Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Hell to Pay
SERIES: Hellhound Champions, Book Two
AUTHOR: Macy Blake
NARRATOR: Michael Dean
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 7 hours and 17 minutes
RELEASE DATE: August 1, 2022
BLURB:
As a hellhound beta, Solomon has no complaints. Life is fine. His pack and his goddess-given duties as a protector of the human realm are enough. So what if he’s a little bored and a smidge lonely? Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. When his alpha’s mate suggests he pull his head out of his ass where one of their human pack mates is concerned, Sol cooks up a scheme to break through the wall between him and Cody, but it comes at the worst possible time.
Cody is convinced the bar he works in is run by a group of elite mob enforcers. Nothing else makes sense. The funny thing is: He doesn’t care. They treat him well, and he’s come to consider them family, but like any family, there’s always someone who stirs up trouble. For Cody, that’s Solomon, the bouncer who is constantly glaring at him from the back of the bar. Something is going on, but Cody has a new distraction in the form of an anonymous online lover who knows how to push all the right buttons.
A magical attack causes havoc for their pack, dragging Cody into a world he didn’t know existed. His new family is involved in a much more dangerous life than he could ever have imagined. Hellhounds and humans must join together to stop a terrifying creature hell bent on raining destruction down on them. Solomon and Cody must step up and fulfill their destinies, or risk losing the one thing they desire most: each other.
REVIEW:
Hell to Pay is the second book in Macy Blake’s Hellhound Champions series, which exists within her larger Chosen One Universe. At the risk of sounding like a broken record in light of my other reviews of the books in this fictional universe, the Hellhounds Champions series can be read independently, but the books within it should be read in order. That being said, the books in this series parallel the story told in The Chosen One series, so your reading experience will be enhanced if you follow Blake’s recommended reading order (on her website).
The Hellhound Champions series focuses on Meshaq, the alpha of the hellhounds, and his pack. They’ve been chosen by the fire goddess to lead the hellhounds as her champions, protecting the secret, supernatural world from humans. Hell to Pay picks up the story of Meshaq’s pack beta Solomon, who’s content in his life and role with the pack and as bouncer at Meshaq’s bar, but is admittedly lonely and wishes he could find a partner like Meshaq has with Drew.
Meshaq is a soft-hearted pack leader who cannot turn people in need away, including some humans who he takes in and now work at his bar. It’s a delicate situation, though, because the humans are valued pack members but don’t know that their packmates are hellhounds. However, they aren’t stupid and know strange, suspicious things occur. Cody is one of these humans and has determined the pack is involved in mafia activity. Does he care? Nope. Not at all. He’s safe, cared for, and has a found family. The only fly in the ointment is the curmudgeonly Solomon, who Cody is convinced hates him. But Cody, like Drew, Meshaq’s human partner, has backbone and isn’t intimidated easily.
Cody and Solomon’s relationship starts antagonistic, but in a somewhat inconsistent turn of events, Solomon takes on the role of mystery suitor, and this typical trope plays out, albeit with mysterious, magical forces weaving their way through the plot. Solomon and Cody make an interesting pair with their grumpy/sunshine dynamic and their age gap. They aren’t my favorite pairing, though. Solomon’s incongruous anonymous pursuit of Cody just felt off to me. I struggled to get a handle on Solomon’s character. It settles in later in the story, but something about this relationship didn’t click for me. It could be that the plot itself, which has Solomon keeping secrets from Cody, in more ways than one, prevents the connection between Solomon and Cody from fully forming, and correspondingly, the reader’s connection with them as a couple.
Michael Dean helps to bridge that gap with his invested portrayal of Solomon and Cody on the Hell to Pay audiobook. Dean tells a terrific story here, and I marvel at his consistent ability to provide convincing, intuitive vocal performances that require voicing a myriad of very different characters from different clans and races and correspondingly different accents, dispositions, and attitudes. Dean is a value-add to the Hell to Pay story, so I actually preferred listening to it rather than simply reading.
I adore Blake’s Chosen Universe and having the parallel hellhounds story really gives a complete view of the overarching storyline that ties the different series together. While Hell to Pay isn’t my favorite, it’s still very enjoyable. I unequivocally recommend you partake in the audiobook of Hell to Pay and Dean’s vocal performances on the other audiobooks in this universe.
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