THE DARKEST PLEASURE

Author: Gena Showalter ISBN: 9780373773107 7/2008 PARANORMAL Publisher: HQN

He can bear any pain but the thought of losing her. Reyes is a man possessed. Bound by the demon of pain, he is forbidden to know pleasure. Yet he craves a mortal woman, Danika Ford, more than breath and will do anything to claim her—even defy the gods. Danika is on the run. For months, she's eluded the Lords of the Underworld, immortal warriors who won't rest until she and her family have been destroyed. But her dreams are haunted by Reyes, the warrior whose searing touch she can't forget. Yet a future together could mean death to all they both hold dear. . .

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Okay, so I have to admit that after reading Gena Showalter's THE DARKEST KISS, I had to read THE DARKEST PLEASURE to see how the two compared. Would it be as good? Would I love the characters as much? Would I be stuck to it like I was THE DARKEST KISS?

Well...

YES, YES, and YES! I am so excited about this series because I have been in a bit of a "paranormal rut" lately, and even my Feehans and Kenyons have not been able to pull me out of it! I am happy to report that The Lords of the Underworld did!

Reyes is the Keeper of Pain and I was very intrigued by his story. I wondered how Gena Showalter was going to be able to write a decent story about a warrior possessed by the demon of pain who could not get any pleasure unless he was hurt. It could have gone either way to my way of thinking—it could have been a pretty naughty BDSM novel... or it could have been exactly what it was—awesome and complicated, but at the same time, simple and beautiful.

Reyes is the perfect hero to my way of thinking. He is one bad son-of-a-pup and tougher than tough. No one is going to hurt a woman who is under his protection, a woman who is on the run from the Lords themselves after being brutally attacked by one of them. But when Reyes makes up his mind that Danika is his, there isn't an evil or good soul in Heaven or Hell that he won't take down for her—even one of his warrior brothers.

Danika has ran for what seems like forever, away from an evil that she cannot control. She has no idea why Aeron, Keeper of the Wrath demon and one of the Lords of the Underworld, would be trying to kill her and her entire family. She has run and run and is so tired when she is caught by Hunters—people who want to kill all of the Lords of the Underworld. She is essentially used as Bait for the Hunters in their quest to take down the Lords, but once she realizes that Reyes isn't the brutal man that she thought he was, she begins to have doubts about her role in the entire process.

Reyes and Danika have spectacular chemistry, and their sex scenes are explosive! Again, here the author could have walked a very thin line and it could have gone either way, but luckily, with some great writing and beautiful characters... it just worked.

Gena Showalter is proving to me so far that she is a force to be reckoned with in the paranormal world! I have a feeling that I will be following this series for a long time to come!

Kristal Gorman