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    Summon the Keeper
    Summon the Keeper
    Summon the Keeper
    Audiobook14 hours

    Summon the Keeper

    Written by Tanya Huff

    Narrated by Amy Melissa Bentley

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Austin was a black and white, far-from-young cat. Not just any cat, mind you, he was the Keeper's cat, a very outspoken feline with extremely strong opinions he was always willing to voice. After all, who knew better than Austin what was best for the well-being of Claire-and for the not-quite-as-important rest of the universe?

    Claire Hansen was a Keeper, a member of that select group that kept the universe in one piece. And now she'd been Summoned to the Elysian Fields Guesthouse, a rundown bed-and-breakfast that seemed to attract the most unusual clientele. And Claire was not happy about this latest assignment, not happy at all.

    Not when she'd been tricked into taking over here by a horrible little gnome of a man who'd abandoned his post before she'd even figured out who he really was. Not when room six held a resident who'd been sleeping there for so many years that she really needed a good dusting-except that it was far too dangerous for anyone to get that close to her. Not when she found herself surrounded by "helpers" as distracting as Dean, the hunky-yet-innocent handyman, and Jacques, a ghost with a real lust for life.

    And especially not when it looked like this might be the not only her most challenging mission, but one she'd be stuck handling for life . . .
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMay 22, 2018
    ISBN9781977382634
    Summon the Keeper
    Author

    Tanya Huff

    Tanya Huff lives in rural Ontario with her wife Fiona Patton, five cats, and an increasing number of fish. Her 32 novels and 83 short stories include horror, heroic fantasy, urban fantasy, comedy, and space opera. Her BLOOD series was turned into the 22-episode Blood Ties and writing episode nine allowed her to finally use her degree in Radio & Television Arts. Many of her short stories are available as eCollections. She’s on Twitter at @TanyaHuff and Facebook as Tanya Huff. She has never used her Instagram account and isn’t sure why she has it.

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    Reviews for Summon the Keeper

    4/5

    417 ratings19 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Claire Hansen is responsible for keeping the supernatural in its place. She travels from site to site closing "holes" that open between our world and other worlds. In this book (the first in the series), Claire is tricked into ownership of an inn, which just so happens to have a hole to Hell in the basement. Her companion, Austin the talking cat, kept me laughing throughout the entire book!
    • 2/5
      a cute book with pop culture references and plenty of snarkiness, but the plot didn't hook me, and i'm not interested in reading the sequels.
    • 1/5
      A young magician and her magical cat try to protect a bunch of slightly otherworldly innocents. She falls in love. There's little to no imagination used to write this book, and certainly no great writing style.
    • 5/5
      Claire Hansen is responsible for keeping the supernatural in its place. She travels from site to site closing "holes" that open between our world and other worlds. In this book (the first in the series), Claire is tricked into ownership of an inn, which just so happens to have a hole to Hell in the basement. Her companion, Austin the talking cat, kept me laughing throughout the entire book!
    • 4/5
      3.5Book source ~ PurchasedClaire Hansen is a Keeper. I mean, as in, magically. She goes to accident sites and fixes them. And by accident I mean places that have had a magical boo boo happen. She and her companion, a white and black furry feline named Austin, go where they are summoned, fix the problem, and move on. Except this time, the guardian, a Cousin named Augustus, has buggered off from his post, the Elysian Fields Guesthouse, a rundown B&B in Kingston Ontario. It’s an accident site of unusual intensity and origin and Augustus had been there 70+ years keeping watch over it, but had finally decided he couldn’t take it anymore and summoned a Keeper. Who happens to be Claire. Now she’s stuck with this site and has to figure out how to close it for good or be trapped here until her dying day. Not an enjoyable prospect for one so powerful and in her prime no matter how gorgeous her cook/handy man, Dean McIssac, is.This is a light and entertaining bit of fluff to keep you occupied for an afternoon. There’s magic, humor, Hell (who speaks in CAPS-trust me, hilarious!), and some yummy non-explicit hotness revolving around the handyman and a ghost. Plus, a talking cat. Yay! Dean’s Newfoundland accent got a bit irritating after a while, but I worked around it. Claire can be a little unlikeable at times, but not horrendously so. I got tired of Jacques and his constant sex innuendos. Give it a rest for a bit would ya? Claire’s sister Diana, I hated. Seriously. Anyway…The world is interesting and the characters entertaining (most of the time), so I say if you like a bit of different magic mixed with humor then give this a go. I mentioned the talking cat, right? Yay!
    • 5/5
      Oh, yes, very much love. I liked Claire, I like how she's not so good at working with normal things because her job as a Keeper means she usually comes in after the fact and cleans up messes. She worries about things, she's competent in some areas and not great in others, she's got trouble with her much-younger sister (can I ever relate!), she makes mistakes and she fixes them.

      I thought I'd hate the cat, but, no, I didn't. He had that whole "wise otherworldly supernatural cat" thing going on, but it was tempered with enough normal cat issues (he's old, he hates his geriatric cat food, he wants a steak) to actually make me like him.

      Jacques--the ghost--was annoying and very much not my type. I couldn't understand why Claire went for him at all. Personally, I would have exorcised his ass and sent him on his way, not scattered his anchors throughout the hotel so he could go everywhere. Her attraction to him felt forced. I can fanwank it, but I shouldn't have to.

      Shut up, all of you, I fell in love with Dean. I mean, come on. He's perfect. Okay, no, he isn't perfect, he goes through that "I did one wrong thing, I'm a bad evil person" phase, but, um, used to that. He cooks, he cleans like crazy, he's about the definition of protect and serve and we all know how I feel about that. And, oh, he blushes. The whole thing he and Claire were doing, not recognizing their attraction, denying it, flailing because they don't know what to do, really worked for me. Mostly it worked because it wasn't the focus of the story, but it did exist, and it was there. It was neither overly concentrated on nor ignored. (Though, we had our clue when the first thing Claire did was notice he was very grounded--hi, ping my attraction meter--and the second was check out his ass.)
    • 4/5
      Amusing visit with a Keeper whose job as a young high level magic practitioner is to visit hot spots - where hell breaks loose or in or seeps a bit - to fix them as she faces the possibility at being 'stuck' as a permanent guardian on a complex spell locked hell gate and has to deal with an obscurely attractive ghost and a 20 year old good guy hunk - who cleans and cooks and fixes things.
    • 5/5
      This was fun from start to finish as were the 2 subsequent books in the Keeper series :o)I started with the blood books which were good but not as good these :o)Whether you like strong female characters or good winning versus evil you'll enjoy this and if on top of that you have or have had cats then you will love Austin's insights too :o)
    • 4/5
      What a lovely book! Excellent characters, good pacing, original setting. It's got a talking cat, a hell that cutely grumbles to itself in capitals, and a thoroughly capable heroine. Even though the angelic-charactered hunk is large and muscled, he doesn't come to her rescue. What I really liked is that the weird collection of characters sort of form a family that is comfortable despite some of the bickering. Lovely, going to check out the sequel now.
    • 4/5
      Fun. An interesting take on the universe, interesting if somewhat sketchy characters - they start out, at least, as single-quirk characters. By the end of the book there's a little more to them - most of them, anyway. Claire is willing to admit someone else might be right about something, Dean is less than absolutely pure (not much less, but less), and Jacques has revealed unexpected depths when he was needed. I'd remembered the Olympians, but forgot Halloween...and I want to know what the mice were (though it may just have been breeding around an accident site, as was so often offered as an explanation). The drumbeat of "let's have sex" was...actually, kind of boring. Zeus was pathetic, but Jacques was even more annoying. And Dean was...a little too patient. Still, it worked out - despite keeping secrets because of embarrassment and the like. Overall, nice - and now I want to read the next one, of course!
    • 5/5
      I've been a fan of Tanya Huff's book since my high school days, but I started with her Fantasy series first, ( Fifth Quarter et al, Wizard of the Grove, Of Darkness, Light, and Fire ). You see some of her snarky humour in those stories, but nothing in them prepared me for the smiles and laughs I got out of Summon the Keeper. Huff always has amazingly real characters and she can have them fighting racist talking lizard people without missing a beat. Every character has their comedic moments and none are done in the same way. Being from Canada I might have gotten some extra mileage out of a few of her jokes =]. The story is in no hurry to get anywhere and that's more than fine because Huff sets out to entertain you every single page. The fantasy world has time to explain itself and many creatures make their way to "Elysian Fields Inn" which is especially fun for those of us who know their mythology. I feel I should mention that the blurb might promise more romance than really appears...I'm not sure if I'm spoiling anything by saying that there's more romantic tension than an actual love story. These days, I find we tend to expect a particular level of romance in our urban fantasy, but this is an older book (published in 1998), so it's fun to see what was going on in the urban fantasy genre when it was kind of in its "teenage" years, before it had the glut of established tropes that it has now. If you want some light, endearing and incredibly entertaining reading then I highly suggest reading the entire trilogy, though Summon the Keeper is the best of the three (this review is actually the result of my third re-read).
    • 4/5
      My older sister gave me the sequel, THE SECOND SUMMONING, which kept me laughing aloud. I'm pleased to say that the first book is just as funny. I went grocery shopping after I bought it and it kept me civilized while I waited in the checkout line. (I was kind to two of the other women in line and shared some of the snarky comments about the nasty thunderstorm at the beginning.Claire, the keeper, is stuck in a magical situation she considers a waste of her talents. Dean, the normal human employee of the Elysian Fields 'uest House, is obviously the hero of a book aimed at women because he's good-looking, well-built, super nice, patient, handy in the kitchen, a Mr. Fix-it, and a great housekeeper. Austin, Claire's talking cat, says the kinds of things one could imagine one's cat saying if the cat spoke Human. He also gives good advice, although he probably shouldn't tease the doberman next door. Is there an imp in the house, or is it just mice? No doubt you'll have your own list of people you wouldn't mind seeing ride the elevator. Claire's mother and younger sister are fun characters. Jacques the ghost reminds me a little of Pepe Le Pew. The guests who come to stay hotel are interesting. Mrs. Abrams could be considered the Neighbor from Hell, if a hole to Hell weren't already in the basement. (Hell has some great lines, by the way). Let me publically thank my sister for sharing this series with me. If you could use a laugh -- and who couldn't? -- treat yourself to both books.
    • 4/5
      I liked this book. Lots of faults, namely all the characters seem to be made of the same sarcastic mold, but a very entertaining read. I especially like the character of Hell, and it's resigned attitude toward the situation. Also, the writer knows cats. When the cat was introduced, I was worried the cat would be an all knowing know it all, and Austin is, but as Claire, the Keeper says, He's just a cat, and cats are contrary. Definitely a book I will be reading again.
    • 5/5
      Claire, a Keeper, is summoned to a bed and breakfast and summarily tricked into ownership. She must try to close a hole to Hell, deal with a randy ghost, a too-sweet handsome handyman, fend off demons, monsters and a nosy neighbor, AND renovate, all while trying *not* to disturb the evil keeper sleeping upstairs. This was VERY funny - a charming, wonderful and entertaining read.
    • 4/5
      I loved it and I can't wait to read more in this vein. I do hope she has written more about Austin, Claire and her nutty as family.
    • 5/5
      Tanya Huff's Summon the Keeper didn't disappoint. Claire is a Keeper, a race of beings that keep the balance between good and evil. She's been summoned to a rat trap of a bed and breakfast. She thinks she'll patch up the hole and be on her way, but things don't quite work out as she planned. Her plans are further complicated with the hotel's employee, and young hot male, and the sexy resident ghost.The characters are fully realized, even the talking cat. The only unbelieveable bit is having a male around that will cook and clean without complaint. Where can I find one of those?***Spoilerish comments***I love the visit by the retired Olympians. No, not exathletes touring around. These are the original Olympians, Zeus, Hera, Hades, Persephone, Neptune, Amphitrite, Aphrodite and Hephaestus being shepherded around by Hermes. That side plot had some of the funniest bits. I can just imagine a semisenile Hades rambling on and on to Hell about what it was like in the old days. Zeus is still trying to get it on with anything female, and Hera is as jealous as ever.Ms. Huff continues to put together solid stories with hints of humor. I've already got the sequel in my to be read pile.
    • 5/5
      Wonderful fantasy full of humor. New keeper arrives at hotel to find a host of odd guests and a portal to hell in the basement. Her job is to close the portal and keep the guests from disturbing the fabric of reality....
    • 5/5
      Claire Hansen is responsible for keeping the supernatural in its place. She travels from site to site closing "holes" that open between our world and other worlds. In this book (the first in the series), Claire is tricked into ownership of an inn, which just so happens to have a hole to Hell in the basement. Her companion, Austin the talking cat, kept me laughing throughout the entire book!
    • 4/5
      This is a light hearted take on various tropes in urban fantasy (including Lackey's Diana Tregarde books). The protagnoist, the Keeper, is in a run down B&B in Canada trying to plug a gateway to hell (which has taken to arguing with itself), deal with an argumentative cat, an interfering sister who is a powerful magic maker and an irritating sibling, and convince her libido to not go into overdrive when dealing with her insanely handsome, polite handy man. This is an amusing quick read.