Review of The Darkest Seduction by Gena Showalter

One of the things that persuaded me to get back into this series was the fact that I knew Paris had a book. Not only do I sort of grudgingly like Paris (I'll explain the grudging part in a minute), but the set up between Paris and Sienna, which took place earlier in the series, was really excellent.

Paris is possessed by the demon of Promiscuity, and one of the consequences of his possession is that he can only sleep with a woman one time--after which, he will fail to respond to her sexually ever again. Sienna had the distinction of being the first woman to arouse him twice, before she was abruptly killed. Now Sienna is a spirit, and is also possessed by the demon Wrath. Paris still wants her, and is willing to brave all kinds of hell to get her back.

The secret society/band of brothers trope in paranormal romance usually features some predictable cookie cutter personality types. There's always the leader/series strategy guy. There's the hacker/technology savvy genius. The legitimately crazy/genuinely scared one. The unusually normal guy who is the most in touch with the human world. The smurfette.  And then there's Captain Super Dick--the one who sleeps with approximately all of the women. I generally hate Captain Super Dick. I even had problems with Rhage from BDB, though admittedly he won me over in the end. But generally, I hate unapologetic man-sluts. I hate that their behavior is rarely seen as bad and is often actually lauded for behavior that would get a female character blacklisted.  And Paris is, of course, Captain Super Dick.

What distinguished Paris to the point where I'm kind of fond of him is the fact that he actually doesn't like the revolving door to his bedroom. Showalter describes his dilemma in such a way that I can see why that would get really depressing after a hundred years or so. She actually made me sad that he has so much sex. I don't think any author, not even Ward, has made me feel the plight of the ever-horny in quite this way. What's more is that, this dilemma makes Sienna valuable to Paris even before he really loves her, and that gives us an interesting premise to build the entire quest of this book on.

Sienna, if I'm being honest, is still a bit bland in personality. Despite Showalter's attempts to load up her back story and give her solid motivation, in the end I don't feel that I'll remember her. When I compare her to some of the other heroines in the series, who stand out both for their huge personalities and grand powers, she just falls short. No matter who's power she absorbs or how big a deal she is.

Anyway, the romance in this one is more than adequate, and I found the plot quite engaging. I would say that among the books in this series, it is far from the best, but it is certainly not the worst. 3.5 stars.

Happy May!

And so we arrive in a brand new, shiny month. April was a truly excellent month for reading. I blew through thirteen novels, and not one of them was appallingly bad (although one was pretty boring). I have so many reviews I need to write, but first and foremost--the best book of April...

Misc Monday: Updates, Schedules, and Squishy Things

My month of random unorganized reading marches on, and I've got a lot of reviews that I need to complete and publish. Lo and behold, a posting schedule.

4/23--Review of Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

4/24--Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Pt. 3

4/26--Review of On Dublin Street by Samantha Young

4/27--Review of Beyond Shame by Kit Rocha

4/28--Review of Family Man by Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton

4/29--Misc. Monday (Topic TBA)

4/30--Review of The Darkest Seduction by Gena Showalter

5/1--Watch This Wednesday (Topic TBA)

5/3--Review of Tidal by Emily Snow

Those of you who are friends with me on Goodreads know that I'm currently reading Rogue Rider by Larissa Ione, and that it's taking me a million years to finish. I actually hit the 50% mark last night, though, so I can confirm that I will be reviewing it at some point coming up, even if it turns into a DNF review (I hope not). I'm also reading Something About You by Julie James, and it's not half bad so far. I'm going to try to get through that one fairly quickly, so that I can start The Elite by Kiera Cass, which comes out tomorrow. You'll more than likely see a review of those three books up in early May as well.

A couple of other notes: I'm doing some housekeeping on this blog. You'll already have noticed the change in theme, which of course I like to change periodically to keep things fresh. I'll also be updating my gadgets, lists, and review policy--everything. Invariably, when I do this, something always ends up a little screwy and I don't always catch glitches and mistakes right away, so if you notice something is off, please let me know,  preferably via email ( readingpenguinATgmailDOTcom ).

One of the things I decided to change was the commenting system-- I went ahead and disabled anonymous commenting. This means that you will now have to be signed in, in one form or another, in order to comment. The reason for this change is the rampant appearance of spam comments I've been getting, sometimes 4 or 5 over the course of a couple hours on a single post, and having to go through and remove all of them is driving me just a little bonkers. Hopefully commenting continues to work for all honest users.

That's really all for now--I'm sorry not to have a more amusing Misc. Monday post for you, but I felt it was important to spend some time on organizing and actually writing all of these reviews instead. Have a great Monday, and as always, Happy Reading!

On Harpies: A Review of The Darkest Surrender by Gena Showalter

Okay, so, remember in the faraway past of 2011, when I said screw this goddamned series, I'm done with it? Yeah, I should learn not to say things like that. When I looked at all of the authors I've rated highly in the past, I realized that I really liked a lot of what Gena Showalter had to offer, and I really liked this series, in spite of the fact that it certainly irritated me at time. At that point, I felt that it merited revisiting. So let's revisit.

This book tells us of the Harpy Games, where harpies compete in teams in bloody battles and games of skill, for a grand prize and bragging rights. When Kaia was very young, she was set to compete, but made a mistake that resulted in a lot of death and Kaia's shunning. Now she's been invited back, and she and her sisters will be competing for an ancient artifact that the Lords of the Underworld need to complete their quest to find Pandora's box. Kaia has been attracted to Strider for some time, and actually believes that he's her consort (fated mate), so she wants him to come along. He agrees, despite an insistence that he wants nothing to do with Kaia. He has his own agenda to steal the prize before anyone can win it, but he soon gets caught up in Kaia and her quest for respect among the harpies.

One of the things like I appreciate about Showalter is her mostly equal treatment of male and female characters. Some of our heroines are weaklings, yes, but that's mostly because they're human, and they're always given some power or ability to compensate. I freaking love the harpies. They are badass chicks who break all of the rules. And yet Kaia has insecurities, makes mistakes, and has major regrets. She's an accessible, fun, and fascinating heroine. I like how she openly pursues Strider as her consort.

Going into this book, I had no feelings about Strider one way or another. He's not the sexiest of the Lords, but he isn't the most annoying either. Getting inside his head for the duration of this book actually made me like him more. His relationship with his demon is interesting. Winning gives him physical pleasure and inflates his ego, but he's pretty self-aware about all of it. Once he decides to be with Kaia they're great together, which is obviously a plus. The downside of his character is the rather unfortunate way that he views sex as a result of his demon. Once he discovers that Kaia has slept with Paris, he doesn't want her, because he doesn't think he can outdo Paris sexually. Yeah, I was not a fan of that plot point. It seemed trite and immature somehow.  Thankfully there are many good scenes later to make up for it.

I'm happy to be back with this series for however long it can hold my interest. I found it pretty easy to slip back into, even after years away from it--not sure whether that's a positive or negative. In any case, I can recommend this book to casual fans of the series, and I look forward to more. 3.5 stars.

Misc. Monday: Scheduled Reading vs. Impulsive Reading

Good news everyone! I've been reading lately. I've been reading extensively. I've been finishing books in two days or less which, at the snail-like pace I go means a lot. I haven't been doing as well with the actual reviewing of these book, but hopefully this week I'll change that around.

Reading heavily in public and semi-private (e.g, breakroom at work), is and has always been an interesting experience for me. Someone always always wants to know what I'm reading. I've never gotten good at answering those questions with a non-offensive, non-awkward non-lie. You never know how judgmental the person making the inquiry is, and it's not like you can ask. "Before I answer, are you super religious? Prudish? Homophobic? Elitist, snobby? Are you going to use my answer to label me and shove me into a category according to carefully constructed schema?" That does happen. "Oh, she reads romance novels! She must be one of those lonely cat ladies!" You can always try to confuse and redirect by describing the least touchy aspects of the plot. "Oh, it's a story set in a dystopian future, in which this girl is kicked out of her community and has to survive in the much rougher outside world." There, I just described Beyond Shame without referencing anything that anyone would find offensive. The problem with over-describing is that many people will eventually ask you for a title, and they will eventually figure out that what you were reading is nothing like The Hunger Games, not at all.

But I digress.

You all know that I was going through a reading slump last month, and I really struggled with what felt like my brain rebelling against every book I opened. I don't know how it happened, but I kind of came out of it thinking, "Fuck it, I'm just gonna read whatever the hell I feel like reading now." And thus began the impulsive bout of book gorging such as I have not indulged in since before I started this blog. I've long been an eclectic reader and always been kind of a mood reader, but since starting my blog I've tried to keep the moodiness under control in the name of maintaining a varied and coherent review schedule. The thing is though, I don't think schedules are good for me right now. I've been finishing books faster and with more enjoyment because I start them with the childish glee of just pulling the shiniest book off the shelf (or out of the Kindle wishlist, as the case may be).

So, yeah, I think we're going to stay off the map for a little while. It should be fun, though I do apologize to any of my readers who have OCD or are inordinately fond of schedules. I will try to post a review schedule sometime soon, once they are written and I'm sure that they will be up on time. See you soon, and as always, Happy Reading!

Happy April!

Hi! Yeah, I'm still alive. It's been shockingly difficult to  get my brain in gear to blog lately, but I'm nevertheless here, on a new shiny non-sucky laptop no less. This one has, like, working keys and a screen and everything--all the amenities. Hopefully April will see more posts as a result.

First things first, let's crown the best book of March!

Misc. Monday: Top Ten Authors Reviewed on RtP

I promised to show you guys what my top ten authors list would look like if I nixed all genre restrictions, and here it is! To be fair, though, I did limit my list to authors of novels, leaving out graphic novel/comic writers, because I don't feel up to scoring those fairly. I'm a lot happier with this list, and I think it will be interesting to come back in six months or a year and see how things have changed. Or not.

 

#10: Julie Anne Long

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 18

Reviewed Works: The Perils of Pleasure, Like No Other Lover, Since the Surrender, I Kissed an Earl, What I Did for a Duke, How the Marquess Was One

What Make Her Awesome: Julie Anne Long writes the Pennyroyal Green series, a which centers around a small English town with two feuding families. I didn't really care for the first book of the series, finding it mediocre and boring. But then, magically, as I tried more of her work, I discovered that she has a talent for writing a different, unique, and engaging story for each character. You never know exactly what you're going to get, but you know it's likely to be good. Visit Her Website: http://www.julieannelong.com/index.shtml

#9: Nora Roberts

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 18

Reviewed Works: Sea Swept, Rising Tides, Inner Harbor, Chesapeake Blue

What Makes Her Awesome: Nora Roberts writes amazing contemporary romance with some of the best male characters around.  Visit Her Website: http://www.noraroberts.com/

#8: Gena Showalter

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 18.5

Reviewed Works: The Darkest Night, The Darkest Kiss, The Darkest Pleasure, The Darkest Whisper, The Darkest Passion, The Darkest Lie, The Darkest Secret

What Makes Her Awesome: Until compiling this list, I had actually forgotten how very awesome I found these books. I was so fed up and disappointed by two or three of her books, that I actually stopped reading her altogether. Her place on this list, though, makes me think that I really ought to give her another shot. Her books are dark and sexy and worth at least a try.   http://members.genashowalter.com/

#7: Jennifer Estep

 Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 19.5

Reviewed Works: Spider's Bite, Touch of Frost, Kiss of Frost, Dark Frost, Crimson Frost

What Makes Her Awesome: I discovered this author via SBTB book club, when we read Touch of Frost. Since then, I've been following the Mythos Academy series pretty closely, and I've also started her Elemental Assassin series. She's very imaginative, writes wonderfully strong heroines, and ties everything together with a pleasantly simple style. Visit her website: http://www.jenniferestep.com/

#6: Karen Marie Moning

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 20.5

Reviewed Works: Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever, Shadowfever

What Makes Her Awesome: A long while back, before I started this blog, I read a fair number of the Highlander books. I've never reviewed them, but I enjoyed them well enough. Then the fever series came out, and I was extremely skeptical. Back then I didn't read urban fantasy in general, and I specifically didn't care for first person narratives. She totally converted me. Visit he website: http://www.karenmoning.com/kmm/

#5: Courtney Milan

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 22

Reviewed Works: Unlocked, Unveiled, Unclaimed, Unraveled, The Duchess War

What Makes Her Awesome: Courtney Milan writes historical romance in a completely unique way. She writes heroines that you can like and respect, and deliciously unusual heroes that you fall in love with. No cookie cutter characters for her. Visit Her Website: http://www.courtneymilan.com/

#4: Larissa Ione

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 28.5

Reviewed Works: Pleasure Unbound, Passion Unleashed, Desire Unchained, Ecstasy Unveiled, Sin Undone, Eternal Rider, Immortal Rider, Lethal Rider

What Makes Her Awesome: Larissa Ione writes dark, sexy paranormal books that I always enjoy in a purely guilty sort of way. I love the demons and the visits to hell and all of the characters with their possibly evil dark sides. All around good, creepy fun. Visit Her Website: http://larissaione.com/blog/

#3: Kresley Cole

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 34

Reviewed Works:  A Hunger Like No Other, No Rest For the Wicked, Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night, Dark Desires After Dusk, Dark Needs at Night's Edge, Kiss of a Demon King, Deep Kiss of Winter, Pleasure of a Dark Prince, Demon From the Dark, Dreams of a Dark Warrior, The Poison Princess, Shadow's Claim

What Makes Her Awesome: Kresley Cole's writing has a brilliant, light funniness that somehow does not detract from the sexiness of her stories. He heroines are strong and independent and her heroes are fierce, scary monsters. I can't help but look forward to her books, even after a few let me down. Visit Her Website: http://kresleycole.com/paranormal-romance.html

#2: Ilona Andrews

Cumulative RtP Star Rating 34.5

Reviewed Works: Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds, Magic Slays, Gunmetal Magic, On the Edge, Bayou Moon, Fate's Edge

What Makes Her Awesome:  Ilona Andrews is actually a husband and wife writing team, and they are awesome in general. Not only are they very talented, they're also fairly generous with their work, always offering little goodies and alternate points of view on their blog. I'm not that impressed with The Edge series, but the Kate Daniels series is easily one of my favorite ongoing series to date, and I'm not really sure what I'll do with myself when it ends. I've got a couple years to go, fortunately. Visit their website: http://www.ilona-andrews.com/

#1: Lisa Kleypas

  Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 38

Reviewed Works: Secrets of a Summer Night, It Happened One Autumn, The Devil In Winter, Scandal in Spring, Mine Til Midnight, Seduce Me at Sunrise, Tempt Me at Twilight, Married by Morning, Love in the Afternoon

What Makes Her Awesome: At first, her position in the number one spot on this list probably seems surprising. I haven't talked about Lisa Kleypas as loudly or as often as some of the authors lower on the list. But, in fact, Kleypas is responsible for sparking my interest in historical romance, when before I stuck almost entirely to PNR with the occasional contemporary thrown in. She can make a dull setting and situation funny, and her characters are as charming as you could ask for. Visit Her Website: http://www.lisakleypas.com/

Misc. Monday: Top Ten Romance Authors on RtP

Developing a list of the ten most highly rated and reviewed authors on this blog was something of an educational experience. It was fun to look back on the books that I've read and reread over the last year and a half. I initially composed this list with pure mathematics--by adding up positive star ratings on a spreadsheet. I then made some readjustments based on how re-readable I find the author's work and how likely I am to read more of their work in the future.

This being a purely romance list forced me to leave off a lot of authors who write in other genres. A top list of authors with no genre restrictions would be a very different list indeed.

#10: Julie Anne Long

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 11.5

Reviewed Works: The Perils of Pleasure, Like No Other Lover, Since the Surrender, I Kissed an Earl, What I Did for a Duke

What Make Her Awesome: Julie Anne Long writes the Pennyroyal Green series, a which centers around a small English town with two feuding families. I didn't really care for the first book of the series, finding it mediocre and boring. But then, magically, as I tried more of her work, I discovered that she has a talent for writing a different, unique, and engaging story for each character. You never know exactly what you're going to get, but you know it's likely to be good. Visit Her Website: http://www.julieannelong.com/index.shtml

#9: Jolene Perry 

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 12

Reviewed Works: Night Sky, Knee Deep, The Next Door Boys

What Makes Her Awesome: Jolene Perry writes deeply thoughtful contemporary YA and New Adult romance. I was first introduced to her work when I was asked to read Night Sky for a blog tour, and it turned out to be one of my favorite books of 2012.  I like that she writes nice, well rounded teenagers that occasionally find themselves in rough (really rough) situations, and that they deal with them realistically. Visit Her Website: http://www.jolenebperry.com/Jolene_B_Perry/Jolene.html

#8: Karina Bliss

Cumulative  RtP Star Rating: 12.5

Reviewed Works: Here Comes the Groom, Stand-In Wife, Bring Him Home, What the Librarian Did

What Makes Her Awesome: Karina Bliss writes Harlequin Superomance, dramatic and heart-wrenching stories set in contemporary New Zealand. Her Special Forces series, which begins with Here Comes the Groom, is particularly enjoyable. The heroes are soldiers trying to put their lives back together after their war experiences. Visit Her Website: http://www.karinabliss.com/

 

#7: Nalini Singh

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 16

Reviewed Works: Angel's Blood, Archangel's Kiss, Archangel's Consort, Archangel's Blade, Archangel's Storm

What Makes Her Awesome: When I first encountered Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series, I was really unimpressed. Her other series, though, is purely fantastic. The Guild Hunter series is gripping, elegant, deeply addictive paranormal romance. It blends horror, fantasy, and pure love stories in as seamless a manner as I've seen. Visit Her Website: http://www.nalinisingh.com/

#6: Gena Showalter

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 18.5

Reviewed Works: The Darkest Night, The Darkest Kiss, The Darkest Pleasure, The Darkest Whisper, The Darkest Passion, The Darkest Lie, The Darkest Secret

What Makes Her Awesome: Until compiling this list, I had actually forgotten how very awesome I found these books. I was so fed up and disappointed by two or three of her books, that I actually stopped reading her altogether. Her place on this list, though, makes me think that I really ought to give her another shot. Her books are dark and sexy and worth at least a try.   http://members.genashowalter.com/

#5: Courtney Milan

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 22

Reviewed Works: Unlocked, Unveiled, Unclaimed, Unraveled, The Duchess War

What Makes Her Awesome: Courtney Milan writes historical romance in a completely unique way. She writes heroines that you can like and respect, and deliciously unusual heroes that you fall in love with. No cookie cutter characters for her. Visit Her Website: http://www.courtneymilan.com/

#4: Nora Roberts

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 18

Reviewed Works: Sea Swept, Rising Tides, Inner Harbor, Chesapeake Blue

What Makes Her Awesome: Math put this amazing author lower on the list, but that's purely because I read so many of her works prior to this blog, and although I've talked about them, I've never formally reviewed them. So, I bumped her up a bit. Nora Roberts writes amazing contemporary romance with some of the best male characters around.  Visit Her Website: http://www.noraroberts.com/

#3: Larissa Ione

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 28.5

Reviewed Works: Pleasure Unbound, Passion Unleashed, Desire Unchained, Ecstasy Unveiled, Sin Undone, Eternal Rider, Immortal Rider, Lethal Rider

What Makes Her Awesome: Larissa Ione writes dark, sexy paranormal books that I always enjoy in a purely guilty sort of way. I love the demons and the visits to hell and all of the characters with their possibly evil dark sides. All around good, creepy fun. Visit Her Website: http://larissaione.com/blog/

#2: Kresley Cole

Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 30

Reviewed Works:  A Hunger Like No Other, No Rest For the Wicked, Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night, Dark Desires After Dusk, Dark Needs at Night's Edge, Kiss of a Demon King, Deep Kiss of Winter, Pleasure of a Dark Prince, Demon From the Dark, Dreams of a Dark Warrior, The Poison Princess

What Makes Her Awesome: Kresley Cole's writing has a brilliant, light funniness that somehow does not detract from the sexiness of her stories. He heroines are strong and independent and her heroes are fierce, scary monsters. I can't help but look forward to her books, even after a few let me down. Visit Her Website: http://kresleycole.com/paranormal-romance.html 

#1: Lisa Kleypas

  Cumulative RtP Star Rating: 38

Reviewed Works: Secrets of a Summer Night, It Happened One Autumn, The Devil In Winter, Scandal in Spring, Mine Til Midnight, Seduce Me at Sunrise, Tempt Me at Twilight, Married by Morning, Love in the Afternoon

What Makes Her Awesome: At first, her position in the number one spot on this list probably seems surprising. I haven't talked about Lisa Kleypas as loudly or as often as some of the authors lower on the list. But, in fact, Kleypas is responsible for sparking my interest in historical romance, when before I stuck almost entirely to PNR with the occasional contemporary thrown in. She can make a dull setting and situation funny, and her characters are as charming as you could ask for. Visit Her Website: http://www.lisakleypas.com/ 

Misc. Monday: Vices

Hello, and Welcome to Miscellaneous Monday. Until something else exciting happens in real life, I'm going to carry on bringing up topics about the books I read. Today I want to talk about characters behaving badly, and how we, as readers, respond to that behavior.

As this is a slightly more adult topic than usual, I'm labeling this Eighteen and Over Only. Click to read at your own discretion.

The Romance of Capes: Playing With Fire

The reason wives and girlfriends will agree to see this movie.

This week I will be leaving my isolated little igloo once again to see a movie, this time Captain America: The First Avenger. This is my fiance's pick, and since he was such a good sport about Harry Potter I'm doing what I can to get excited for it. I have seen a good number of superhero movies over the last several years. I've played a few of the video games (with very little skill). I can't seem to get into reading the actual comic books, nerd though I am. It's a shame because when it comes down to it, I really like the idea of masked crime fighters.

I've often remarked that superheroes and the heroes and heroines of urban fantasy have a lot in common. In both cases, you most often have an otherwise normal person who develops or discovers
superhuman powers. They learn to use those powers to apprehend/maim/kill the bad guy(s) and save the day. There might be a romance or romances. The only big difference is the clothes. Comic heroes get elaborate costumes and masks. Urban fantasy heroes wear a great deal of black and leather in the name of practicality (anyone who has ever actually worn leather knows that it's NOT practical, it is sweaty). Costumes function to maintain the heroes secret identity, and also serve as a symbol in themselves. Apparently maintaining an alter ego is not an issue in urban fantasy?

I really wish there were more novels that had that dramatic superhero feel. I want a book with masks and capes, over the top villains, sidekicks, illogical superpowers, and lots of gadgets. Recently, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation gave me the masks and the heroics, but it's not quite the same. So I've been searching for good superhero novels. While I dig through my TBR pile for possibilities (I have a few) I thought I'd share one that I read awhile back: Playing With Fire by Gena Showalter.

Basically it's the first person tale of Belle, an ordinary girl with a boring life, who unsuspectingly drinks a formula that gives her powers over the four elements. She is pulled into a world of paranormal wonders she never knew existed right under her nose. Rome, an agent of a paranormal organization, first hunts her to neutralize her but finds himself attracted to her and driven to protect her. Belle is being hunted by many people who want to use her new found powers for their own gains.

The best best things about this book--very cute, very funny, without being too sugery sweet. Belle is clumsy and emotional in the beginning, and seems like kind of a loser but with a good heart. She's so easy to relate to and that makes it all the more fun when she starts to grow both in the use of her powers and as a person. Rome was a very sexy counterpart, very likeable. There's also some interesting secondary characters introduced, such as Tanner the empath who becomes Belle's sidekick. Basically it's all the fun of a comic book but with a romance novel twist.

The negative part--it's a bit predictable. It doesn't have much in the way of truly original ideas.There's a great deal of exposition and world building, much of which is Rome explaining things to Belle. And while the humor is successful in it's own right, it sometimes detracts from the dramatic parts. It's a book that's hard to take seriously because it doesn't take itself seriously. 3 stars.

So there you have it. I wish that I had a five star example of superhero romance readily available, but I just haven't found one yet.

Secrets and Series

I mentioned in a previous post that I had every intention of reading The Darkest Secret by Gena Showalter despite the fact that I found The Darkest Lie to be skim worthy at best. I had a fairly positive experience with the early books in the series, and I really wanted to go on reading and enjoying them. So I'm very sorry to say that I really can't seem to get through The Darkest Secret either. Here I will try to explain why.

This book is about Amun, Keeper of Secrets. In the previous book he went on a quest to hell and was unfortunate enough to become possessed by many demons, and is now in anguish as a result. Haidee is a Hunter with a very long history. Suffice it to say she was once responsible for the death of a Lord--Baden. She has been reborn many times, each time losing happy memories. Strider captures her and puts her in a room next to Amun, where upon they find out that she calms him and keeps him sane.

I want to start off my mentioning the things that did work for me, lest I give the impression that this is a completely horrible book. I was really excited the have Amun as a lead character because he's one of the Lords that we don't know very well. I wanted him to be a wealth of interesting mystery and intrigue, and there are times when this book does give that impression. I also thought Haidee had potential and I liked her back story.

Right of the bat I had some issues with Amun and Haidee meeting under the circumstances that they did. They have some kind of magical/spiritual connection that heals his wounds...and that's fine. I can swallow that. But, she's also been dreaming of him and at first mistakes him for her boyfriend (who looks similar). Taken together that amounts to a pretty contrived initial interaction. Furthermore, the first third of this book is snail-pace slow because Amun is in a sick bed.

My next issue came with Amun's overly cavalier attitude toward Haidee's past. Remember, she helped to kill his friend. She had valid reasons for her actions, and I'm not at all trying to say that she's some sort of horrid villain. But I expected Amun to have feelings of conflicted loyalty--centuries old friendships vs. girl he just met that untrustworthy magic has connected him to. Some sign of an internal struggle would have gone a long way in helping me to connect with Amun.

I also want to mention some stylistic oddities. I don't know if I didn't notice these things in the previous books because I was too busy enjoying them, or if the editing has gotten more lax. Readers familiar with this series will know about Gilly, a teenage runaway, and how she has a crush on William. Their interactions are often sweetly awkward (and just a touch creepy) but in this book...let me show an example.

"Big, wide eyes of the purest chocolate. Sharp cheekbones that hinted at the passion she would one day be capable of giving. A pixie nose, slightly uptilted at the end. Lush pink lips. And framing all that beauty was a cascade of midnight hair." --Gena Showalter, The Darkest Secret

This is how William sees Gilly. I count eight adjectives in that short little paragraph--purple writing if ever I saw it. And I don't even know how exactly cheekbones hint at passion. And it gets weirder when he calls her "Gumdrop", or "Little Gilly Gumdrop". I guess that's supposed to be cute? For me it provoked nervous giggles and feelings of disturbance. I don't mean to imply that the whole book is like this, but there are certainly more examples of the like. Enough to have me cringing and wishing that Showalter had considered further editing.

The reason I really decided to give up on this book was simple boredom. I didn't feel a lot of emotional chemistry between Haidee and Amun. Sexual chemistry maybe, but that alone doesn't work for me. I found the premise unoriginal and the plot slow. I just didn't care what happened next, and after a week and a half of plodding along I felt it was time to raise the white flag. There are other books, after all.

According to my trusty Kindle, I made it 60% of the way through this book. In the interest of fairness, I'm not going to assign it a star rating. But I will say, if you have any doubts about this book, I recommend not even bothering. The early Lords of the Underworld books are decent, but I'm afraid the series has lost it's magic. DNF

Snippet Reviews: Lords of the Underworld

In light of the fact that I'm reading The Darkest Secret by Gena Showalter, I wanted to reflect back on what has been kind of a hit or miss series for me. In that spirit, here are my shorthand (and relatively spoiler free) thoughts on the first six books of the Lords of the Underworld series.

The basic premise of the series is that a group of ancient mythic Greek warriors were responsible for the opening of Pandora's box, and as punishment each is cursed with of of the demons from the box. 

Book One: The Darkest Night: (Maddox Keeper of Violence and Ashlyn) I really enjoyed the world building because I love Greek mythology (even somewhat made up Greek mythology). The huge cast of characters made me dizzy and was a big negative for me. The main characters have complex and interesting back stories, but I didn't connect to either of them strongly. The romance was hot but at times felt forced. 3 stars.

Book Two: The Darkest Kiss :(Lucian Keeper of Death and Anya Goddess of Anarchy) I loved both protagonists: Anya is a pushy, destructive, loveable mess, Lucian is dark and sexy. They're an odd ball couple and it totally worked for me. I liked that the plot had some adventure elements. I felt that the pacing was off, dragging in some places and speeding ahead in others. And yet more characters are added. Oh joy! 4 stars.

Book Three: The Darkest Pleasure : (Reyes Keeper of Pain and Danika) I was worried about this one, because Reyes is essentially a self mutilator and having had close friends who dealt with that I'm sensitive to how it's handled in books. Showalter does an ok job. I really loved Reyes and Danika, I thought their chemistry was believable and worked well within the story. The plot of this one was very strong and engaging. 4 stars.

Book Four: The Darkest Whisper: (Sabin Keeper of Doubt and Gwen the Harpy) In this book I found myself more interested in the supporting cast than the protagonists. I liked Sabin fine, he's macho and sexy. Gwen on the other hand comes across as weak and whiny, only improving marginally throughout the book. I also thought the mythology surrounding the harpies was random and contrived.  Fortunately the plot is entertaining and the secondary cast, familiar to me by this point, keeps the book together. 4 stars.

Book Five: The Darkest Passion: (Aeron Keeper of Wrath and Olivia the Angel) I was so excited to see an angel heroine. Olivia was a wimp at first, but she develops a lot. I love her and Aeron together. The plot is complex, interesting, and much better paced than the previous books. I had one major frustration, and that was Legion. I HATED Legion. 3.5 stars.

Book Six: The Darkest Lie : (Gideon Keeper of Lies and Scarlet Keeper of Nightmares) I was so disappointed in this book. For reasons too spoilery to mention I had trouble connecting with Gideon and Scarlet's story and I ended up doing a lot of skimming. Point of fact, I didn't feel like I absorbed enough of the story to assign it a grade, so instead it's a DNF.

Overall: This is a good series, not great. The cast of characters is irrationally big, but most of them are likeable. There's fantasy and there's violence. The overarching plot is progressing at a snail's pace, but it is progressing. The romance (with the exception of book six) is believable to me. Even after a failed book I've willingly returned to read book seven, a fact which speaks for itself.