of his trade to properly befriend—and bed—Virginia Reed, a woman who’s meant for Heaven.

If he can get her to love him for the incubus he really is, and if he can avoid the rogue demons that are hell-bent on destroying him for reasons unknown, Daun will become the First Principal of Lust, second in line to the King. But Daun learns that love is more than a four-letter word, and that maybe, just maybe, demons really do have feelings after all…

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series: