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A review by eesh25
Hijinks With a Hellhound by Louisa Masters
3.0
I wish I had more positive things to say because I really like the series. And a part of me wanted to give it more than three stars. But this was such an incomplete book that I can't justify giving it a higher rating.
For those who don't know, each book in the series followed a different couple. But there's still the overarching plot and main villain to contend with, aside from the smaller, book-specific one. And... we've already come to the first problem. This book barely has a plot.
The story, this time around, followed Alistair and Aidan, both of whom we already know. They go on a mission for surveillance and info collecting. They surveil and collect information. There's a minor threat, and some feelings are discussed. There are some revelations, and the book ends. That's not a plot! It's just the set-up for one.
And you might wonder what even went on in the book if there was barely a plot. Because the "romance" certainly didn't take up much space (I'll get back to that one). And the answer is world-building.
I've found the world of this series interesting from the beginning. And in this book, that world expanded quite a bit. It had to do with both the stuff we found out at the end of the previous book, about the other dimension and elves. And about what was going on in this world. There were some pretty drastic changes as well. And I really liked all of that. It's half the reason I'm not giving the book a lower rating, even if some of the revelations came in an info-dumpy way. It was still interesting to read about, and I'm excited about the next book.
Now, coming back to the "romance." And yes, it definitely deserves the quotation marks because the book only sets up the potential for a romance and doesn't even pretend to go farther.
We have Aidan, who we don't know very well, and Alistair, who has reservations about romantic relationships. They're poorly developed reservations (I'll get to that after this), but they exist. Then suddenly, by the (literal) magic of plot convenience, we're just told they're gonna live happily ever after. And it seriously pissed me off. I mean, the romances in the series have never been the best, but at least the last two books tried. This one doesn't even do that. And the lack of a proper plot makes it worse.
About the protagonists... We still don't know Aidan as well as we should, so I'm gonna skip him. Alistair... We knew him as the overdramatic joker of the group, and I was eager to get to know him better. But turns out overdramatic joker's all he is. Except for one, maybe two, scenes, his personality is skin deep. And I was very disappointed by that.
Finally, the reason I enjoyed the book despite all the issues is that it was fun and, once again, interesting. It made me laugh, I enjoyed spending time with the characters, and there were some sweet moments. It just needed more structure in terms of plot and more focus on developing a romance. And it needed balance between all the story elements, something that Masters has struggled with since book 1. Fifty more pages could've fixed so much of that.
Overall, my least favourite installment so far, but not bad. And I'm still holding out hope, if not for the series, then for the author.
For those who don't know, each book in the series followed a different couple. But there's still the overarching plot and main villain to contend with, aside from the smaller, book-specific one. And... we've already come to the first problem. This book barely has a plot.
The story, this time around, followed Alistair and Aidan, both of whom we already know. They go on a mission for surveillance and info collecting. They surveil and collect information. There's a minor threat, and some feelings are discussed. There are some revelations, and the book ends. That's not a plot! It's just the set-up for one.
And you might wonder what even went on in the book if there was barely a plot. Because the "romance" certainly didn't take up much space (I'll get back to that one). And the answer is world-building.
I've found the world of this series interesting from the beginning. And in this book, that world expanded quite a bit. It had to do with both the stuff we found out at the end of the previous book, about the other dimension and elves. And about what was going on in this world. There were some pretty drastic changes as well. And I really liked all of that. It's half the reason I'm not giving the book a lower rating, even if some of the revelations came in an info-dumpy way. It was still interesting to read about, and I'm excited about the next book.
Now, coming back to the "romance." And yes, it definitely deserves the quotation marks because the book only sets up the potential for a romance and doesn't even pretend to go farther.
We have Aidan, who we don't know very well, and Alistair, who has reservations about romantic relationships. They're poorly developed reservations (I'll get to that after this), but they exist. Then suddenly, by the (literal) magic of plot convenience, we're just told they're gonna live happily ever after. And it seriously pissed me off. I mean, the romances in the series have never been the best, but at least the last two books tried. This one doesn't even do that. And the lack of a proper plot makes it worse.
About the protagonists... We still don't know Aidan as well as we should, so I'm gonna skip him. Alistair... We knew him as the overdramatic joker of the group, and I was eager to get to know him better. But turns out overdramatic joker's all he is. Except for one, maybe two, scenes, his personality is skin deep. And I was very disappointed by that.
Finally, the reason I enjoyed the book despite all the issues is that it was fun and, once again, interesting. It made me laugh, I enjoyed spending time with the characters, and there were some sweet moments. It just needed more structure in terms of plot and more focus on developing a romance. And it needed balance between all the story elements, something that Masters has struggled with since book 1. Fifty more pages could've fixed so much of that.
Overall, my least favourite installment so far, but not bad. And I'm still holding out hope, if not for the series, then for the author.