'The Darkest Passion' by Gena SHOWALTER

Book received from NetGalley

From the BLURB:

This is an another sizzling instalment of the "Lords of the Underworld" series as Aeron, keeper of the Demon of Wrath, finally meets his match...For weeks, the immortal warrior Aeron has sensed an invisible female presence. An angel - demon-assassin - has been sent to kill him. Or has she? Olivia claims she fell from the heavens, giving up immortality because she couldn't bear to harm him. But trusting - and falling for - Olivia will endanger them all. So how has this 'mortal' with the huge blue eyes already unleashed Aeron's darkest passion? Now, with an enemy hot on his trail and his faithful demon companion determined to remove Olivia from his life, Aeron is trapped between duty and consuming desire. Worse still, a new executioner has been sent to do the job Olivia wouldn't...

This is the 6th book in Gena Showalter’s ‘Lords of the Underworld’ series.

I am a fan of this series. Showalter mixes fable and Greek mythology and stirs it all up into a steamy romance with smoking hot Alpha male demons. What’s not to love?

Each male in the series is possessed by a demon – wrath, rage, pain, lies, disease, death – and each book concentrates on one of these men as they find the woman whose love releases them from their demonic inner prisons.

‘The Darkest Passion’ follows Aeron the keeper of Wrath, as he meets a fallen angel, Olivia. Olivia ‘Liv’ has been following him for months now, and Aeron has felt her holy presence and been frustrated by her hovering. But as he meets her in the (fallen) flesh, he can’t help but be intrigued…

“I watched you,” she continued, “as well as those around you, and I… ached. I wanted you, and I wanted what they had – freedom and love and fun. I wanted to play. I wanted to kiss and to touch. I wanted joy of my own.” Her gaze met his, bleak, broken. “In the end, I had a choice. Fall… or kill you. I decided to fall. So here I am. Yours.”

I loved Olivia and Aeron. Throughout the book Aeron battles with his ‘inner’ demons as well as his real possession, the demon Wrath. Aeron thinks himself less because of all the bad deeds he has carried out in his life. This makes things tricky when he finds himself attracted to the ethereal, Olivia. It makes for a very intense and sweet romance and a genuine ‘will they or won’t they?’.

This book has lots of revelations about the ultimate battle being fought between the Gods and demons - the overarching story arc of the series. Much is revealed about the ‘big player’ in the battle, king Cronus. And because of these spoilers, the battle for Pandora’s box really kicks into high gear. If you’re unfamiliar with the series, all of this won’t mean a whole lot… but fans will be thrilled to know that in this book there are spoilers-galore that hint at the trajectory of the next few books.

My one complaint about ‘The Darkest Passion’ would be a hastily (and neatly) wrapped ending. It’s a little rushed and too conveniently ‘happily ever after’ for my tastes. But that might just be me…

One thing I love about this series is the cast of characters. In each book Ms. Showalter sets up the players for the following book… ‘The Darkest Lie’ is the seventh book, and will follow keeper of Lies, Gideon. He’s one of my favourite characters because his dialogue is so tricky and I’m always genuinely impressed by the loopy meanings Showalter comes up with for him. Gideon is frequently saying things like “I want to be bored senseless” – because if he speaks a truth, he gets zapped with intense physical pain. His storyline and love-interest is set up in ‘The Darkest Passion’ and it’s definitely going to be intriguing… no spoilers, but be prepared for an “oh my God!” moment when his love interest is revealed.

I also love Paris, Keeper of Promiscuity. Paris is cursed to always seek out sexual conquests, or else wither and die. The only catch is once he ‘has’ a woman, he will never again feel a sexual stirring for her. So he is fated to never fall in love, or keep a woman. I think Paris is one of the most tragic characters, but his potential (maybe, possible?) love interest is also set-up in this book, and I am *really* looking forward to that one!

‘The Darkest Passion’ is smouldering and intriguing. Showalter beautifully combines high-stakes drama based on Greek Mythology and a demonic war within an action-packed series full of delicious Alpha males. What’s not to love? If you haven’t already I would highly recommend that you get stuck into the ‘Lords of the Underworld’ series.

4/5

P.S. – thanks to Larissa for introducing me to the wonderful NetGalley website. They give you book galleys – for free! To review!... I know, I was excited too!