Demonica Series: Ecstasy Unveiled

I would just like to warn you before you read any further: there will be fangirling. Lots of it. There will be exclamation marks, italics and, occasionally, bold font. I don't normally like to engage in such behaviour but, with this book, it couldn't be helped. 

I loved everything about this book. It was just so flippin' awesome! The characters are epic, the story is fast-paced and action-packed, and Larissa Ione is funny! I had already started giggling by the opening paragraph. I knew when Ione opened with this that I was going to adore this story.

Lore had always believed that when it came to sex, the more the merrier. Too bad for him that when "more" meant more than just himself, people tended to die.

Lore is our hero. Cue much girly sighing right here. Remember how I said that Wraith was my favourite Sem brother? Well, he's been overtaken by quite a bit. Lore is an assassin, he can kill through just one touch of his right hand, and he is such a marshmallow! He's also got a twin sister, Sin, who I've got a little bit of a girl-crush on. But I'll get to that later. 

Our story starts with Lore being instructed to kill his newly discovered brothers' buddy Kynan. Lore knows that this will completely decimate any chance he has of getting to know his brothers. But if he refuses, his master has threatened to kill Sin. No brainer for Lore, so off he goes to kill Kynan.

Or so he thinks. Before he gets the opportunity to do any damage, he's assaulted by Idess, an angel-in-training, whose job it is to protect Kynan. 

I really liked Idess. She never did that whole wilting flower thing, and she managed to tie Lore to her bed. Impossible for me not to like a heroine like that. 

Now on to my girl-crush. Sin is freaking awesome! Sin is an assassin like her brother, and she doesn't take shit from anyone. She's also got some trust issues. She's not overly keen on anyone getting too close, and this has left her being more than a little hostile towards her brothers. I just want to share my favourite Sin moments in this book. They're a little long, but they just serve to illustrate how awesome this chick is.

Super hot vampire/werewolf paramedic Conall is looking for Sin. She's not impressed with this and assumes that Eidolon sent him to get to know her (oh, the horror!). Conall assures her that this is not the case.

"I don't want to get to know you. I want to fuck you."

"Oh." Oh. Well, that was more like it...[some internal monologue here] "You promise that's all you want?"

His gaze seared her as he boldly dragged it up and down her body. "I swear I only want to get into your pants."

What a relief.

Just after Conall and Sin's little interlude, we see Conall collecting on his bet with the other paramedic, Luc. Basically, the bet was $500 on whether or not Conall would be able to go there with Sin. Needless to say, he went there. Conall and Luc are being pigs and discussing his victory and his possible disembowelment by the Sem brothers. 

"So," Luc said, "will it at least have been worth it? Being gutted by Shade, I mean. Was she good?"

His body heated at though remembering. And wanting again.

"Of course I was."

Fuck. Con spun around to find Sin standing there, hands on hips and fury in her expression. Like a kid caught stealing candy, he whipped the money behind his back. 

She looked at him as if he was an idiot, and grabbed his arm, bringing it around. 

"It's not what you think," he said lamely, because it was exactly what she thought. 

"Really? So that big asshole behind you didn't bet you five hundred bucks that you couldn't fuck me?"

"Ah..."

"That's what I thought. You dick. How stupid do you think I am? Your name really fits you, Con." She snatched the money from him, took two hundreds and three twenties, and thrust the remaining two hundred and forty dollars back into his hand. Then, smiling broadly, she punched him in the shoulder. "Next time you make a bet like that, don't cheat me out of my half. I owe you a ten." 

She winked and left him, jaw-dropped and gaping, as she sauntered away.

Epic, right? I cannot wait for to get my hands on Sin's book! 

With Ecstasy Unveiled, Larissa Ione has become one of my favourite authors. Honestly, this lady can do no wrong in my eyes.

Demonica Series: Passion Unleashed

Passion Unleashed is book 3 in the Demonica series and it is by far my favourite book in the series. 

Our hero is Wraith and he's a lovable, messed up, sarcastic moron. He's Eidolon and Shade's younger brother and this boy has been harbouring a death wish for a long time now. And his brothers have always managed to pull his dumb butt out of trouble. Unfortunately, Wraith, after a night of looking for trouble, lands himself in a jam that not even his brothers can get him out of.

He's been infected with a poison that has no cure. Bad enough that Wraith's dying, but it turns out that his life is tied to the existence of Underworld General. If Wraith dies, the hospital will be destroyed.

This is where Serena Kelley comes in. Serena is an archaeologist/treasure hunter and has been charmed by angels. As a result of this, she can never be harmed. Ever. But there's a catch: her charm only remains intact so long as she stays a virgin. If she gives it away, her charm will be given to the person she does the nasty with. Now, Serena may have been willing to consider giving up her charm if she didn't have one little problem: she's suffering from a demonic disease with no cure. The second she gives up her charm, the disease will progress rapidly and kill her within a few days. 

When Wraith is told about Serena, he decides to go off and seduce her. He knows what the consequences are of taking Serena's charm, but what is one human life compared to all that his brothers have worked for, right? So off Wraith goes to Egypt, where Serena is looking for some mystical something-or-other. He thinks that this will be one simple wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am kinda deal. After all, Wraith's a Seminus demon and he's never been turned down before. Easy peasy.

 No such luck.

Serena likes him well enough, but there is no way she's going there with him. She has things to do, so he can either help or get lost. So what if she has kinky dreams about him? There is a ginormous difference between fantasy and reality. 

Wraith decides to stick around and try to work his incubus magic on Serena. He seriously needs that charm because it's now worth more than just his life and the hospital's continued existence. But, for the first time, Wraith is having a serious problem: his conscience, dormant for most of his life, has just kicked in. Not only is he wildly attracted to Serena, but he likes her. 

I absolutely adored these two together. I didn't particularly approve of Wraith's motives for pursuing Serena. He lied to her so many times throughout the book. Serena thought his name was Josh for about 80% of the story. I don't care if he was doing the knight-in-shining-armour thing a lot too. The dishonesty was not on.

All that aside though? 

I love Wraith! You know that long list of fictional boyfriends we all have (don't look at me like that! I know you have one)? Wraith made it there within the first three chapters. He's such a moron. But a cuddly moron. He tries to act all rough and tough, but he loves his brothers so much. And he tries to keep an emotional distance between him and Serena, but he's just this big teddy bear. 

Serena held her own as a character too. She was no push over. She told Wraith when he was being a moron, and the fact that he's hotter than the sun didn't sway her when it came to the issue of sex. She hung tough for most of the book, only giving in when she had an emotional connection to him.

Passion Unleashed tied up a couple of loose ends and introduced a few new characters. The major loose end was Kynan and Gem's relationship. 

New characters include the sweetheart fallen angel, Reaver, and the sexy-as-sin new guy, Lore. Definitely looking forward to finding out what their respective deals are.

Just to share a few of my favourite quotes:

An example of Wraith seriously distorted priorities:

The worst part about dying slowly wasn't the dying part. It was the fact that the poison had all but killed Wraith's libido. 

Wraith doesn't like the succubus working as a doctor at Underworld General. If Wraith is unwilling to have sex with someone, it means that she is spectacularly unpleasant.

Even if it wasn't physically impossible for succubi and incubi to screw, he wouldn't touch her. In the dictionary, the word "bitch" ran and hid from her.

Shade is filling Wraith in on a few things he's missed since going on his seduction mission.

"...Our other brother, but he's in chains. He's also a total dick. You'll like him."

Know what I'm really liking? This series. Give it a try if you haven't already. 

Demonica Series: Desire Unchained

Desire Unchained is the second book in the Demonica series, and here we deal with Shade and Runa. These two have a History. I liked Shade from Pleasure Unbound, but then I sort of stopped liking him for a while in Desire Unleashed. Let me explain why: Shade cheated on Runa, the rat bastard, and he broke her heart. Runa had the misfortune of walking in on him screwing around with not one, but two chicks.

 Does he apologise? No.

Does he make excuses? No.

He asks her if she wants to join them. 

I was thinking, while I was reading this, that I would have been sorely tempted to remove his man parts with a rusty knife. 

Moving on. Runa, understandably devastated, flees his apartment and runs smack into a werewolf who attacks her and infects her with lycanthropy. Runa becomes a werewolf and swears to herself that the next time she runs into Shade, she's going to kick his ass.

It's been eleven months since Shade and Runa last saw each other and their reunion doesn't take place under the best of circumstances. They are both being held captive in the dungeon of a raging loony who is responsible for harvesting demon organs and selling them on the black market. As if this isn't bad enough, it turns out that Shade still has the hots for Runa and his epic fit of jackass-ery with the threesome was an attempt to spare himself from his growing feelings for Runa. See, Shade isn't being one of those I-am-an-island guys just for the sake of it. He has a curse that promises a fate worse than death should he ever fall in love.

Now, he and Runa need to rely on one another to get out of this creepy dungeon in one piece. Making Shade's day even worse is that he inadvertently bonds with Runa and makes her his mate. Now it's only a matter of time before he falls for her and suffers an eternity of misery. 

I actually really liked Shade after getting over his initial bout of being an ass. The reader comes to realise that he wants the whole deal with his mate, the HEA and babies and the lot. But he can't. I was torn between wanting to give him a hug, and smacking him upside the head. 

I loved Runa. She used to be this really timid, shy type, but the werewolf bite forced her to toughen up. I liked that, for the most part, she didn't put up with Shade's crap. She was willing to be what he needed, but she refused to let him control her like he did when they first started dating. Though I do wish she had made him grovel some more. His offense was enough that I thought he should have kissed ass a lot more than he did.

Also loving the bromance that's forming between Kynan and Wraith. What an odd couple. 

Speaking of Kynan, his story line with Gem is killing me! Just when you thought that these two were going to get their shit together, Ms Ione swerves off track and takes them somewhere else. I think that, given the build up between these two, I was more interested in them getting together that I was in Runa and Shade.

My only problem with this story was the Bad Guy. I have to tell you that this guy was weak. I'm pretty sure that you'll have figured out who the bad guy is fairly soon into the book, and he was like the villain from a bad action movie. Too much monologue and explaining both his plans and why he feels wronged, and not enough action. Man, I wanted this guy to be bad.   

I  just want to share some of my favourite bits. I love Larissa Ione. This lady is funny! This conversation happens between Runa and Shade after they find themselves mated. Runa wants to know why any female in her right mind would willingly bond with a Seminus demon.

"...There are lots of reasons a female might bond with a Seminus demon."

"What about werewolves?"

"Out-of-this-world orgasms."

She stared. "That's it? Great sex? I'm forced to deal with you for the rest of my life and all I get out of it is great sex?"

I think this says a lot about how Runa feels about Shade at this point that "great sex" is nowhere near enough compensation for putting up with him.

It's the full moon and Runa is on the verge of turning into a werewolf and Shade, being Shade, thinks he's funny.

"Oh, hey... let's not do that yet. Sit. Stay."

Oh, he was hilarious. She was going to bite him as soon as the transformation was complete.

This is between Wraith and Kynan. After the Final Showdown with the wussy bad guy, Wraith, who is part vampire, needed blood. Kynan offered his blood since there was no way he was going to let Wraith bite Gem. Kynan is asking Wraith what he missed while he was out. Poor Wraith is feeling a little sheepish about nearly killing Kynan.

"What else?"

Wraith's head snapped up. "What do you mean, what else?"

"I mean, why the long face?"

"I nearly put you in the grave, you stupid human!"

Ah, now there was the Wraith they all knew and loved. 

I am seriously looking forward to Wraith's book, which is where I'm headed next.

Demonica Series: Pleasure Unbound

Have you ever heard the saying that goes "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"? Whoever said that hit the nail square on the head. I had every intention of studying on my week-long break. But I didn't. Instead I read and did nothing.

But I'm glad I did get around to reading because Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione was pretty good. The story is set in New York. There are humans, demons, and human demon hunters. The story is about Tayla, a hunter, and Eidolon, a demon doctor who is in charge of the Underworld General Hospital. I liked these two although I wouldn't have blamed Eidolon if he'd decided to throttle Tayla. This chick gave him such a hard time with the "no, leave me alone!" and then the "wait, come back!" thing she had going. Not that I really blame her. With her mom having been killed by a demon, having warm fuzzies for one must have been confusing. Tayla also had me laughing a whole bunch of times. This chick had a wicked sense of humour.

Eidolon was a real sweetie. He's a Seminus demon (a type of incubus) and he needs to find a mate pronto before he undergoes a freakish change that makes him lose his marbles. Tayla coming into the picture is making it damn near impossible for him to sort himself out and the story goes on from there. 

I kinda felt myself getting frustrated for Eidolon. While I get where Tayla's coming from, her hot and cold attitude was hard to keep up with. One minute she and Eidolon are doing the nasty, the next she's conked him on the head with a steel pipe and chained him to her bed. In a non-kinky, lets-have-some-fun kind of way. 

We also met Eidolon's brothers, Shade and Wraith (yum!) and Tayla's sister, Gem. I am dying to learn more about these three. I loved Gem! She was funny and sweet and no-nonsense all at once. Gem is also burning a gigantic torch for demon hunter Kynan. It's so sad because it really doesn't look like it's going to happen for various reasons. 

I really enjoyed this series. I liked the characters, the world, the humour and the whole story in general. It was a fun read. I think fans of J.R Ward might enjoy it. It's not quite as gritty but has the same sort of vibe, I think

Just to share some of my favourite quotes with you guys:

From Tayla's perspective:

They entered the apartment, which though small, proved that vampires weren't all grim and Goth. No, this was worse. The stuff of nightmares.

Shades of purple and yellow assaulted her vision, from the lavender carpet to the baby-duck colored, fuzzy lamp shade. Even the walls had been slathered with lemon paint. Christ, the place looked like a Muppet slaughter house. She deserved to die for her horrible taste in decor alone. 

  From Eidolon's perspective:

Something inside Eidolon buckled, and fuck, nothing should be buckling or unbuckling for this woman. There had already been way too much of the latter.

From Gem's perspective:

Doctor Gemella Endri was up to her elbows in condoms.

(as is typical, Kynan walks in at this point.)

I dare you to read that last quote and not laugh. So, the bottom line is this: go read Pleasure Unbound. It's pretty awesome.