Must Love Hellhounds

Well. If any book I have bought in the last year looked so promising, it was this one. Novellas by four of the best writers in the urban fantasy/paranormal romance genres all in one book?!? Holy cow. I finally took that deep breath and dived in a few days ago.

First up: "The Britlingens Go to Hell" by Charlaine Harris. I love almost everything this wonderful woman writes (I couldn't get into her Aurora Teagarden series) so I was sure this was going to be a winner. Surprisingly I found it to be the weakest of the four. Certainly I was disappointed it didn't have anything to do with Sookie, Harper, or even Lily Bard. The Britlingens are bodyguards from a different Earth dimension. Clovache and Batanya, both women, are hired to escort their client to Hell and back so that he can steal a magical artifact from Lucifer. Taking a tour through Hell doesn't sound very fun but they did meet some interesting people. It didn't have the usual Charlaine Harris "feel" to me. B-

The best of the bunch IMHO, "Angels' Judgment" by Nalini Singh, fleshes out the story about Sara and Deacon and is set before Angel's Blood. Sara is the director of the Guild in Angel's Blood but this shows Sara as a hunter, Deacon as the Director's assassin, and how they meet. They are sent to figure out with Hunter has gone rogue and is murdering other Hunters. Needless to say, they figure it out, take care of business, and fall in love. Elena makes a cameo appearance in this nice little romance. A

"Magic Mourns" by Ilona Andrews pairs up Kate's hyena shifter friend Raphael and Andrea, Kate's replacement at work and hyena beastkin, a hyena-human hybrid that is not welcome in most shifter societies. Raphael and Andrea have a connection and while Raphael has been pursuing her without success, Andrea wants him. BAD. This was a great part of this anthology; it had the feel of its series, an interesting storyline, an even more interesting romance, and a giant hellhound. All-in-all, awesome. A

Last but not least, "Blind Spot" by Meljean Brook. I have a bad habit of reading Meljean's series out-of-order and this story is no exception: I have read up through Demon Night plus the short story in First Blood. This story is set after Demon Forged, the last novel published in the series, so I wasn't familiar with Maggie, Colin's new Winters. He has sent her to NY to find Geoff Blake, his nephew. Geoff is blind (sort of) and works as a troubleshooter for Ramsdell Pharmaceuticals. Geoff and his sister has gone missing and someone from Maggie's past is responsible. Armed with Sir Pup, Maggie sets off to find Geoff and finds love instead. Aw. I liked this one alot but being somewhat lost in a story where the only main character I am familiar with is Sir Pup took some of the shine off of it but I'll like anything she writes so that didn't matter :) A