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
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…
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