The Darkest Pleasure

Amazing! I can't believe how freaking good this series is turning out to be for me. Loved every little thing about this; all the pain, suffering, sexy and hot times, the building of an awesome relationship between two incredibly different people and see how that ended.

It amazes me how Gena Showalter manages to entwine all of her subplots into that main plot and not make the book a bore. I can't wait to see how things are going to turn out for the rest of these yummy demons.

The Darkest Pleasure was probably one of the most anticipated books of the summer after The Darkest Night and The Darkest Kiss rolled out with the beginnings of a pretty good new paranormal romance series. The Lords of the Underworld are back, still looking for the artifacts that can lead them to Pandora's box. The hunt for the artifacts takes a very steep decline in this novel as the romance between Danika and Reyes, Keeper of Pain, finally takes center stage. Built up over the course of the previous two books the attraction to one another might seem a little Romeo and Juliet.

Reyes is an immortal warrior possessed by the demon Pain, a demon which forces him to inflict painful injury upon himself to avoid inflicting it on others. Worse show more yet is the fact that he cannot feel any pleasure without it. He's been Pining for Danika since he first saw her in The Darkest Night, but can't risk getting involved with her without being forced to protect her from Aeron, Keeper of Wrath, his friend and fellow Lord. Commanded to kill Danika and her mother, sister and grandmother, Aeron has been driven to bloodlust yet continues to fight his demon even still. Aeron and Reyes know that if he commits these killings he will be lost to his demon forever. Meanwhile Lucien, leader of the Lords and Keeper of Death, wants Aeron brought home and demands an exchange, he'll tell Reyes where Danika is (and she is in danger from Hunters) if Reyes will tell him where he has trapped Aeron. Trapped for a time, Aeron has been discovered by a mysterious little demon known as Legion who has become his constant companion. When Reyes relents and saves Danika from the Hunters he is ready to protect her for as long as it takes to free Aeron from his mandate. But is Danika really in danger from the Hunters or has she begun to work for them? When the chips fall where will her loyalty and her heart lie?

Sorry, no spoilers! You'll have to read the book to find out. If you've been reading the rest of the series you definitely will want to know what happens. I enjoyed this book quite a bit more than the first and about the same as the second. I liked Danika and Reyes a lot more than previous couplings, but I found myself frustrated at how little of the sidestories there was in this one after being given so much in the last one. In the end I was a bit disappointed that only small sections gave us more story related to Paris and Sienna, Aeron and Legion, Torin and Cameo, as well as the other Lords. I really wanted to get more sidestory and there just wasn't enough this time. Truth be told Legion was pretty much my favorite part of the book and I felt like Cronus had a weird personality change from his previous scenes.

This book was definitely a pleasure and a pain (puns totally intended!), so if you are following the series snap it up quick. If you've not read The Darkest Night (#1) and The Darkest Kiss (#2) I don't think you could really enjoy the story behind this book because there are too many unknown factors you'd need to know from the other two for even the romance to make a lot of sense so check them out! show less

After the last book, I've been desperate to read more about Paris (Promiscuity). It was heartbreaking to see him plead for Serena's return to Cronos, who even though he said he wasn't as cruel as the bastard Greek, Zeus, he bloody well was! He gave Paris hope on the one hand and crushed it with the other, taunting him with it. Ass-hole!

Anyway, this was meant to be Reyes's (Pain) book. Yes, it was good. Danika was extremely practical and resourceful, and although she did her best to resist Reyes and hate him, she couldn't not accept that he was loving and caring, completely at odds with the Hunters' description of a bloodthirsty evil demon.

I loved Danika's family and their changing attitude once Reyes broke down and sobbed at Danika's show more death/kidnapping. They were a formidable family of women. God help any man that comes between them and what they want!

Overall, a wonderful story and another step closer to finding Pandora's Box. show less

I stayed up til 2:00am to finish this book.

I very much enjoyed "The Darkest Pleasure" and found the expansion of the storyline pretty fascinating. It's easy to see after reading this one that Showalter and Harlequin have big plans for this series. We finally meet the shadowy leader of the Hunters, and his identity is quite the surprise. We also find another of the artifacts needed on the quest to find Pandora's missing box. We learn a little more history and a little more about the scope of the battles to come. But mostly we learn about Reyes and Danika.

Reyes' past was very difficult. Learning about the history behind his efforts to leash Pain was, well...rather painful (no pun intended). The lengths he was willing to go to in order to show more spare humans-just wow. All he wants is a respite from Pain, a little peace where he doesn't have to leash his demon. He finds that in Danika, but fears that having Danika will expose her to the taint of his demon, and he's very unwilling to do that. So he can't keep her and he can't let her go either.

Danika always wanted to be normal, but she never was. She can't seem to come to grips with that and I disliked her intensely for almost half the book. But I can say that she redeems herself beautifully and I think these two are a perfect pair.

Neither trusts the other and each of them apparently betrays their loved ones at some point in this book. I really didn't like that. However, haven't we all betrayed someone we love in some way in our lives? I guess that's just part of being fallible and it's nice to know that sometimes our heroes and heroines are fallible too. In all, I think the progression of their relationship was just as it needed to be. Without all the missteps, misunderstandings, and mistakes they would never have gotten to such a strong ending. And the ending of this book is worth missing a few hours of sleep!

Now for my rant. I'm ticked that I have to wait 16 months, yes folks that's November of freaking 2009 for book 4. Books 5 & 6 are scheduled to follow in Feb and May 2010 respectively. Come on already...a year is understandable, but almost a year and a half? Why publish the current releases now? Why not delay their release a couple of months each? I'm actually a tad (!?@#) pissed at Harlequin for this and would be interested to hear their marketing strategy. It would have to be a really good one to risk alienating fans with such a long wait when there are plenty of competitive paranormal series out there without such a long gap between books. show less

Although I enjoyed getting back into the world Showalter created for this series, I have to admit that this third installment of the series didn't quite live up to the first two. I think it had something to do with the balancing act she's pulling off between characters--the previous books were much more focused on the romance aspect of the plot coming up between two people, and this one kept on wandering away from the couple in focus to keep readers up to date with what was happening with other characters. So, for me, the balance between romance and a larger world of action & concern somewhat took away from the pacing of the book--I'd opened up the book feeling in the mood for romance, and because that's what I'd looked for show more specifically, as set up by the first two books, I was a little let down. It was there... it just kept on getting interrupted, so it wasn't quite the same type of escape read.

That said, Showalter's characters and plotting are as well-written and interesting as ever, and I do definitely plan to read more in the series--I'm just going to start thinking of them more as I think of the Laurell K. Hamilton books, in that they seem to be more focused on a larger world and a balancing act between characters, as opposed to focusing on the romance and really feeling like that genre they're labeled as, compared to others. show less

3.5 stars.

This story flowed better for me than the last book (Darkest Kiss). However it took me a while to really care much about the outcome. I'm not sure I'll continue reading this series - for some reason my interest has pretty much drained away. I don't think storylines with gods are my thing, so please don't base any decision to read this book/series on my reviews :)

This is my second time reading this book and I really like it. Reyes, the keeper of Pain, doesn’t want to love or even like Danika, a human whom his friend and fellow demon Lord, Aeron, has been ordered by Cronus to kill. Danika and her family are targeted for death and they’re on the run, trying desperately to survive, and they’re apart from one another. Against both of their better judgment, Reyes and Danika team up to fight the human Hunters out to kill them both, to stop poor Aeron who’s lost in bloodlust and to stop Cronus from killing Danika and her family himself. A lot was going on in this story as you can tell.
The sex scenes dragged for me but they were needed to show the physicality of the couple’s relationship. show more Reyes needs horrendous pain to feel pleasure; Danika is a gentle human with a temper. Do they mesh? Anyway, the sex scenes were just too long. I wished the couple talked more, but that would’ve caused less drama and tension between them. In my opinion, I would’ve preferred less drama between them so they could spend more time fighting the bad guys and not each other.
As always, each book in the LOTU series doesn’t just focus on one couple. All the brothers and their women are included with several scenes in their POVs.
I loved every scene with Paris, the keeper of Promiscuity. I haven’t read his book yet (book 9 – I’ve only previously read up to book 8) but I’m dying to know how he finally reunites with his beloved Sienna. The choice Paris has to make in this book is heartbreaking and sends him down a dark path.
The rest of the cast are cool as always. Torin and Cameo, the keepers of Disease and Misery respectively, grow closer than just friends and it’s exciting to see how their doomed relationship develops. We meet Gilly for the first time (yay!) and I can’t wait for the first time she meets William. William and Gilly is the couple I’m rooting for the most, other than Paris and Sienna. We also meet Legion and Galen, who will become major players for both the good and the bad in all of the Lords’ lives.
The pacing dragged about three-quarters of the way in but the book kept my attention for the most part. I’ve started to overlook the use of passive voice, it's normally a no-no for me, because it’s the author’s writing style and I understand all styles are different. I’m reading the series for the stories and the characters, not so much for how the books are written. Anyway, Reyes and Danika are one of my favorite couples. He’s protective, she’s ballsy, and they’re perfect together.
4 Stars

Disclaimer – I bought this book for my own enjoyment. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion. show less