Review - The Darkest Kiss

Title: The Darkest Kiss
Author: Gena Showalter
Publishing Date: June 2008
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: C
Sensuality: Hot

The Darkest Kiss is book two in Gena Showalter’s Lords of the Underworld series. The Lord of Death, Lucian has been ordered by the Gods to kill Anya, the goddess of anarchy. Unfortunately for Lucian, Anya’s soul is one he can’t seem to force himself to take. He finds himself attracted to her zest for life and of course, her sexy body. If that is not enough, the warriors are dealing with the fanatical Hunters who wish to imprison them while they look for Pandora’s Box. Once the Hunter’s get their greedy hands on the box, they plan to kill the warriors and lock the demons back into the box.

I enjoyed Anya’s personality. She has a great sense of humor and she brings out the best in Lucian’s so serious, I’m-a-stick-in-the-mud, personality. He really needed to lighten up and Anya manages to do that for him. She has her quirks, with her constant need for chaos. She manages to control her impulse to wreck havoc by stealing. This is pretty minor to some of the damage she has caused in the past. She finds herself drawn to Lucian in a way that no other man has been able to do. Only, sadly for her, Lucian wants nothing to do with her and fights his attraction pretty much the whole book.

This is where I got annoyed. Too much time of the book was spent with the characters mental lusting after each other. This is a sore spot with me and something I really can’t stand. I much prefer action or dialog to a character droning on and on about how they feel. Urrrrhhhhhaaa. It really gets my goat.

I will say that the world building is coming along nicely. There is a brief continuation of part of the plot from book one involving Danika and Reyes and Aeron. Paris begins his story as well. I must say as brief as these story arcs were, I was totally hooked on what was happening. I already have the next book The Darkest Pleasure, which is Reyes and Danika’s story. I just hope the mental lusting is toned down a lot.

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Review - The Darkest Night

Title: The Darkest Night
Author: Gena Showalter
Publishing Date: May 2008
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: C
Sensuality: Hot

The Darkest Night is the first book in the series Lords of the Underworld. Maddox was once an immortal warrior of the Gods until he screwed up big time. He and a number of other immortal warriors like him attacked Pandora and allowed what was in her box to escape. The box was full of demons. As punishment, the Gods put a demon in each warrior and Maddox received Violence. With Violence residing inside Maddox, he himself becomes consumed with a violence that he cannot always control. He unwillingly hurts others and himself conflicting all sorts of damage on his surroundings.

Ashlyn Darrow, all her life, has heard voices. When she is around other people she can hear their thoughts constantly bombarding her. If she is in a room where others have had a conversation, she can hear the conversation after it has taken place. The voices never stop until she is with Maddox. She hears of the Angels on the hill and goes to find them hoping that they can help rid her of her “gift.” As soon has she meets Maddox, she is frightened by his ferocity and yet all the voices stop.

I had a few issues with this book because there is so much going on in this story. First off, there are a slew of warriors; each with his own demon housed inside him. At first it is complicated trying to keep them all straight, but after a while they sink in. Then, halfway through the book, the reader is introduced to another batch of warriors and the confusion starts all over again.

I also had a problem with Ashlyn. She was very wishy-washy in the first half of the book. When she first meets Maddox, she begs him not to leave her. However, as soon as she gets to his home, she tries to run away the first chance she gets. I didn’t understand her motivation and she just ended up annoying me. Towards the latter half of the book, she does become more consistent in her feelings for Maddox.

I think the romance suffered because Showalter had so much world building to do in this first book. I also think that there were too many plot devices going on outside of the romance and this overshadowed Maddox and Ashlyn’s relationship. This was not the best romance, but it was an interesting story. I think there is potential in this series so I will be reading the next book to see if it gets any better. A more likable heroine and less plot devices would be an improvement in my mind.

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