Summon the Keeper (Keeper's Chronicles)

Summon the Keeper is the first novel in the Keeper's Chronicles series. The Keepers maintain the balance between good and evil. Their primary tool is possibility itself. Their task is to repair breaches between the Realities, such as here and Hell, as well as between the Realities and the Otherside, a universe of unresolved possibilities. Their companions are cats.In this novel, Claire Hansen is summoned to the Elysian Fields Guest House, arriving in a torrential downpour. The host resembles a gnome as he signs her in and gives her the keys to Room 1. Claire has a horrendous headache and a buzz in her ears, so she and her cat Austin retire early.The next day, she awakes feeling much better and the summoning has disappeared sometime in the night. Going downstairs, she finds Dean, the handyman and cook, preparing breakfast and learns that she is now the owner of the guest house. When she responds with skepticism, Dean shows her his note from Augustus Smythe and then takes her to the owner's rooms, where a large manila envelope contains half a dozen documents, including a bill of sale, and a short note: "Stay out of Room 6". After hacksawing the padlock and breaking open the door lock, she discovers that Room 6 houses a middle aged woman, asleep with a thick layer of dust covering her. Later, she finds that the furnace room does not contain a firebox, but rather a hole to Hell.Claire learns that Smythe is a Cousin, a sort of Keeper with much less power, who has been monitoring the Hell hole for decades. Checking the site log, she determines that three Keepers had originally blocked the hole, but the Keeper monitoring it had died suddenly. Sara, the women in Room 6, was hurriedly brought in as the replacement Keeper, but she had gone bad and tried to gain control of it for her own selfish purposes in 1945. Two other Keepers had been summoned to the site, caught her in mid ritual, forced her to sleep, and used her powers to temporarily block the hole while they continued on to the war zone. Now Claire had been given the whole mess and she definitely does not want to spend the rest of her career monitoring the hole.Claire soon finds that the site has a resident ghost, Jacques, and either an imp or, as everybody else asserts, multicolored mice. On top of everything else, she starts to really like Dean, but he is seven years younger that herself and quite naive. On the other hand, Jacques is very sexy and knows how to treat a woman. Furthermore, both the living man and the dead one are attracted to her and start to compete for her attention. With all this sexual energy and frustration to sublimate, Claire and Dean, with some help from Jacques, make great strides in redecorating the guest house.Claire also has acquired a next-door neighbor; Mrs. Abrams has orange hair, a strong voice, a long nose, and a thick skin, but a poor memory for names. She also has Baby, a hound from Hell, a Doberman that likes to play with mailmen, but hates c

"Summon the Keeper" by Tanya Huff is a wonderfully funny and witty read that is sure to keep all its readers utterly enthralled. Huff has created a fascinating fantasy world that sets the stage for this delightful tale of supernatural excitement and otherworldly romance. Claire Hansen is a Keeper, which basically means that her life is devoted to travelling from place to place sealing leaks in the fabric of the universe where evil is trying to escape. As the book begins, Claire receives a summons, which leads her to the Elysian Fields Guest House, a run-down old B & B run by an unpleasant little man. Claire and her very opinionated, far from young talking cat, Austin, rent a room for the night, and the next morning Claire is shocked to discover that she is the new owner of the B & B.But it's not just any old B & B that Claire has inherited. The Elysian Fields Guest House comes complete with a hole to Hell in the furnace room and a very, very evil and very, very dusty Keeper who's been sleeping in Room 6 for decades. In addition to these supernatural extras Claire also has to deal with her new employee, the gorgeous yet innocent caretaker/cook/handyman/Newfie, Dean McIssac. With her hormones already in overdrive, Claire soon finds out she also has to contend with Jacques Labaet, a lusty French-Canadian ghost who wants to be the man in Claire's life.While trying to figure out how to close the hole to Hell, Claire finds herself renovating the B & B, dealing with her infrequent but always exciting guests (I liked the retired Olympians best), and figuring out what on earth she should do about her undeniable attraction to two men, one who is far too young and the other who is far too dead.Of course Austin, when not telling someone to "feed the cat", always has some commentary to make about Claire's life and the situations she gets into. Indeed, Austin has some of the best lines in the book, which more often than not had me laughing out loud.But the precarious balance keeping all Hell from breaking loose (quite literally) is put in jeopardy when Claire's younger sister Diana, a fellow Keeper with far more power than sense, arrives at the B & B to help out. Disasters seem to follow Diana wherever she goes, and the very thought of Diana in the same house as Hell strikes fear into Claire's heart. But Diana is there to stay until the problem is resolved, and she manages to start a chain reaction that makes for some fantastic reading and an explosive conclusion!"Summon the Keeper" is, quite simply, a great book. Each and every character was vivid and intriguing, and I found myself completely caught up in the adventures of Claire, Austin, Dean and Jacques. You do not want to miss out on this hugely entertaining read, so buy "Summon the Keeper" today. I promise you will not regret it!

I've read and enjoyed Tanya Huff's Four Quarters series, but never truly expected the twisted shadings of humour that pepper this book. A hole to hell in the basement (that seems to have a split personality), an elevator that opens to the bridge of the Enterprise, a snide geriatric cat and a male housekeeper that not only does windows, but looks REALLY good while he does it...and that's just the bare bones of this carnival ride to the Elysian Fields Guest House. As a Canadian, I'm thoroughly delighted to see such a great book poking fun at our usual image. When can we expect a sequel? Soon, I hope.

I grabbed this book as something to read aloud to my husband on a long drive, and was delighted to discover that Tanya Huff had set her capable hand to an intriguing story that is also a delightful romp, full of jokes and references. As other reviewers have noted, her main character is Claire, with her cat, Austin. Claire is a Keeper, one of the folk who help humanity, and the universe, survive cosmic "accidents." But of course they do it quietly, kind of behind the scenes. In this case, Claire gets stuck with a rather "interesting" B & B-type house complete with a Sleeper you don't want to wake, a lascivious but appealing ghost (whose French provided me with a great challenge reading this book aloud!), a very hunky, good-hearted caretaker (whose name happens to be Dean and whose description immediately reminded me of a certain other Dean who played a good-hearted hunk not too long ago on television), and a Pit to Hell-which just happens to talk to itself. Of course, Claire comes to conclusion that the "accident" is that Pit, and that she must be there to close it. This problem (and its connection to that Sleeper in Room 6) is complicated by an obstreperous nosey neighbor and her dog, various eclectic visitors, and Claire's younger sister. Not to mention Austin (who talks). The humor had both of us laughing aloud. Highly recommended!

"Summon the Keeper" is a hilarious entry into what I hope will be a new series from the talented pen of Ms. Huff. Claire Hansen is a Keeper, one of the descendents of Adam and Lilith who, well, basically saves the universe from the forces of evil on a regular basis. As the book opens, Claire is on her way to answer a summons when she and her smart-ass cat (are there any other kind?) Austin get caught in a rainstorm. (Did I mention that Austin talks?) They duck into the less than welcoming shelter of the Elysian Fields Guesthouse. The next morning, Claire awakens to find herself the new owner of the guesthouse, which comes complete with: 1) a lascivious French ghost, 2) a sweet, yet hunky young caretaker named Dean, 3) a (very dusty)woman who's been asleep in Room Six for decades and 4) a hole to Hell in the furnace room. Claire has to find a way to seal the hole to Hell without awakening the occupant of Room Six (trouble with a capital T), resist the charms of her amorous ghost, fight her attraction to the wholesome Dean, and deal with an impetuous younger sister with more power than commonsense. You think YOU'VE had a hard day? Highly recommended!