Book Review (Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Fiction): Hotter Than Hell by Jackie Kessler

Hotter Than Hell by Jackie Kessler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a very good story, well told. The first book in the series, Hell's Belles, is still my favorite, and honestly, I wouldn't be too sad if it had been a stand-alone, because it ends so perfectly. But the story keeps going, and there's still one more part, Hell To Pay. I'm scared of what's going to happen in that one.

I liked Virginia as a character, and I liked the slow build of Daun's transition from purely emotionless demon to a truly empathetic being - even if his empathy is limited to one mortal woman. I think my favorite part, though, was the flashback to the relationship between Daunuan (Don Juan) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - damned through no fault of his own, but through his father's infernal machinations - who would go on to write 'Don Giovanni' in Daun's honor. I really like how Kessler plays with history here.

The witch in me is less crazy about the characterization of Pan, who in this is just an evil, evil thing that gets his proper reward for being the scumbag that he is. Authors have the right to do whatever they want with their characters, but to witches, Pan is often used as the name of the good god, the consort of the Goddess, the divine masculine. We don't equate him in any way with evil or with the Christian devil, but this book certainly paints him in a horrifying light. Overall, I think it's fine, because the book needs a villain, and Kessler's Pan is a good literary villain, but Pan shouldn't always be judged so harshly.

You can read my further thoughts on Pan here.

Of course, the book has another villain - Eris, the ancient Greek goddess of strife and discord. I liked Eris as a literary villain because she's so seductive, she's almost a likable character, but she's also a little bit frightening. Okay, she's a LOT frightening. Daun figures out a way to get the better of her, and also of Pan. The happy ending isn't quite the one you'd expect in a paranormal romance - Kessler admits in the afterward it's less of a PNR and more of a dark urban fantasy. I didn't know if I was going to like the ending, but I thought it was appropriate for this novel.

I don't know yet whether or not I'll read the fourth book in the series. I may pretend this is a trilogy, since there are only three paperbacks. I'm scared that Jessie and Paul will get broken up in the next book. That would be a tragedy.

Should you decide to complete the Hell on Earth series and read Hell to Pay, you can get it for only $.99 on Amazon.

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Disclosure: I paid for this book with my own money. This review represents my own opinion; I was not compensated for this review in any way, nor was I asked by anyone to write this review. I am an Amazon.com affiliate, and if you make a purchase after clicking through the Amazon links on my blog, I will receive a small commission of a few cents.

#Paranormal #ChickLit #BookReview : 'The Devil's In the Details' by Kimberly Raye

I have a serious problem with this cute, quirky paranormal chick lit novel - it's not even officially out until October 8, 2013, but I need the sequel right now. Thanks to Jackie Kessler's Hell's Belles, I love a PNR with a plucky succubus heroine, and Jessie (Jezebel) Damon fits the mold.

Jessie is the daughter of Satan herself. Satan is the daughter of the original fallen angel who rebelled against God. He's the king of Hell, but he spawned four princesses. Satan's sisters are Jessie's Aunt Bella (a.k.a. Belial), Aunt Levita (a.k.a. Levithan), and Aunt Lucy (a.k.a Lucifer). The four princess-demons rarely get along and would rather decapitate and disembowel hapless humans than wear white gowns.

This is the pretty cover that will be on the final version.

Satan, whose earthly name is Lillith Damon, goes out of the way to irritate her sisters with her wedding plans. Makes sense - their dad has declared that whichever sister gets married first will take over from him.

Jessie finds herself planning her mom's impending wedding. The problem is, a superhot demon slayer named Cutter Owens is gunning for dear old mom, and despite her promise to herself to stay on the straight-and-narrow and abandon her succubus ways, Jessie feels an undeniable attraction to him.

Actually, Cutter only wants to use Lillith to get to a demon named Azazel. Azazel stole Cutter Owens' soul, so Jessie and Cutter strike a deal - he won't slay Lillith and ruin her wedding if Jessie agrees to help him find Azazel. Cutter doesn't know Lillith and Jessie are mother and daughter.

The ARC isn't as pretty as the final cover will be.

Meanwhile, Jessie is being stalked by an unknown demonic entity. She suspects her Aunt Bella - the least modernized of the four princesses of Hell, still known to live in a cave. Even though she's technically immortal, dying in the human body she currently possesses would send Jessie back to Hell, where she would have to wait in a long line before she could get back in another human body.

I had a minor panic when I realized there weren't enough pages left in the book for the Jessie-Cutter storyline to resolve itself, which is why I need the second book, The Devil Made Me Do It, right now, please.

I haven't read any of Kimberly Raye's other books. I know she wrote the Dead End Dating series, because my mom read it. She also wrote a vampire/cowboy series for Harlequin Blaze. Based on this one, I'd definitely read Kimberly Raye again.



I received an uncorrected proof of this book free through the Amazon Vine program in exchange for a fair, honest review, which represents my own honest opinion. I do not receive any other kind of compensation for these reviews.

Review: 'Seductress: Erotic Tales of Immortal Desire,' Edited by D.L. King

Dropping by from Evernight's Valentine Snippets Blog Hop? Please see this post and leave a comment for a chance to win your choice of book from Evernight Publishing. 

Last week I had the pleasure of reading Seductress: Erotic Tales of Immortal Desire, a Cleis Press anthology of tales of that most erotic of mythological creatures, the succubus. I'm not unfamiliar with the lore of the daughter of Lilith who seduces men (and sometimes women) in their sleep, stealing their essence through pleasure. In fact, I already have a favorite succubus book: Hell's Belles by Jackie Kessler (and its sequel The Road to Hell - I have yet to read the third book, Hotter Than Hell, about Daun the incubus). It's fun to get a new book on a topic I already enjoy. Wherever folklore and erotica meet, there you will find me.



Honestly, I loved just about every story in this collection, and even the ones I didn't love, I liked. I really love a "bad girl," a lady of the night with claws and fangs (literally, in some cases) who might seduce her lover into the illusion that he's in control, but dominates him stealthily, or the vixen who takes control outright. Her lover might be a momentary amusement, a means to an end or her truest love, but there's always an edge of danger to her affections. It's not that I don't love an alpha male, but sometimes femdom is exquisitely satisfying.

The anthology begins on a high note; Aurelia T. Evans' "Harvest" is scorching hot. It's your classic "boy summons succubus into a pentagram drawn on his bedroom floor" tale, expertly told. "In the Service of Hell" by Michael M. Jones is the anthology's first "succubus meets girl" tale, and it has a nice twisty ending. I enjoyed the setup of Kannan Feng's "Before a Fall:" a spirit of lust vs. a spirit of pride.

I was highly looking forward to "Star-Crossed" by Canadian author Evan Mora, because she really impressed me with "Real Boy" in the Cleis Press anthology Lustfully Ever After. I wasn't disappointed.  "Star-Crossed" turns Romeo into a vampire and Juliet, through a last-minute deal with the devil, into a succubus. The result is much sexier (and surprisingly romantic) than Shakespeare's "everybody dies" ending. (No offense, Will.) It was like a more adult take on Juliet Immortal.

Jay Lawrence's "Deliverance" has a nicely haunted, old-fashioned feeling to it, like a really good ghost story with an erotic twist. Anya Richards' "Minions Have Needs Too" is one of those power-play stories I enjoy so very much. Nan Andrews' "Sweet Tooth" features some nice food/sex writing that would've worked well in Hunger. It's basically about an enchanted recipe box, in a really fun and sensual way. Giselle Renarde, whose food/sex writing does appear in Hunger, contributed "Neither Love Nor Money," a guide to how to care for your succubus when she cares for you too much to suck out your essence and her health suffers as a result.

NJ Streitberger's "The Girl on the Egyptian Escalator" has an interesting perspective, in that the succubus is a manifestation of one of my favorite goddesses of destruction, ancient Egypt's lion-headed Sekhmet.

Everything that comes afterward is pretty good stuff, too. Really, there is no bad story in this anthology.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for this review, which represents my own honest opinion. I did not receive any other compensation.