The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld, Book 2)

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
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.…

Customer Reviews: Read 61 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Two for Two!! May 23, 2008
15 out of 18 found this review helpful

Gena Showalter is two for two in her Lords of the Underworld series. The latest book, The Darkest Kiss, features Lucien and Anya---an almost perfect pairing. Lucien is bonded to the demon Death and Anya is the goddess of Anarchy, and boy, when these two get together the pages go up in smoke!! Both are fierce warriors and both have secrets that make them vulnerable, and while trying to figure out how to find Pandora's Box, must come to terms with their feelings for each other.

This book is wonderful. I truly felt for both Lucien and Anya, for what they have to go through and well, I will not tell you any more than that. What I will tell you is that several of the other Lords have a good portion of the book, it doesn't detract from the story at all. Rather enhances it actually. No spoilers here, but an honest recommendation to purchase the book and enjoy it intensely. Have a good read.

5 out of 5 stars

Fan-friggin-tastic!!! May 27, 2008
15 out of 17 found this review helpful

I absolutely loved this book. I won't go into a lot of details but this series, for me, ranks up there with Sherrilyn Kenyon's - Darkhunters and J.R. Ward's - Black Dagger Brotherhood. I NEVER thought anything could measure up to those two series. Thankfully, I was extremely wrong. I'm not going to go into a lot of details in regards to the synopsis but I will endulge my likes and dislikes.

I so loved the two main characters in this book. Lucien(the demon of death) and Anya(the "minor" god of anarchy) come together in a "I can't seem to put the book down long enough to even take the time to eat lunch" kind of way. The best part about this book is the fact that Anya is in pursuit of Lucien. She's aggressive, confident, strong, sexual, and never apologizes for who she is. It's refreshing to read a paranormal romance that doesn't include the heroine acting like a helpless, insecure, obnoxiously naive twit. Lucien tries to avoid Anya's overwhelming personality but she strongly suggests to him that he will need her help in order to locate certain artifacts that he needs to possess. Lucien is an alpha male but not necesssarliy your typical "I am man hear me roar and pound my chest" kind of way. Ms. Showalter manages to find a way to write his character flawlessly into a strong, self-sacrificing, gorgeous, intelligent, sexy, and seemingly perfect man/demon.

I am beyond ecstatic that the release dates of these books have been so relatively close together. If I had to wait a year between book releases of this series I would be seriously peeved. Thank You Ms. Showalter for typing your heart out. Please keep it up!!! Things that I disliked about the book? Only one thing...not being able to put it down. If you have errands, or cleaning duties, or have to study for a big test coming up, forget it. I'm telling you, once you start reading you won't be able to stop. BUY THIS BOOK. It is worth every penny.

5 out of 5 stars

The Darkest Kiss- A Joyfully Recommended Title June 2, 2008
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

Lucien is the Warrior of Death and Lord of the Underworld. Charged with taking souls to heaven or hell upon their death, Lucien has no choice but to do as he is has been commanded to do. His demon is Death and Lucien despairs of ever being free. His sin? He was the leader of the warriors charged with protecting the dimOuniak and instead of protecting it, he opened it and unleashed hordes of demons throughout the world. Death is his punishment and his life. Until Anya. Anya makes him smile. She makes him laugh. But most of all she makes him yearn in ways he had long ago forgotten. These yearnings make the task he has been given that much harder. It seems the leader of the gods wants Anya dead and Lucien is to be her destroyer.

Anya, the Goddess of Anarchy, has set her sights on Lucien, the Warrior of Death. Doing everything in her power to make him notice her, she just wants to feel his skin and touch him in ways that she shouldn't be thinking. As the Goddess of Anarchy, she must allow herself some mischief in order to survive and in doing so, she tries her best to make Lucien laugh. While she wants Lucien with every breath in her immortal body, she knows they can never consummate their relationship because her curse is such that in doing so, Anya would be forever in love with Lucien, even if he does not love her back.

When the man she has come to love and cherish tells her he has come to claim her for Death, Anya is not having any part of it, even if her desire stays strong. Pursuing each other across the world, forces beyond their control threaten them and when it is too late to turn back, they despair at ever being together.

I knew I would love The Darkest Kiss because in the first installment, The Darkest Night, Lucien was such a tortured soul having to deal with Maddox's curse. I respected Lucien for his loyalty and compassion for his friends and ached when he had to lead souls to their final resting place. In The Darkest Kiss, my love and affection for Lucien became unconditional because he was given a task he didn't want to do and while he knew that his friends would suffer should he fail, his task was horrible and he was so sorrowful at not having a choice. I agonized when he agonized and I cried more than once. Anya's characterization was playful and teasingly childish at times. However, she loved with a woman's heart and more than once I despaired of her being loved like she deserved.

Dark passion, raw emotions, and hauntingly beautiful love scenes were in the pages of The Darkest Kiss. Some questions were answered, some were not. I was given a tease of the next installment, The Darkest Pleasure, which just whetted my appetite for more of these wonderful Lords of the Underworld. Consider The Darkest Kiss Joyfully Recommended! It should be read more than once!

Talia
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

5 out of 5 stars

I wouldn't mind making mischief with this demon possessed warrior! June 7, 2008
9 out of 10 found this review helpful

Long ago a band of immortal warriors stole and unleashed the evil within Pandora's box. In the melee, the box was lost. As their punishment for the deed, the gods forced each warrior to 'contain' one of the demons within themselves. So the Lords of the Underworld were born. The warrior who opened the box (Lucien, former Captain of the Guard) was 'gifted' with the demon of Death forever escorting souls to heaven or hell whenever the call came.

At present, some of these possessed immortals live a sheltered life high on a hill in Budapest. They struggle daily with their demons eventually succumbing to the demons desires. As well as warding off attacks by the radical humans called Hunters who want to see them and their demons dead.

The most serious and somber of the warriors is about to be the victim of a little mischief. For the minor goddess of Anarchy has her sights set on the sexy scarred warrior called Death. Lucien can't believe that any woman would be interested in him due to his harrowing looks, let alone a beautiful goddess. But Anya is. She's a stunning immortal who brings light into his dark soul and entrances his demon. Too bad he's been ordered to kill her.............

Woo Hoo! Another scarred hero book! I just love those! Lucien (Death) really didn't see the train called Anarchy coming until it plowed right into him. I thought Anya was hilarious. She flipped him upside down and inside out, teasing poor serious Lucien and keeping him totally off balance. I didn't know which way their fighting was going to go -would he actually try to kill her or kiss her (don't think you know what the answer is cause you don't!). They just made a great couple. I loved their bantering. I think Anya called Lucien *Flower's* (well he does smell like roses cause he's death ya know!) just to mess with his head and get him to lighten up -cause Death really needs to take a chill pill every once in a while. Anya is Anarchy after all, so she might make you crazy but thats the point. So that didn't bother me all. Lucien needs this kind of chaos or his soul will succumb completely to the dark demon inside. And for my favorite part -there's tons of sexual tension. Showalter didn't skimp on their love scenes either (more woo hoo!).

Along with the romance there were some major plot developments in DK as well. The Lords are still searching for Pandora's box, racing against the Hunter's to find it first. They gather new information which leads them on treasure hunts in separate parts of the world. Showalter also explains some more Greek myths/legends.

I thought that The Darkest Kiss was even better than its prequel The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld, Book 1). And it can be read as a stand alone since Showalter gives plenty of background information on the Lords.

Next up is The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld, Book 3)which is Reyes (possessed by the demon of Pain) book. And then perhaps? Paris's book in Nov 09' -Ack! Over a year!

2 out of 5 stars

Great idea for a series, but this book was ruined by an immature heroine and repetative themes. June 2, 2008
8 out of 12 found this review helpful

The Lords of the Underworld Series:

The Darkest Night

The Darkest Kiss

The Darkest Pleasure

I like Showalter's heroes. Barring the fact that they are a close copy of J.R. Ward's "Brothers", they are interesting men. Showalter could do a lot with this series. The first book was good, not great. This, the second book, was a better core story but unfortunately I found it impossible to take seriously. The same ideas repeated themselves over and over again for around 250 pages. He was ordered to kill her, but couldn't bear to harm her. She followed him around like a love sick puppy, knowing he planned to kill her. All they had to do was breathe the same air for the two of them to be instantly aroused. They'd each do and say things to intentionally hurt each other's feelings, then leave the scene with the same thought: "This is for the best." It went in circles, never progressing.

Worse, the heroine was a split- personalty nightmare. One minute, she is strapping on weapons with relish. She can't wait to jump into the battle. She finds the hero's lethal demon irresistibly sexy. She'll fight any man or beast who threatens her. (I would have loved this heroine character if she had stayed with this personality.) Sadly, she would go from warrior woman to 12- year- old airhead in a matter of seconds. She walked around sucking on lollipops, calling the hero (a warrior possessed by a death demon) nicknames like "Sweetcakes", "Flowers", and other nauseating things that would emasculate any man. When leaving a scene, she made her "goodbye" by giving cutsie "pinky waves". Worst of all, she would say things like (after finding matching jackets for them to wear) "Oh score! We'll be twinkies!" Yes, she was saying that to the demon warrior, and not sarcastically. She was genuinely excited about having matching jackets. I have a headache from rolling my eyes so much. The hero character was hot, but I eventually couldn't like him because he was into a woman who was half child. None of it worked for me.

There were a couple of side stories happening for two of the hero's friends in the midst of this book. They actually became more interesting to me than the main couple. Still, I haven't decided if I'm going to continue with this series. I'm afraid I'll end up disappointed again.

If you want to read the series, here are the links to the first and third books:

The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld, Book 1)

The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld, Book 3)

If you'd like to try other paranormal romance series, I highly recommend these long- running series:

Black Dagger Brotherhood Series (First two in the series, to get you started):

Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1)

Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 2)

Psy/Changeling Series (First two):

Slave to Sensation (Psy-Changelings, Book 1)

Visions of Heat (Psy-Changelings, Book 2)

Immortals After Dark Series (First two):

A Hunger Like No Other (The Immortals After Dark Series, Book 1)

No Rest for the Wicked (The Immortals After Dark, Book 2)

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