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:

Gwen’s review of Hotter Than Hell (Hell On Earth, Book 3) by Jackie Kessler
Paranormal fiction/urban fantasy released by Kensington 29 Jul 08

This book is compellingly grim and I really didn’t want to like it. I’m very conflicted about the world it embodies. Technically, the writing is very proficient. Thematically, the book hits on all my “I don’t know about this” buttons. This is the second of this series I’ve read, the first being a short story in Eternal Lover (reviewed here). Let me get the technical bits of the review out of the way first, then I’ll tell you how I felt about the book and why it’s still a Grade A book to me in spite of all my internal conflict.

HtH is told in first person from the hero’s viewpoint. His name is Daunuan – presumably pronounced “Don-wahn” with all intendant double-entendres. Daun is a very believable character with some incredible depth, for an Incubus (a demon male who seduces and takes his victims to hell once they’ve compromised their souls). The internal and external dialogue are all male – Kessler has done a magnificent job keeping the “female” out of his head. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been.

The overall story arc is Daun’s struggle with himself and his obsession with a former succubus, Jezebel (a.k.a. Jessie Harris). He doesn’t know it, or admit to it (because, hello, demon here), but he’s madly in love with Jezebel. Through his adventures in this book, he finds some shreds of “humanity” in himself and comes to realize just what “love” is and it only makes him stronger, contrary to what he always thought as a demon. The evolution of this epiphany is actually painful to read and really grabs you by the throat, so to speak.

The book’s plot twists and character machinations are sincerely Machiavellian. Kessler does an incredible job making our anti-hero a little nutso trying to figure out who the hell (heh) is trying to kill him and why. I was left guessing the whole time and loved it.

Daun is complete anti-hero goodness, in my opinion. He’s a very unsympathetic character that I sympathized with. He was darkly fascinating to me. The task set out for him to complete and be promoted, or don’t complete and be killed, was something I didn’t WANT him to succeed in and yet found myself cheering him on. And here is where we come into my ambivalence about this book.

First some background to help you understand my dithering. I grew up in a church-going house – you know the drill: church three times a week, Sunday school, Vacation Bible School in the summer, church softball, church youth groups, etc. It’s been a couple a lot of years since I parked my rear-end in a pew, but that kind of early training doesn’t go away.

Even with this history, I have read a lot of paranormal with all the accompanying vampires, demons, and other dark creatures. I am able to enjoy these books because they’re patently fantasy. As I read HtH, I increasingly wasn’t able to make that distinction – its fantasy is too “real” and I don’t know whether that is a good thing.

What the book IS NOT is a book for the faint of heart. What this book is is something that hit my “I don’t know about this” button many times and made me suck it down fast, in the dark, before anyone could see me reading it. Once I was done, I felt a little “tainted” and dirty. But damn (heh) if it wasn’t very, very good.

There is no HEA in this book – it’s very “urban fantasy” that way. I mean, perhaps a demon’s version of HEA but not one we would call HEA. I can recommend this to anyone who is a fan of Kessler, the series, or simply paranormal fiction. It stands alone from the other Hell On Earth series books. If you want a read that makes you think, drags you over the coals (heh), and leaves you satisfied if not terribly happy, then this is the book for you.

Grade: A-

Summary:

From the author’s site:
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…

From Amazon.com:
In HELL’S BELLES and THE ROAD TO HELL, Jackie Kessler brought readers into an unforgettable Underworld populated by alluring demons and sexy devils. Now Daunuan, the most irresistible incubus of all, is facing one Hell of a challenge…

So whose soul do you have to damn to get a promotion around here?

Daunuan was never the ambitious type. There’s so much to love about his job just the way it is–mind-blowing sexual prowess, the power to seduce any human, excellent dental plan. But now Pan, the King of Lust, has offered to make Daun his right-hand incubus–a position other demons would give their left horn for. All he has to do is entice a soul destined for heaven into a damnable act of lust. Should take, oh, seven minutes, tops.

Then he meets his target, Virginia Reed. She’s cute. Funny. Smart. Unfathomably resistant to his charms. He can’t understand it. But Daun has centuries of seduction to his credit. He’s the best there is. Sooner or later he’ll transform this polar icecap of a female into a pool of molten desire, and every instinct tells him she’ll be worth the effort.

Meanwhile, he has to deal with a plague of rogue demons Hell-bent on taking him down, sent by an unknown enemy with a serious grudge. And one other problem: the dawning realization that he’s falling in love–that unholiest of four-letter words–with the woman he’s about to doom for all eternity…

Read an excerpt (scroll down).

Other books in the series:

Liviania’s review of Hotter Than Hell by Tanya Huff, Marjorie M. Liu, Cheyenne McCray, L.A. Banks, Susan Krinard, Keri Arthur, Heidi Betts, Lilith Saintcrow, Susan Sizemore, Denise Little, Carrie Vaughn, Linda Winstead Jones, and Kim Harrison
Urban fantasy/paranormal romance anthology released by Harper 24 June 08

With Hotter than Hell, HarperCollins goes in a somewhat different direction from their previous Hell anthologies. These are erotic short stories rather than novellas. It’s worth picking up if you’re very fond of one of the authors or wish to experience several of the authors’ work before buying their series. While all of the stories are well-written and none are truly awful, many of the stories are forgettable or unsatisfying.

Music Hath Charms by Tanya Huff

Bedford Entertainment music executive Ali wants to sign the band NoMan before her longtime, more corporate rivals from Vital Records. But there’s more at stake than money, because NoMan’s frontmen possess a power that manifests in their music. This urban fantasy story is one of the best in the anthology, but some readers may be uncomfortable with the content. There are orgies, menage, and gay and bisexual characters.

Grade: B+

Minotaur in Stone by Marjorie M. Liu

Liu is an author that constantly almost wows me. She explores various intriguing themes in Minotaur in Stone and describes everything with beautiful imagery. However, the tantalizing short story is hampered by a sketchy heroine. Too little is known about her to really fall into her mind – her past is hinted at but never partially explained (which could explain, in turn, some of the story elements) and the description of her is so thin she doesn’t even have a name. It’s a sharp contrast to the detail given to the Minotaur’s story, especially given that this is her story.

Grade: C+

Demon Lover by Cheyenne McCray

Aedan the incubus comes to women at night, leaving them unsatisfied until they offer their souls to him. Now he has fallen in love with his latest victim Ericka. McCray is competent, but the story lacks originality.

Grade: C

Equinox by L. A. Banks

I’ve tried many times to enjoy Banks’ Vampire Hunter series, but never could. I didn’t expect to like this story, especially because it uses one of my least favorite set-ups. (Woman remains virgin for a long time and decides to give it up almost instantly upon meeting the right man.) Therefore I was very surprised to discover that this is my favorite story of the anthology. Greek goddess Artemis returns to present-day Earth, horrified by what humans are doing to the environment. As she and her nymphs teach various CEOs a lesson, the government dispatches a group of soldiers to stop the ecoterrorists. But Vincent and his men are about to discover something very strange. It’s slightly trippy but oh-so-good.

Grade: A-

Ride A Dark Horse by Susan Krinard

While recovering from her divorce on a ranch, Catalina literally meets the man from her dreams. But why is Andrés so interested? Ride A Dark Horse has a good atmosphere, slightly spooky and very Western. The heroine is a bit too willing to wander about unfamiliar woods at night, but it’s a decent story.

Grade: C

To Die For by Keri Arthur

Grace Rioli and Ethan Garrison, a wolf shifter and a werewolf, are dispatched to a small town to solve the murder of a couple of adolescent boys. It’s a good mystery until the author suddenly points out a flaw in the logic used to reach the solution at the end. It weakens the story and might not have if considered earlier by the characters.

Grade: B-

Curse of the Dragon’s Tears by Heidi Betts

Laura Tomescu dreams of the man her grandmother cursed. Now she has gone to Dougal McKay’s castle to free him. The story draws some of its inspiration from the Beauty and the Beast tale. Another enjoyable but largely forgettable entry.

Grade: C-

Brother’s Keeper by Lilith Saintcrow

Selene receives a call from Danny, her brother, that sends her running to his side only to find him murdered. Saintcrow quickly develops interesting characters and background, but then she drops the ball. There’s no resolution to the romance or to the mystery. Brother’s Keeper reads like the first chapters of a novel, not like a short story. Where’s the rest?

Grade: C-

(Like A) Virgin of the Spring by Susan Sizemore and Denise Little

Time travel, psychics, and the Matter of Britain all in one short story. Psychic Ginger’s team got lost in the past, but Bern’s team has come to the rescue. (Like A) Virgin of the Spring starts slow, but has some neat ideas and it’s fun to play spot-the-Arthurian-reference. Might not be for those who don’t have at least a cursory knowledge of the Matter of Britain.

Grade: C

Life is the Teacher by Carrie Vaughn

This story is the only one I completely forgot. The second time I read it I had to get several pages in before I remembered anything about it. Emma is a new vampire adjusting to her way of life as she encounters old boyfriend Chris. Vaughn’s writing is fine but the story is too slight, even for a short. I’m already forgetting Emma and her world again.

Grade: C-

Dirty Magic by Kim Harrison

I love Kim Harrison’s novels, but her novellas and short stories are far weaker. Dirty Magic follows Mia, a banshee (similar to a psychic vampire in the story), as she visits old lover Tom and seeks energy for her daughter. The ending has a nice twist that makes me like the story, but it could fit much better tonally.

Grade: B-

Overall grade: C

The Summary:

Beyond the boundaries of the everyday is an unseen realm where anything you imagine is possible. Your demon lover is waiting for you in the shadows, ready to fulfill your secret wishes and most dangerous fantasies. Here passion has a face and form both titillating and terrifying—and love has teeth and claws. Get ready to give in to your craving for something exquisitely dark . . . and different.

Hotter Than Hell gathers together a baker’s dozen of today’s boldest and best authors of supernatural fiction and paranormal romance in a breathtaking anthology that blends black magic with red-hot desire. From the tantalizing tale of a conflicted psychic vampire driven by a powerful, savage love to the strange saga of a Greek warrior woman battling to save the world, these are stories outside the limits, as hypnotic as the full moon . . . and hotter than the sun.