Review: The Darkest Kiss by Gena Showalter

Reviewer: Casee
The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld #2) by Gena Showalter
Series: Lords of the Underworld #2
Also in this series: The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld #1), The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld #3), The Darkest Whisper (Lords of the Underworld #4), The Darkest Passion (Lords of the Underworld #5), The Darkest Lie (Lords of the Underworld #6), The Darkest Torment (Lords of the Underworld, #12), The Darkest Promise (Lords of the Underworld, #13), The Darkest Warrior (Lords of the Underworld, #14)

Publication Date: May 20, 2008
Point-of-View: Third
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 368
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating:

She has tempted many men...but never found her equal. Until now.Though she has lived for centuries, Anya, goddess of Anarchy, has never known pleasure. Until Lucien, the incarnation of death--a warrior eternally doomed to take souls to the hereafter. He draws her like no other. And Anya will risk anything to have him.

But when the merciless Lord of the Underworld is ordered by the gods to claim Anya herself, their uncontrollable attraction becomes an anguished pursuit. Now they must defeat the unconquerable forces that control them, before their thirst for one another demands a sacrifice of love beyond imagining...

This is the 2nd book in Showalter’s Lords of the Underworld Series. Though I didn’t love The Darkest Night, the premise of the series was definitely interesting. After opening Pandora’s box and releasing the demons inside, the warriors responsible were cursed by the Gods. Made immortal and each forced to take a demon inside themselves, they each had to learn to control the demon inside. Now, over a thousand years later, the Lords of the Underworld are once again at war with the Hunters. A group of humans, the Hunters mission is destroy the Lords thus bringing peace on Earth.

Lucien was cursed with the demon of Death. Death is summoned to escort human souls to Heaven or Hell and is helpless to resist the pull. Lucien is also the leader of the Lords. When they were first cursed, Lucien was the first one to get control over his demon. After years of forging a path of death and destruction, Lucien found happiness w/ a mortal woman. When she got sick and Lucien was summoned to escort her soul, he resisted which forced unspeakable pain on her. After that Lucien swore that he would never love another and viciously scarred his face to repel women.

There’s one woman he can’t repel, a woman who can’t stay away from him. Anya the (Minor) Goddess of Anarchy is drawn to Lucien in a way that baffles her. Carrying her own curse, Anya tends to avoid men. She can’t avoid Lucien, is in fact drawn to him again and again. Then, Cronus, the King of Gods orders Lucien to kill her b/c she has something that he wants for himself. Anya doesn’t make it easy for Lucien, not that he really wants to kill her anyway.

Not only has Lucien been ordered to kill Anya, he also learns that the Hunters are searching for Pandora’s box. Only with the box will keep the demons be leashed. Killing any of the Lords only releases the demon to wreak havoc in the world. Unfortunately, being separated from their demons will kill the Lords. So the Lords have to find Pandora’s box first. There are four artifacts scattered throughout the world. The four artifacts together will lead to Pandora’s box. And the race is on.

Anya was an interesting heroine. Even as Anarchy, she had an innocence about her that was unexpected. It somehow worked, as unlikely as that seems. I did think that her modern day slang was a little over the top. At first it was cute, then it just got old. Lucien was the perfect man for Anya b/c he let her be herself. He didn’t assume that he knew what was best for her. I really look forward to seeing where this series goes.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Lords of the Underworld

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