Nick Smith is a man with a mission: find the place where he’d been held captive as a child and discover what happened to the kids he left behind. His memories are in flux, returned to him after being blocked for the past fourteen years, along with his ability to shift into his lion form. Nick is ready for answers. Instead, he finds a huge Viking of a man with flaming eyes and more power than Nick knew existed.
As a hellhound, Jedrek is often sent on missions that lead to nothing. It’s part of the gig. He’s a champion of the fire goddess, tasked with keeping the secret of the supernatural world safe. When he gets called to a house of horrors he’d not visited in years, the last thing Jedrek expects to find is an out of control alpha lion who brings to life feelings he’s never felt before.
The mysteries of Nick’s past collide with a powerful, evil force causing havoc in the supernatural world. Nick is convinced he can determine who is behind the current rash of dark magic--especially if he has the strength of a hellhound at his side. And if that hellhound is one he can’t keep his mind or hands off? Well, that suits the lion instincts roaring back to life just fine.
While reading Blake's "Nothing Gained (The Chosen One #4)", I felt as though I was somewhat lost, as the events of *this book* were spoilered there, but I hadn't begun reading this series at that point.
So I finally know what the hell those spoilery details mean now, with those events coming full circle.
I did like that the evil bitch who'd been kidnapping kids was finally addressed here, and that a lot of info regarding that plot line was finally laid bare.
However, while I liked both Nick and Jedrick, their relationship and resulting feelings felt slightly less organic and deep than those of the MC's from the first two books in this series.
Also, this story was lacking any real Big Battle scene, so it ended up being my least favorite of the series so far, and I'd rate it at around 3.5 *good-but-not-great* stars.
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Lordy be that was a head rush. I loved this one with Jed and Nick.
Everything about it just worked for me and I really felt for Nick when he realised just what had been going on in his life.
I've also really loved the way Macy has used magic and the paranormal in her universe.
The bit with Nick and his lion were so cool but also very nearly broke my heart.
I like that more of the overall story arc is now slipping through into the individual books and that we're heading back into the Chosen main narrative with Sawyer and his gang.
I can't wait to see who his last two guardians will be.
Wow...it's funny how rereading something can make you feel differently about a book. I enjoyed this one a lot more this time and love these two together. Bumping up my rating.
Originally read May 2019
I have been loving this series which is connected and intertwines with The Chosen One series. I love the direction it's all going. That being said, this wasn't a favorite of mine. I did love both mc's but I felt like the connection between the two was missing something for me. I didn't feel Jedrek "needed" Nick quite as much as Nick needed Jedrek. Or should I say as obsessed with Jedrek. I don't know how to really explain it, but it just wasn't as appealing romance-wise as the others have been. I still liked it, and like I said, I love where it's all heading. I also felt it was a little rushed at the end, and I really wanted more with the kids. But I will still be stalking following the author in hopes the next one in either series comes out soon.
I cackled through so much of this book. I’ve had the BEST day of reading. I’ve binged on the books in the two associated series (The Chosen One and Hellhound Champions). I’m really sad that there is only one more book available.
2/5/2020 series/universe reread in prep of The Chosen One book 5
reread 1/25/2022 dealing with a loss. I needed something to make me laugh.
SUGGESTED READING ORDER
Sweet Nothings- Prequel - The Chosen One The Trouble With Love - Nothing But Trouble, Book 1 Santa Trouble - Nothing But Trouble, Book 2 All or Nothing - The Chosen One, Book 1 Nothing Ventured - The Chosen One, Book 2 Hell on Earth - Hellhound Champions, Book 1 Double or Nothing Next to Nothing - The Chosen One, Book 3 Hell To Pay - Hellhound Champions, Book 2 Give Him Hell - Hellhound Champions, Book 3 Nothing Gained - The Chosen One, Book 4 Stop at Nothing - The Chosen One, Book 5 Sweet Spot All Kidding Aside - Magical Mates, Book 1 Stop Kidding Around - Magical Mates, Book 2 Hell Breaks Loose - Hellhound Champions, Book 4
Another incredible story from Macy Blake, the plot was so intriguing, the characters, especially the main, were equally fascinating, a love the action scenes, including the hot moments, everything was really goo!!! Kudos!!!
I also have this book on Audible, once more, amazing performance, great acting, I know that at this point with so many characters, is difficult to have different voices, and it can be confusing even of rat narrator, I do believe he pulled it of, well done Michael Dean!!!
Holy hell there are so many characters in this universe. Hahaa I was a little lost at the beginning since I kinda forgot what happened in the last book and what happened in the “Chosen One” series. These two series are very much connected… or well all of Macy Blake’s books are connected because there are so many characters they all have their own story within the timeline haha
This one was good, but I felt I have read better. I did enjoy getting to know Nick and Jedrek since we learned a lot about them in “Magical Mates” and the “Chosen One” series. It felt like a little bit of a filler book, but it was still good to read.
I just want Ollie’s book okay.. that is the one that will be the best…unless Ben has a book idk I’ve always loved Ben too and want to read about his HEA!
Of the three books in this series, I for sure liked this one the best. I liked both characters, I liked the plot and I liked how the story overlaps the other things going on and moves everyone forward and gives us enough depth in the side characters that they feel dimensional.
I love me some Nick. Rawr.
If the cohesiveness of this book is due to the added author collab...keep it up.
A GIANT pet peeve of mine is when an Author can’t let go of characters from previous books they’ve written. So they make these heavily interconnected spin off stories that leave the non-fangirls at a loss when they can’t place a side character and or care about their importance.
If an Author can’t let a series go they should just keep writing books for the same series. So that unsuspecting people (ME) don’t waste their time on something that’ll most likely be labeled DNF. It’s really truly unfair. These side characters don’t pique my interest in their books at all. The only thing these side characters accomplish is making me feel alienated and wanting to label the Author as not for me.
This is my favorite book, from this series. Alpha Lion and a Hellhound make for a awesome couple. They are so sweet with each other. Plus no relationship drama. I LOVE IT. I relay enjoyed the overlap from The Chosen One series. It's great to see both points of view. There is a lot going on in both series. Its nice to get a bigger picture. This book is all about saving the cubs. So SUPER CUTE. These two are going to make great dads. I hope to see more of them as the series continues.
I also loved how, Nick would have NAP TIME. All the kids would sleep on him.
Love Mary Blake's books! The world building is fantastic! Now about the book it's good to read about an Alpha Alpha pairing instead of the omega. Hey, don't forget the Loin who loves to nap and roars at wrong time (LOL). It was light and the way pair start their new life in the coven is developed nicely.
Oooooh! now keenly waiting for the development in the supernatural world!
Ok so I am a die hard the chosen universe fan. I have read the entire series 4 times already and am making my way through the audiobooks as they are released.
In this one we have Nick, a lion shifter who has never shifted, who was in the same house as Ben and Henry from the chosen one series and he has been searching for the kids ever since he got his memories back. One day he finally finds the house and in doing so, meets Jedrik, the Norse hellhound.
As an enforcer, Jed helped Nick do his first shift and then found out that Nick is Sawyer and Mike's brother. Small world, eh?
Of course bad magical things happen, Nick is a super alpha that forms his own pride by just claiming people, and eventually ends with Nick finding and saving the kids that have been getting tortured by Sawyer's brother.
Michael Dean did a fantastic job bringing this to life, my only nitpick was that I never had Nick sound like a fey twink. His voice should have been deeper than Jed's.
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Rawr
Poor Nick has been searching for the abused kids from the very first universe story for years and one day finds the cabin that they were held in. During this search, he has been ignoring his brothers, who just happen to be Sawyer the chosen one and Mikey with the two mates who can see paranormal people.
Jed, the Viking hellhound, finds Nick half shifted at the cabin and their romance begins at warp speed. Within a couple of days Nick marks Jed the hellhound by accident.
Hijinks occur and Nick becomes the caretaker of the children rescued from the evil people.
Much like the book before this, the book mainly is focused on world building while the romance is instalove.
Like always, here is my reminder to read this universe per the list on Macy Blake's website.
Original review stands I actually don’t like Nick in this one till about 80% in. I found him annoying . He is better in the books that follow I do like the way he protects the kids
Reread 2020 Better on the reread but original review still stands
Not my favourite
3.75 ⭐️
When this one was announced I was so excited, and never actually realised there was another author included until my friend pointed it out. In the time between preorder and reading I had again forgotten, but once I started I noticed that this one felt different from the previous books, and remembered that there was a new author involved. Probably an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think a new author was needed at this stage of the series, we are six books in, yes I’m including the Chosen one series and in my opinion a new voice didn’t add to the story.
I’m honestly in awe of Macy Blake, the way she has weaved a story across the two series and interlinking them with character arcs moving across the interwoven storyline’s, but this one felt a bit like filler. Not a lot happened for approx 80% of the book. Yes Nick came to understand his Lion and create his own pack/pride but in terms of the overall storyline nothing really progressed.
This one felt forced at times, especially Nick’s character, and didn’t have the flow of the previous books. I understood that he was an alpha, but so are Shaq and Solomon and their thoughts and talking patterns weren’t as stilted and forceful. I did like how he was after his meeting with the goddess, and I did like the pack that Nick is creating.
Although a little disappointed with this addition, I will definitely still be reading the next book
I've liked Jedrek, but there was not much in the way of a coherent plot here, and the advance in master plot of the series was the bare minimum. Apparently the authors wanted to have fun with side characters from the previous books more than they wanted to move the master plot forward or describe a gradual relationship development. The book is made mostly of alternating cutesy scenes and sex scenes and it grows repetitive and tiresome real fast. While I appreciate the plot decision to give a hellhound a dominant mate for a change, I did not particularly like Nick. He came off as arrogant and overbearing, and his instant chemistry with the cubs (or anyone besides Jedrek, actually) was less than believable. I'm not even sure how he looks like besides "hot and leonine".
3-3.5 stars - Nick’s personality was all over the place in this story and 1/2 the time I didn’t like him. Jedrek was the steady person throughout and I’m really glad he found his mate. (Even if it felt like the bond was based primarily on sex and not a true emotional connection.)
I think the thing that bothered me the most in this story was how many one sided conversations there were. When I say that, I mean that one character was in their shifted form and the other was in their human form. I realize that this happened in the previous book when Solomon couldn’t shift back to his human form, but that was brief. It happened a lot in this book and it was annoying to read all the huffs, grunts, and chuffs. It shouldn’t have been for entire, and multiple, conversations. Especially when one of those conversations was about their feelings for each other. How can the reader get a true sense of their bond, other than the physical, if there’s no communication? Just write a two sided conversation!!!!
This was my least liked story in the combined Chosen One/Hellhounds series so far.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I love the Chosen one/hellhounds universe, but this installment felt a little bit like a filler book for me.
The pairing wasn't the strongest, and the focus was just as much on everything else that goes on in the universe as it was on the couple. For that reason, the connection took a bit of a back seat role, which is a shame, because I could feel the potential, but, to me, it ended up being very fast and shallow.
However, apart from the romantic pairing, this is a very important installment in the series (both of them) as it provides us with some long-awaited answers. For that reason, I will definitely be reading this again to look for more clues and for figuring more stuff out, but it probably won't be for the sake of Jedrek and Nick.
4 stars. I find audio can make or break a story. I loved the kindle version. The audio wasn't what I expected. Rather than romance, the narrator felt like he was doing an action film trailer voiceover, especially Nick's part. Took a bit to get used to. Still loving the story, audio not so much.
2021 - Kindle
5 stars. This was exactly what I needed. After reading the magical mates and loving how Nick is with the kids, went back to this one to see how he got where he is. From the start Nick bulldozes his way through and it’s great. I liked how fearless he was facing the hellhounds, how devoted he was to his pack and how sweet he was caring for the children. Plenty of sex, plenty of action and so much cute. Looking forward to Achim’s story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Crazy goings on! I want to read the other chosen books again. I liked Nick and Jed and seeing the parallel goings on in the Chosen one saga. Very insta love but I still liked it.
This book is a payoff that brings a resolution of a major storyline running in both this series and The Chosen One series. An important book to read! Total Rating: 4.2 Stars out of 5 Rating Review Rollout: (1) Attention Keeper: 5 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞 (2) Digging deep in Character Development: 4 🌞🌞🌞🌞 (3) Danger-Drama-Friction-Suspense Fulfillment?: 4.5 🌟🌟🌟🌙 (4) Edit to Perfection!: 4 🌞🌞🌞🌞 (5) Feeling the Words: 4 🌞🌞🌞🌞 (6) Give me more please factor: 5 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞 (7) Going with the Flow of the Story: 4 🌞🌞🌞🌞 (8) Grammar Police: 4 🌞🌞🌞🌞 (9) It's all about the Chemistry, baby: 3.5 🌟🌟🌟🌙 (10) Laugh out loud funny: 4 🌞🌞🌞🌞 (11) Love connection: 3.5 🌟🌟🌟🌙 (12) Main characters appeal: 3.5 🌟🌟🌟🌙 (13) Plot Worthy: 4.5 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌙 (14) Show me Entertainment: 4.5 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌙 (15) Super-Duper-Natural feels: 5 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌞 (16) The Writing speaks for itself: 4 🌞🌞🌞🌞 (17) The Wrap Up of all loose ends in a tidy bow: 4.5 🌞🌞🌞🌞🌙 (18) Too sexy for my shirt kinda sex: 3.5 🌟🌟🌟🌙
Ok, so, this whole universe was read a little upside down and inside out by me and this part of the story I feel I was spoiled by reading series order and not universe reading order. But guys, honestly I was only spoiled about the end of this book really. The rest, it all read brand new to me and I liked it, a lot!
I really liked Nick and Jedrek. I loved the instalove in this because it was all animal. And really, I just loved Nick.
I am so sad that this is the last book written in this world. I need more!
Who is Casey Drake? She/He is credited as an author on this book but there wasn't a bio in the book and this is the only book they are credited with. I'm very curious. This book had a lot more editing issues than I noticed in the others and I was just wondering if it was because there are now two authors.
Give Him Hell Macy Blake/Casey Drake Rating: 3 stars This book wasn’t as good as the rest of the book in the series. I would have given it a slightly higher score except the beginning of the book was so hard to get through. The main problem was Nick. He was so annoying. He got better as the book went on, but still I never warmed up to him fully. I did like Jedrak as his mate. I thought him very patient as Nick went through getting use to his lion. The second half of the book was definitely better than the first. I like the parts of the story that dealt with the over-arching story line and characters. I liked the formation of Nick’s new pack. I really don’t think the addition of the new author added to anything. The flow of the book was off, and it was a slog to get through parts of it. Hopefully, future books set in this world will be better or I may skip this particular off-shoot of the series and just concentrate on Sawyer’s story.
Sawyers brother Nick meets Hellhound Jedrek, they get off to a rocky start. Soon they begin to trust each other. A fun read, even with the underlying serious storyline. Again there is great world building in this book as there is in the previous books in this series, I was sucked right in. Really enjoyable characters. They are sassy and have plenty of personality. This book is definitely not a stand alone. Great continuation of the storyline. I look forward to more of this series. 4.5 stars
Nick has been trying for years to find the rest of the kids from the farmhouse. When he sets off the wards, his mate Jedrek answers the call. Great book!
I really enjoyed this installment of the Hellhound Champions books and the larger Chosen One universe. It is a great example of why the books should be read in Macy Blake's suggested reading order. Nick was a favorite character of mine before I started the book. He plays a big role in the Magical Mates series (which is fantastic!). I like him even more now that I know his backstory. He and Jedreck make a great pair. Because this is a fated mates story the relationship develops very quickly. This insta-love or insta-lust has never bothered me, but I know it bothers some. The conflict in this book is more internal as Nick tries to come to term with his past and present situation. As a result, there is less actual physical action. I highly recommend the entire Chosen On universe series of books.