Rating: 
Summary: Between the Hunk and Hell
Review: 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 cats. To make life complete, Claire has a sister, Diana, also a Keeper, who is a decade younger, but much more powerful and, in her own mind, infinitely wiser. This novel is a mystery story with a strong element of humor. There is the running dialogue between Claire and Austin; never argue with a cat, for you can't win. Then there are the situational jokes involving Vampires, Werewolves, Greek gods, and Halloween trick or treaters. Since the milieu is Canadian, there are the French Canadian and New Foundland jokes, not to mention the throwaway "Bob's your uncle" remark. And then there are a few American jokes. But, most of all, there are the contributions of Hell itself. This story doesn't have a strong plot, but is focused mainly on relationships. Of course, there is the lover triad among Claire, Dean and Jacques, but also the interactions between Claire and Austin and those within the Hansen family. Highly recommended to Huff fans and to anyone else who enjoys fantasy with a strong vein of humor.
Rating:
Summary: Funny as H..... heck
Review: Claire Hansen is a Keeper and a long with her talking cat, Austin, she travels the world keeping too much evil from leaking into it. She stops at a hotel one night and awakes to find she is now the owner of the hotel. Of course this is not ordinary hotel. It comes complete with a hole to hell, a sleeping evil Keeper, and some truly ugly furniture. Fortunately for Clare the place isn't a complete loss, It comes with a pair of very hot men. There's Dean, a handsome handy man who's only fault is that he's way too young. Then there's Jacques, a very sexy French Canadian who's only problem is that he's also very dead. My favorite thing about Tanya Huff's writing is that she rarely takes herself too seriously. This is probably why Summon the Keeper is my favorite book by her. It's a very silly book that has almost no plot but fun characters. Well that's not entirely true, it does have a plot but the plot doesn't take up a lot of the book. The book is mostly filled up with funky little side stories and sticky character situations. Anyone who likes horror with a lot of comedy will like this one.
Rating:
Summary: For a great time...
Review: I thought this book was great! I bought it on a whim but after one chapter I could not put it down. It was just too funny. If you are looking for a good book to read on a long weekend or on a cold winters night, this is a great choice.
Rating: 
Summary: Cute and funny, but missing something.
Review: Claire Hansen is a Keeper, someone gifted with magical powers and burdened with fixing metaphysical accidents. When she and her talking cat Austin answer a summons they are suprised to find themselves in charge of a Bed and Breakfast with a hole to Hell in the furnace room. Claire resents the job from the start, feeling that she is far too young to become an eccentric recluse. Complicating matters is the hunky stud who works there, an amorous ghost who lusts to be made flesh, and assorted odd guests (vampires, werewolves, and retired Greek Gods). Then there is the irritating neighbor and her pet doberman, Baby. Make no mistake, Summon the Keeper is laugh out loud funny more times than not and the characters are vibrant and likable. But the novel is missing a very important element, a strong story to link all these events together. As it is now, the book reads like several scripts to an inventive sitcom taped together. It's just fluffy escapism that's as solid as cotton candy.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it.
Review: This was a good, light, fantasy read. It reminded me a little of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I loved Claire, Dean, Jacques, and of course, Austin. The way Claire and Austin fought back and forth was hilarious. His pithy, dry comments throughout the book kept it from being to schmaltzy(?) and cute.
I bought this book and finished it in about 6 hrs. I recommend it highly to anyone looking for a good funny fantasy read.
Rating: 
Summary: Something a little different
Review: Its not that often that you get to read a book about someone being summoned to close up a hole to "heck". Nice mix of humans and non-humans. Talking cat is a hoot.
Rating:
Summary: Summon the Humor
Review: Start with the Keeper, Claire Hansen and Austin, your typical, know-it-all, talking cat. Add the Elysian Fields Guesthouse (a rundown bed and breakfast) with a hole to Hell in the furnace room, an evil Keeper doing a Sleeping (not-so) Beauty in Room Six, the ghost of a sailor who died in the hotel in the attic, and the near-sighted, well-built handyman, Dean (sigh!) - well, what's a Keeper to do?! Run the place! With sarcastic comments from Hell adding to the confusion as well as tempting Claire in the morning every morning in her mirror - btw, Hell talks to itself. Claire is more than a little frustrated by the situation because it looks like she's going to be stuck there the rest of her life! In the meantime, guests keep showing up and they aren't your average guests - a vampire, a pair of werewolves, a tour of retired Olympians (think Mt Olympias, not the Olympics here), and a medium - Claire has her hands full. Not to mention a mouse problem or an imp problem, Claire insists. My favorite part is Halloween when they get more than the average trick-or-treaters. The pacing is excellent and humor laces everything - even Hell. So book your trip to Kingston and get a room at the Elysian Fields Guesthouse, just remember the rules:
Never tell anyone where to go - they might!
Don't wake HER in Room Six.
Ignore the dead guy and the brightly colored mice or imps - whichever you prefer.
The Historian is on the left side of Reality and the Apothecary on the right.
Compliment the cook, he's a hunk and he does windows too!
Ignore any voices speaking in block letters in your head.
And don't forget to feed the cat!!
Rating:
Summary: Cool
Review: I enjoyed this book. There was a lot of dry humor and interesting twist. A good way to spend a rainy day or late night.
Rating:
Summary: Loved it!
Review: I highly rec. this book. very fun and escapist in the way that terry pratchett used to be--except with a feminist sensibility he never had.
liked the second in the series also--both books had me laughing out loud.
Rating:
Summary: Keep Summoning Tanya!
Review: I can not say enough about these books. I enjoyed Huff's "Blood" series with her sexy vampire Henry. I enjoyed Claire and her cat Austin so much more. From Claire's description of her job and abilities while trying to explain things to Dean to the hysterical arguments of hell, I was laughing from page one. Austin's comments (and priorities) are amusing and Jacque's got some great pick up lines for a dead guy. A faulty elevator and a guest in room 6 that just isn't in any shape to leave (she's a little dusty) and Claire's got her work cut out for her. Even the secondary characters have a certain something about them that makes you hope they leap out of the pages and come for tea. Visiting Olympians (and I don't mean athletes here) as well as some guests who need more than strong sunscreen in the daylight hours spice up Claire's new employment opportunity. The book is humorous, the characters are not only likeable but believable (okay, with the exception of a talking cat - remember, this IS fantasy!), and the ending is satisfying. After finishing this book I had to read THE SECOND SUMMONING and I'm anxiously hoping and awaiting news of another summons from Tanya Huff.
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