Review: The Hellhound Growl by Ariana Jade

The Hellhound Growl (The Griffin Sanctuary #8)
by Ariana Jade

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
Age Category: New Adult
Type of romance: f/f

Blurb:
A new variety of hellhound has landed in the Griffin Sanctuary and it’s causing trouble with the other animals and starting fires. Charlotte and the team of experts will have to try every trick in the book to look after this strange hellhound while making sure the entire sanctuary doesn’t go up in flames.
****
The Hellhound Growl is book 8 in the modern fantasy Griffin Sanctuary series. It is packed full of adventure, mythical creatures, and a sapphic romantic sub-plot.

If you enjoy mythical creatures, zoo documentaries, slow burn sapphic romantic sub-plots, and a heroine who loves animals, you’re going to love The Unicorn Herd.

My Review

I received a free copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.

I really like this series and I was looking forward to reading this newest book in the series. I really enjoyed this one and it really gripped my attention from the start. I felt so sad for Obie, who is a hellhound who has been mistreated by his previous owner and it was so awesome to see him slowly improve and come out of shell at the Griffins Sanctuary due to Charlotte’s help.

I felt like this book was another important one in terms of Charlotte’s development. This is the first case she’s handling alone and I really liked seeing how she helped Obie and how much she valued doing what was right for him. I did feel she sometimes neglected herself and I hope in future books she will do better with that, but it is because her heart is in the right place and she just cares about these animals so much.

I liked reading about Obie and Charlotte and seeing how she helped Obie feel more comfortable and eventually become more himself after the trauma he has been through. The scenes when she figures out what his favorite treat is was so fun and I also really liked the scenes were you can really feel Obie improving. I think this book is one of my favorites in the series and I really liked the bond Obie and Charlotte form throughout the book.

Just like in the previous books I really like how the author makes these mythical animals feel so real and realistic. In this case there’s this explanation about how Obie can set himself on fire and it are these little details that really add to the series for me. They don’t just feel like magical animals with no explanation about how any of it works, but real ones that need care and I like how these explanations and details make them feel more real. It also was fun to see and hear a bit about some of the other animals, like the unicorns that make another appearance.

I did feel the romance took a backseat in this one, there isn’t as much about it, although luckily this also meant not much drama on that front. The scenes they did have together were sweet and supportive, which I liked. I also liked seeing the decision they make at the end and I look forward to seeing what this means for them in future books.

To summarize: I really enjoyed this book and it’s one of my favorites in this series so far. I really liked reading about Obie and seeing how Charlotte took care of him and helped him. And seeing the hellhound go from timid and afraid to slowly coming out of his shell was just amazing to see. I really liked the scenes in which we see Obie noticeable improving or were Charlotte figured something out like his favorite treat. I also liked how the author makes these animals feel so real and realistic with their behavior and the details about the more mythical aspects like the setting himself on fire works. There was less focus on the romance in this one, but the scenes that were there were sweet. This book felt like another important one for Charlotte’s development and there’s a big romance development at the end as well. I look forward to the next book!

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.