March 30, 2012

Review: Hellbound by Berinn Rae



March 30, 2012

Title: Hellbound

Author: Berinn Rae

Series: Guardians of the Seven Seals #2

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
Release Date: March 27th, 2012


ISBN 13: 9781937254438
ASIN: B007P49IP2
Format: eBook/Trade Paperback
Pages: 230
Source: ARC from Author


Author Contact:    Website | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads


Rating: 4 Bad Boys – Really Enjoyed It!!!!
Reviewer: Kat


Author Summary
Everyone has monsters under the bed...
The Seven Seals are said to be all that stands between humanity’s survival and the end of days. Led by a reclusive angel, the Seven are immortals, enhanced by the marks they bear. After centuries of bloodshed, the Seven and their Guardians have brought down the nefarious Dominion. But the world isn’t safe yet. Now, a rogue hellhound is building an army to claim the Seven Seals for himself.

But what if you're one of them?
In one night, Lana Wolfe’s life was destroyed and she was reborn a walking nightmare. A year later, she dedicates her life to destroying others like her. That is, until she discovers Orion Benandanti, the Alpha of all hellhounds and host to the Third Seal. But when the hunter becomes the hunted and Orion’s Seal is put at risk, the only way to survive is for Lana to trust the man who very well may destroy her soul. Will she let him claim her—for the Seal’s protection and for a passion forged in hell’s hottest fires?


My Thoughts
Hellhounds.  Who would have thought those supernatural creatures could be sexy as all get out?  I didn’t.  But Berinn Rae certainly showed me how wrong I was.  Damn!

In Book #2 of this series, she introduces us to the hellhound guardians that protect the immortal that bears the Seal of Understanding - their Alpha leader, Orion.

Hellhound is interesting, compelling and action-packed.  Since I am all about the character development in novels, this one didn’t disappoint me.  The author gradually conveyed events that molded them into who they were today. I ended up really caring for the characters in this novel.  I felt happy when things went right for them and fretted when they didn’t.  Even the supporting characters were presented in such a way that we’re given just enough to whet our appetite for their stories to come. 

If you enjoy paranormal romance series like Sentinel Wars by Shannon K Butcher, or Feral Warriors by Pamela Palmer, you’ll like this series. 


So about the story…
According the Book of Revelation, seven Seals ensure humanity’s survival.  These Seals are worn by seven immortals in the form of markings on their bodies.  Even though they are powerful from the Seals abilities, the bearers are still protected by the Guardians.  Knights, hellhounds, shifters and mages that give their lives to ensure the Seals do not fall into enemy hands.  The “Dominion” is a faction that broke away from the guardians believing protecting humanity should not be their purpose.

In the last novel of the series, the Guardians delivered a devastating blow to the Dominion.  However, out of the rubble, a new leader emerged.  Cellach, a hellhound, has taken over the Dominion with plans to destroy the seals.  But first, his immediate goal is to destroy Orion, the Alpha of the Hellhounds and bearer of the Seal of Understanding.  For over a thousand years, thoughts of vengeance have driven Cellach to plan the demise of Orion.  With the help of the evil witch, Tatiana, he creates mutant hellhounds believed more powerful than the Alpha’s guardians. 

Lana is a human who was turned into a hellhound by her evil ex-boyfriend, Danny.  She had no idea that hellhounds or monsters existed or that Danny was one.  Since it is near impossible for a female to survive the change into a hellhound, Danny thought he killed her and ran away.  However, Lana lived.  Fueled by pure rage and a desire for revenge against Danny, Lana learned to live with what she was and killed every monster she encountered along the way to finding him. 

That is until she discovered Orion on his farm and felt the call of the Alpha hellhound. Not understanding what he was and still newly turned, she was nervous and suspicious of him. 

Having not seen a female hellhound for centuries, Orion could not believe it when one stumbled onto his farmland.  Not wanting to frighten her with his size, he stayed in his human form when she came around.  In her hellhound form, she bravely ventured a little closer to him each night.  After a month of his coaxing, Orion finally got her to come close enough for him to touch her.  Once he did, he would be able to find her anywhere through the use of his seal.  Having made the connection, their adventures begin… 


The Characters…
Lana is absolutely fearless.  Her strength and bravery is incredibly inspiring.  In her own personal war against the monsters, she would never back away from a fight even if she was outnumbered and knew she would possibly die.  She would fight with all she had knowing that if she won, that meant one more person would be safe from them. 

This strength also applied to her Alpha.  She would never sit back and let Orion or his guardians protect her.  She was there - right in the middle of the action.  Getting hurt and the battle scars right along with everyone else.  If Orion tried to pull any of his alpha male attitude with her, she would leave him.  And he was man enough to believe her.

That’s what I liked about Orion.  He’s alpha enough to be powerful and deadly and he didn’t like Lana fighting.  However, he was man enough to curb his alpha instincts because he loved her, accepted her and was proud of her for who she was.  That surprised me given the way he was raised by his father, the former Alpha.  Orion and Lana’s relationship is one of respect, friendship and acceptance. A true partnership!  And of course that intense chemistry and passion was very enjoyable to read about as well… 

There are many great characters in this novel.  The author was very skillful in how she gave us the background between Cellach and Orion to understand their conflict.  Also, several of the guardians were developed enough so that we got a sense of their situations and difficulties for future stories. 

Samael is one in particular that I am very interested to hear more about.  He’s a very tortured soul with as awful an upbringing as Orion and we got to see a bit about how incredibly loyal he is to Orion for helping him when he joined the pack.

I enjoyed this story immensely.  There are only a couple of reasons why I’m not giving it a 5 star rating.  There were several words misplaced in sentences or there twice and a few grammatical errors.  This may be because I reviewed the ARC (advanced reading copy).  It may have been fixed in the final version.  While that’s not a huge deal, I did find Orion’s upbringing in the pack too much like Vischous’ in Black Dagger Brotherhood.  Not a bad thing because it was very well written and interesting, but it wasn’t the first time I’ve seen it.  Other than those couple things, I recommend this novel to read. 


Bottom Line
In my opinion, Berinn Rae gives us a very intriguing novel and I was completely absorbed in the story.  The main characters are compelling and believable, the supporting characters are developed brilliantly and the story is action-packed.  There’s never a dull moment.  The author nicely sets up storylines for future novels in the series and I am really looking forward to reading more about these immortals and their delicious guardians. 

The author has also made me a fan of hellhounds and I will never look at them as ghastly creatures again!  They rock! 

Happy Reading!!

4 Bad Boys – Really Enjoyed It!!!!



BUY NOW…
  

No comments:

Post a Comment