I’m in a Readers of Fantasy group on Facebook and Audible codes for Kaylin Peyerk‘s Mayhem in Hell (narrated by were on offer. So, I accepted one. And since yesterday was the day I had to break down and actually fold the giant pile of laundry, I listened to the book while I did it. (Seriously, that is just one of the most tedious chores in existence.)
I was supposed to die and go to heaven, too bad I ended up in hell.
One out of every five people end up in heaven, that’s how low the chances are. So I worked hard, never swore, and did my best to be a good girl for my entire life. Then, out of nowhere, I was hit by an oncoming car, cutting my life short at age twenty-five.
Next thing I know I’m waking up in the firey pits of hell and given a scythe. My new job is to help reap the souls and take them to judgement day. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, it would be if I was a normal reaper. . . but the moment I touched the scythe it began to glow, signaling just how talented I’m going to be. Now, the three ruling princes of hell all want me as their personal reaper.
So these days I’ve been thinking. . . What’s the use in being good when it’s so fun to be bad?
I found this amusing, but also just a little too “she’s the most special, special snowflake in the special field” for my tastes. It’s reverse harem, I went in knowing that. But Lucifer, all his sons and god himself want her, if for different reasons. And the reason is either something beyond her control and having nothing to do with her or just super flimsy. At one point one of the sex men tells her she’s the most interesting thing he’s seen in ages (if not ever) and I just thought, why? There seriously isn’t anything particularly interesting about her…other than that your interested in her.
But having said all of that, if I was willing to let my questions go and just roll with it all, I did enjoy myself. There’s some humor, plenty of low-heat sexual tension (but no sex), and a glorious bit of blasphemy that I very much appreciate. The writing is pretty good. The narrator did a good job and it was a fun, silly romp. It does end on a cliffhanger (which I knew in advance, so no complaints). All in all, I’d be willing to read book two.
This is a disjointed mess. The writing seems mechanically competent enough, but the story is just all over the place. The reader is never given the opportunity to truly get to know or care about any of the characters. There is too much mysterious history hinted at and never explained. Reed’s insistence that everything is a hallucination—played for laughs—goes on far too long to be believable. The sex is chocked full of consent issues on about 10 fronts. And the book is title Claiming Her Beasts, but not only does SHE not claim ANYONE—beast or otherwise—she doesn’t even know the beasts exist, let alone that one has claimed her. So, that title is total BS.
