Lords of the Underworld: The Darkest Night

The Darkest Night is the first book in the Lords of Deliverance series by Gena Showalter and, man, do I like the premise for this book! Seriously, it's friggin' awesome.
The series is about, you guessed it, the Lords of the Underworld. These guys once served as the immortal members of Zeus's army. They were the fiercest of the fierce, the baddest of the bad. And yet, for some reason, they were passed over for the job of protecting a box containing the most evil demons in existence. That job was given to a woman named Pandora (see where this is going?). To say that their egos were bruised is an understatement. In retaliation for this slight, the warriors stole the box and opened it, freeing the creepy-crawlies from their prison. The gods were obviously pissed, even more so when no one could find the damn box to stuff the demons back in. Since Zeus and Co. couldn't allow the demons to roam free, they cursed the jackass warriors to house the demons within themselves. Thus, the Lords came into being and the warriors needed to learn how to control their demon halves. 

See what I mean? Isn't this such a cool idea for a book? I absolutely adore it when authors incorporate the whole Greek mythology thing into a story. 

Before I tell you about the book, let me first introduce you to the Lords:

Maddox aka Violence.

Torin aka Disease. 

Lucien aka Death.

Reyes aka Pain.

Aeron aka Wrath.

Paris aka Promiscuity.

We meet these guys in the first half of The Darkest Night. The next half-dozen rock up during the second half of the book.

Sabin aka Doubt.

Gideon aka Lies.

Kane aka Disaster.

Strider aka Defeat.

Amun aka Secrets.

Cameo aka Misery.

Now... on to the book. The Darkest Night is Maddox's story. As the keeper of Violence, it goes without saying that it's going take someone spectacularly brave, or stupid depending on your politics, to take this guy on. Adding to his already exceeds-the-weight-limit baggage, Maddox has an additional curse to deal with: Because Maddox killed Pandora, he has been sentenced to die every night at midnight in the exact same way that he killed Pandora, only to revive in the morning to endure the whole process all over again. Like I said, lots of baggage. 

Our leading lady, Ashlyn isn't exactly average Jane either. Ashlyn can hear every conversation that's ever taken place in a given area. That's a lot of chatter, and has pretty much driven her to the brink of madness. So, when she travels to Budapest for her job and she hears about a bunch of strange men living on a mountain who are capable of extraordinary things, she hopes that they'll be able to help her. She climbs the mountain in the middle of a blizzard (the dumbass) and runs into Maddox. The attraction is immediate and intense, even though they both try to resist it.   

Honestly? I thought this book was just this side of good. I know, right? After all the fanfare, I just thought it was, meh...? I enjoyed the story, but the leads didn't really grab me. The time frame for this story irritated the crap out of me to be honest. Like, seriously? They fell in love after two bloody days? I had to pretend it was taking place over two weeks (not much better, I know) to preserve my peace of mind. Another thing I noticed was that these boys punch the wall a lot when they're cross. Like, a lot a lot. I kept thinking that the way things were going, they should have their house collapsing around their ears any second.

Despite this, I really enjoyed the secondary characters. I'm dying to learn more about the other Lords, and what their respective torments are. In addition to the Lords, we meet Anya and Danika. Danika, for some reason, has been targeted by the gods, who have instructed Aeron to kill her. She and Reyes have sort of been making goo-goo eyes at each other. We don't learn much about Anya but she's going to be Lucien's HEA, so we'll obviously get more of her in the next book. 

While I didn't love this book, I love the idea for this series, and I'm definitely going to get my butt into gear so I can catch up. I'm about eight books behind. 

 

Black Dagger Brotherhood Series: Lover at Last

I don't know if you guys picked up on this, but I was pretty excited about Lover at Last coming out. I think I was pretty subdued...

No?

Anyway, I finished it the other day but I had varsity related stuff to deal with so I didn't get a chance to tell you guys just how FREAKING AWESOME it was!!!

Warning: there will be fangirling. Lots and lots of fangirling.

Blay and Qhuinn... these boys just broke my poor little heart. The WARDen didn't pull any punches, and right from the beginning she started pulling on your heartstrings. The prologue was just so damn sad! And the emotional torment just kept on coming. There were times where it seemed like Blay and Qhuinn were never going to get their shit together. It was so stressful! Just when you thought they were making some progress, meeting each other halfway, then BAM! Misunderstandings, a lack of communication, and the WARDen's refusal to make things easy on her readers had me sitting on the edge of my seat. These two worked so hard and they only got their HEA riiiiiight at the end. But, holy crap, was it worth it! Honestly, the way this book ended had me choked up and I almost never cry while reading. I cannot remember reading a more beautiful HEA.

Now on to the side stories: since this is J.R Ward, there were a lot. I'll discuss them all separately.

  First there's the whole Layla/Xcor thing. I have always liked Layla. And now I like her even better because she's discovered her backbone! Man, I got such a kick to hear Layla going all grrr... on Phury. She was fierce! 

In the Old Language, she hissed, “If any harm shall befall him, I will come after you, and find you where you sleep. I do not care where you lay your head or who with, my vengeance shall rain upon you until you drown.”
That last word was drawn out, until its syllable was lost in more growling.
Dead silence.
Until Doc Jane said dryly, “Annnnd this is why they say the female of the species is more dangerous than the male.”

As for Xcor... he had me feeling really conflicted. One moment I wanted to give the guy a hug, the next I wished somebody from the Brotherhood would just stab the bastard. I kinda hate him for messing with Wrath, but his response to Layla is just too damn sweet. It's like, why can't you all just get along?!?!

Speaking of Xcor and his Band of Bastards, we now know all their names. We obviously have Xcor, the leader of his merry band of crazies, and Throe, his second in command; Zypher, the group's resident can't-keep-it-in-his-pants, and the three cousins, Balthazar, Syphon, and Syn. The last gent's name isn't actually Syn, but he's so bad they all just call him that.

Then we have Assail and new girl, Sola Morte. I can't decide if I like Assail. He's... a little sociopathic, if I'm honest. While this isn't outside the norm for the WARden's leading men, he seems a little bit nuttier than the others. I also don't like that he has any form of cooperation with the Lessers going on. Nuh-uh. Not cool. Assail's really hot but he's just a little too aggro for my liking. I think I like Sola. She seems like quite a toughie which is nice. I like it when Ward gives us strong heroines. Most times it seems as though the guys have majority shares in the whole badass enterprise.  

Now to my favourite side story: Trez and Selena. Trez and his brother iAm have been in the BDB universe for a while, but we haven't really learnt a whole lot about them. I'm happy to announce that the WARDen is working on rectifying this. These boys... wow. They sizzle. That's about all I can say. We don't know much about Selena either besides the fact that she's a Chosen, so I can't decide if I like her or not. What I loved about this particular side story was when Trez met Selena for the first time. It was just too freaking adorable for words. For most of Trez's perspective in this book, you see him acting like an utter manwhore. To see him getting all tongue-tied over Selena was just so "awww..."-worthy" and also so funny. I was hee-hawing like a donkey. I'm glad I read this part while nobody was home, otherwise I'd have had some explaining to do.

I just want to share a few of my favourite quotes from the book with you:

Here, John Matthew and Qhuinn are in one of those 24-hour stores and spot a cardboard cutout of the Biebs... I don't really have anything against the guy, but this was funny.

"The little shit is everywhere." To prove the point, he motioned to a greeting card display featuring Short, Cocky, and Fifteen-Minutes-Are-Up. "I swear, that kid is proof the Antichrist is coming."

This is the scene where Blay comes out to his mom over the phone. It was such an emotional scene, I got a lump in my throat while reading. This is how every parent should respond in this situation.

"...as long as you're happy, that's all I worry about. I want for you what you want for yourself."

*sniffles*

I am so damn sad this book is over. I think it may well have been my favourite book in the series. Easily. But I have a feeling that the next book is going to blow this one right out the water. You've undoubtedly already heard the news about whose book is going to be next, but even four days after the announcement I'm still excited as fuck!

It's titled The King, and no prizes for guessing who it's going to be about. Also the WARDen said that there's a strong likelihood of some of our old favourites getting another book. If you want to check out what else was said at the signing go here. 

Immortals After Dark: A Hunger Like No Other

I had heard some really good things about Kresley Cole. Great things, in fact. So I knew that this book was going to be, at the least, very, very good. But I had no idea what to expect in terms of the actual story. The blurb mentioned things like Lykae and Valkyrie. I had no clue what either of those were so I was quite keen on finding out. 

As it turns out, the Lykae are sort of werewolves, and the Valkyrie are very similar to the Amazons in that they're both groups of warrior women.

Our hero's name is Lachlain and he has, shall we say, issues. He was captured by vampires, and they really pulled a number on him. For the past one hundred and fifty years he's been tied to a big rock sitting at the edge of a ginormous fire. Everyday for that length of time, he's basically had his flesh cooked on his bones and because he's immortal his ordeal can't kill him. So, it goes without saying that Lachlain hates vampires. Passionately.

Emmaline is half vampire, half Valkyrie. Her mother died when she was very young and she's never met her vampire father. But she plans on rectifying this by visiting Paris, where her parents once lived together. Emma's been raised by her Valkyrie aunts who are a little on the bloodthirsty, crazy side. However, Emma isn't even a little like her aunts. She's timid and she avoids any and all conflict if she can.

Emma and Lachlain meet in Paris, and things do not go well. Lachlain is totally bewildered by these modern times he's suddenly found himself in, and is absolutely horrified to learn that his mate is a vampire. To say that he doesn't take the news well is an understatement. He treats Emma really badly in the beginning, and I did not think much of him for about half the book.

But once Lachlain got over his prejudices, he could actually be really sweet. Emma was a little bit of a wuss, but I could understand where she was coming from. It can't be easy being physically weaker than almost everyone you know. But being with Lachlain toughened her up. In fact, after a moment of epic jackass-ness on Lachlain's part, Emma punches him so hard she dislocates his jaw. While I'm not keen on couples whacking each other, Lachlain so had it coming. 

Even though the main characters did grow on me after a while, and by the end I really liked them, I found the secondary characters far more interesting. Emma's aunts were quite fierce, and I'd really like to learn more about them. I especially like Nix and Regin. Both totally crazy ladies, just different types of crazy.

I was fascinated by the world that Ms Cole's created. It was super interesting and I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series.   

Dragon Kin: Dragon Actually

Dragon Actually is the first book that I've read that centres around dragons. So I wasn't quite sure what to expect, and I was pleasantly surprised. 

The book is divided into two stories: Dragon Actually, and Chains and Flames.

Dragon Actually:

Annwyl is leading a rebellion against her brother's rule. He's is an all-round heartless jackass. And Annwyl... well, she's pretty fierce. I mean, you'd have to be to have earned the title of Annwyl the Bloody. This title has come courtesy of the fact that she likes to chop off  her opponents' heads.
Our male lead is the mighty dragon, Fearghus the Destroyer. He's a fairly grumpy dragon who values nothing more than than his quiet time. He also doesn't spend all his time as a dragon. He can also turn into a human. 

Annwyl and Fearghus met just as Annwyl was on the brink of death. She'd just fought a bloody battle against her brother's soldiers, and she was bleeding out. Fearghus, for reasons he can't even explain to himself, saves Annwyl and burns the remaining soldiers to a crisp. Most of the book is spent with Fearghus taking care of Annwyl as a dragon, and training her to fight as a human. The catch? Annwyl doesn't realise that her knight and her dragon are the same person.

We also met Fearghus's siblings. I enjoyed most of them, especially Gwenvael and Morfyd. Gwenvael was a little on the touchy-feely side with Annwyl. After repeatedly telling the man to keep his hands to himself, Annwyl breaks his fingers. My kind of lady...

I liked both Fearghus and Annwyl. Fearghus was actually really sweet in how he tried to find a way to explain to Annwyl what his situation was. Annwyl, while I liked her kickass attitude, was a bit dense. I mean, really? I could actually buy her not being able to tell that her dragon and her knight were the same guy. But what I didn't believe was that she'd repeatedly do the nasty with a guy and not ask his name.

Chains and Flames:

Chains and Flames was the shorter of the two stories. It follows the spoiled princess Rhiannon and the blood thirsty warrior Bercelak. These two are Fearghus's parents, and they were very odd ducks.

Rhiannon is betrothed to Bercelak by her mother, who hates her guts. Rhiannon, apparently, hates everyone's guts. Bercelak absolutely adores Rhiannon. It makes me question his intellect. While Rhiannon is waiting for Bercelak to officially Claim her, her mother has trapped her in her human form. No flying and breathing fire for Rhiannon. Although, if you ask me, Rhiannon did not need scales and claws to be downright terrifying.

I must admit, for most of the book I did not like Rhiannon. At all. She was an arrogant, mean, ungrateful bitch. I didn't expect to like Bercelak, but I actually felt quite sorry for him. I couldn't even begin to see Rhiannon's appeal. It was better in the end though, once she'd let her guard down. 

  

But besides that, I thought this book was lots of fun. It won't make my all time favourites list, but I'll definitely keep up with this series.

Midnight Breeds: Midnight Rising

Midnight Rising is book four in the Midnight Breeds series. I was really looking forward to this one since it's Rio's book, and he's been really sad since his mate, Eva, proved to be a traitorous bitch. So I was really looking forward to him finding his special someone and being happy again.

Midnight Rising takes place five months after Midnight Awakening and starts off in the Czech Republic. Our leading lady, Dylan, is on holiday with friends when she runs into something a little out of the ordinary. Dylan is a reporter and she can see ghosts. Not a la Sixth Sense but creepy enough in its own right. The ghost tells her that there's somebody up on that mountain that is in some serious need of saving. Dylan, against her better judgement, goes to investigate. It's there that she runs into a slightly Loony Tunes Rio. 

Rio has been hanging out in the cave that the Order discovered at the end of Midnight Awakening, They were looking for some Big Bad that was apparently buried there, and they were set on destroying it for good. Unfortunately, it was nowhere to be found, and they were left with a great, big empty cave that needed to be closed up in case any nosy humans got too close. Rio volunteers to blow the place up before he heads off to Spain. 

Needless to say, Rio doesn't have any plans on heading on over to his homeland. Rio's decided that he's had enough and spends the next five months working himself up to ending it all. He's just about to blow up the cave, with him inside, when Dylan stumbles onto the scene and sees more than she ought to. And being the nosy reporter that she is, she takes some pretty compromising pictures of both the cave and of Rio. 

It's then up to Rio to make that Dylan's pictures and article don't blow the entire Breed's cover. 

And so the story progresses from there.

I have decided that from now on I will have no expectations for this series. When I have low expectations, I'm blown away. When I have high expectations, I'm disappointed. 

The latter is exactly what happened in this book. I was so excited for Rio, and then it all fell a little flat. Maybe his HEA happened to soon? I hesitate to say this since I'll probably come off as an insensitive bitch, but I actually found Rio a tiny bit... whiny. I know that sounds awful, because the guy has been through a lot, but there were times where I just wanted to scream. It's like, stop feeling so sorry for yourself! 

I love a tortured hero as much as the next girl, but this was getting a bit much for even me. As for Dylan, I thought she was okay. I didn't really connect with her, which also diminished my enjoyment of this book. The story line is definitely still there, although this was probably the least action-packed book in the series so far. I think Ms Adrian is working up to making the new villain really bad. Won't take much, I think. This guy is already making the last bad guy, Marek, look like a wuss. 

But on a happier note, we did hear more from some of the other characters and we found out that Tess and Dante are expecting. That was one bright spark in an otherwise pretty angsty book.  

Midnight Breeds: Midnight Awakening

Midnight Awakening is the third book in the Midnight Breeds series by Lara Adrian. I have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to this book. Initially, I didn't particularly like the main characters. Tegan, a Gen One vampire, needed a serious attitude adjustment, and Elise, a widowed Breedmate, needed to man the hell up. So, some low expectations in the beginning. But since I flat out refuse to skip books in a series, I sucked it up and read Midnight Awakening.

I was wrong. So wrong. This book was easily my favourite in the series. I had prematurely judged our leads. If it weren't for the fact that I'm absolutely anal about reading all the books in a series in order, I would have missed a lot. Because under Tegan's Dr Freeze persona was a really sweet guy, and under Elise's helpless female routine in the beginning was a woman with a spine of steel. 

That'll learn me for being judgey.

 We met Elise four months ago in Kiss of Crimson. She'd just lost her son, Camden, and was determined to get revenge on those who took his life. So she leaves her Darkhaven and goes all vigilante on the Rogue's minions. One night though, she bites off more than she can chew and is ambushed by a couple of bloodthirsty Rogues.And just guess who swoops in to save the day?

Tegan is absolutely gobsmacked when he realises what Elise has been up to since the last time he saw her. But Tegan's been through enough in his long life and this woman's apparent death wish is so not his business. He's all set to walk away and leave her to it. However, circumstances make this impossible and these two are stuck with each other in far closer quarters than either are comfortable with.

While the Order still operates out of Boston, most of this book took place in Berlin. We met a bunch of new characters and the overall story line of the series moved forward in a big way. Let me talk about the familiar faces before I get to the newbies.

Rio's mental state has not improved since Kiss of Crimson. In fact, it seems to have gotten worse. He's Breedmate's betrayal has made him a little bit crazy. Sterling Chase has joined the Order and transitioned from buttoned up, pompous ass to broody bad boy. Little bit worried about what's going on in his head. I'm pretty sure Elise and Tegan hooking up hasn't helped him revert to that nice guy we first met in Kiss of Crimson. We also see a little bit of Nikolai, the Order's weapons expert. This guy is so ridiculously yummy...

Now the new characters. The Order has recruited two new guys, Kade and Brock. We haven't really gotten to know them beyond the fact that these boys love nothing more than a good fight. Then we have Andreas Reichen. Whew... He's really super fine. He's in charge of the Darkhaven in Berlin and was kind enough to play host for Elise and Tegan while they were there.

I know I've been a little starry eyed about the hotties in this series, but that's not the only thing that the Midnight Breeds series has going for it  The story line is really picking up pace. The only reason I'm not going into more detail is that it would take me too long to explain properly, and I don't want to ruin the surprise. 

 

Lords of Deliverance: Lethal Rider

Lethal Rider is book three in the Lords of Deliverance series. I am going to be so sad when I finally finish this series. It's just so epic. And I have totally added Thanatos to my book boyfriend list. This guy was just too damn adorable for words.

The story was set up in the previous book, Immortal Rider. Regan was sent by the Aegis to seduce Thanatos and get pregnant. Thanatos found out and blew a gasket. Not only was he pissed at being used, but he was terrified that losing his virginity would mean his seal breaking, and him becoming as twisted and messed up as Pestilence.  His reaction to the whole situation was so bad that Limos and Ares had to use hellhound venom to keep him... sedate. 

Lethal Rider takes place eight months after Immortal Rider, and when poor Thanatos unfreezes, he's justifiably pissed. He's lost eight months of his life. It isn't entirely surprising that he wants to get his hands on Regan and throttle her for her betrayal.

Regan knows she's done wrong. She's spent the past eight months feeling guilty and dreading Thanatos waking up. She's also on the brink of popping out a baby that could avert the apocalypse. So, a stressful time for one and all. The story basically starts when Thanatos finally catches up to Regan. 

This book wasn't quite as funny as what I'm used to from Ms Ione, and I didn't even care. Thanatos was so friggin' sweet when he found out Regan was pregnant. All this guy ever wanted was a family of his own, but it never seemed possible because of the whole seal situation. Normally Thanatos is this take charge, lets-get-things-done kind of guy, but in the face of Regan's pregnancy he's all nervous and uncertain. He is so excited to be a dad, but he flounders about trying to properly express that excitement. I had so many "aww..." moments in this book that it was actually getting ridiculous. 

Lets not forget about Regan. She was one tough cookie. She has had a really rough time of it, and she deals with her circumstances as best she can. I felt quite bad for her a couple of times. We see that she struggles with OCD, and it sounds like an awful thing to suffer from.  

The ending of the book was pretty huge. It sets things up just right for the last book in the series, Rogue Rider. 

I know I said there weren't a lot of funnies in this book, but I did find something that made me chuckle. In Eternal Rider, Cara and Ares adopted a baby demon, Rath, whose parents had died. Cara loves the little demon like she gave birth to it herself. This is a family moment between Cara and Ares, Limos and Arik, and Regan and Thanatos.

The clink of glasses rang out, and after their first drink Cara said proudly, "Rath said his first sentence." 

Arik tugged Limos against him. "What did he say?"

Ares sighed. "What are the three words said most often in our house?"

"Not tonight, Ares?" Than offered. 

Lords of Deliverance: Immortal Rider

Immortal Rider is book two in the Lords of Deliverance series and, holy crap, was it good! I swear, just when you think that Larissa Ione can't get any more awesome, she comes along and takes it to the next level of oh-my-God-it's-so-good!

Immortal Rider is Limos and Arik's book. We saw in Eternal Rider that there was a little spark between these two, and in this book that spark becomes something more. 

Limos has pretty much been avoiding male company. See, she's actually engaged and he fiance is the jealous sort. Who's her fiance? Why, it's actually Mr Satan himself. If Limos gets too close to another guy, she risks being dragged back into hell to get married to the super evil, super scary, baddest demon of them all. If that isn't reason enough to remain celibate, I don't know what is. 

Then Arik comes along and shoots Limos' resolve to keep her hands to herself, quite literally, to hell. In the space of time it takes him to kiss her, he damns himself to being tortured in Sheoul (the demon realm). 

I think Limos may be one of my favourite female characters in the Demonica/Lords of Deliverance world. She's a little bit of a girly-girl, but not to the point where all she thinks about is planning her next outfit. She holds her own with her brothers and has more than her fair share of dark secrets. 

Much like Ares in the previous book, it took me a little while to warm up to Arik. I'm not entirely sure why that is, but I think he may be my least favourite hero. Which is not to say that he didn't have his moments of epicness. For example, after Arik escapes his torture chamber in Sheoul, he runs into Pestilence.

The Horseman smiled, exposing some serious fangage. 

Arik swallowed. Tried to anyway. His throat was too dry. But he definitely didn't like the sound of Pestilence's close thing. "Look, I'm sure you make all the lady demons cream their panties, but I'm just not that into you."

Either very brave or very stupid. Verdict is still out on which side I think he falls on.  

Immortal Rider, unlike the past books, seemed to focus a lot less on the romance between Arik and Limos. In fact, that was probably the least interesting part of the book. I enjoyed the Arik/Limos action, but there was a whole bunch of other stuff going on that had me practically salivating in anticipation for the next book, Lethal Rider. 

Because while Arik and Limos were making eyes at each other, the scene was being set for the next couple: Thanatos and Regan. 

Should Thanatos' seal break, he'll become Death. And the Horsemen are under the impression that Than's seal will break if he has sex. So he's been celibate for five thousand years. That does plenty to explain why the poor bloke is so crabby all the time. However, Thanatos' relative "innocence" isn't exactly a well-known fact, which is why the Aegis (a demon hunting organisation) send Regan to seduce him. They're under the impression that getting Regan pregnant will avert the upcoming apocalypse.

I love this series so much! It's so much fun! I can't wait to see what's the what between Regan and Thanatos. 

   

Lords of Deliverance: Eternal Rider

Lords of Deliverance is a spin-off from Ms Ione's Demonica series, and it looks to be just as awesome. The series follows the triumphs and tribulations of the Four Horsemen. See, the Horsemen aren't necessarily evil; they just have the potential to become that way.

The Horsemen are Ares (War), Limos (Famine), Thanatos (Death), and Reseph (Pestilence). The Horsemen become their evil selves once people or events cause their seals to break. Our bad guy for this series is Reseph, whose seal broke at the end of Sin Undone (I can't find that book anywhere). 

Eternal Rider deals with Ares. It actually took a lot longer than usual for me to warm up to Ares. I thought that his grouchiness was quite funny and even a little endearing, but I didn't love him, you know? But then, more than half way through the book, Cara, our leading lady, had Ares blushing. This big, tough guy was going red and it was too cute for words.

Cara was pretty awesome too. She handled her introduction into the supernatural world pretty well, and her attachment to Hal the hellhound was pretty funny. 

On to Ares's siblings. Reseph, aka Pestilence, is such a creep. He is properly evil, but I find myself sad about it. Ms Ione puts in some flashbacks of what Reseph was like before he became Pestilence, and he was really nice! I almost found myself pissed off that the author had picked him to be the villain. 

Limos and Thanatos were cool too. It looks like Limos has a bit of a thing for Arik, which is funny as hell considering that during their first meeting she broke the poor guy's ribs. I think I like Thanatos best. He's so serious and grumpy that it's actually cute.

In addition to these new characters, we also see some familiar faces from the Demonica series. Kynan seems to be especially important in this series.

Since this is Larissa Ione, I can't let you go without sharing my favourite quote with you. This is a conversation between Limos and Thanatos:

"The R-XR dude, Arik, was kind of hot, don't you think?"

"Never seen anyone hotter," Than said, his sarcastic delivery so deadpan that anyone who didn't know better might think he was serious. "He fills my dreams with his hotness."

"Now we're getting into TMI. Your wet dreams aren't something I want to know about."

Angels of the Dark: Wicked Nights

Wicked Nights was my first book by Gena Showalter, and I am so glad I gave this author a try. Ms Showalter really does have a way with words. More than just enjoying the story, I loved her writing. She made even the most simple of sentences really powerful, just through her wording. Another thing I was pretty impressed with was that I don't think Showalter used one swearword in the entire book. I think the worst might have been "damn". Don't get me wrong, I don't mind the swearing. It's just that in a genre where authors feel completely at ease liberally spicing their books with F-bombs, it was refreshing to find an author who manages to create tough-guy characters without the harsh language.  

Moving on to the story. Angels of the Dark is a spinoff from Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series. I didn't realise this before starting, but I wasn't confused, only curious about the few characters introduced from the previous series.

Wicked Nights was really loads of fun. Angels have become pretty popular in paranormal romance lately, and I think it's pretty easy to get lost in the crowd. This book definitely stood out. Zacharel is an angel, and he's as cold as ice. He was forced to kill his twin brother, Hadrenial, after the poor guy was tortured by demons. Since then Zacharel's had a major clamp on his emotions, and he considers himself above petty human emotions like anger, despair, love, and lust. Zacharel has gotten into more than a little trouble for killing demons without any thought for possible collateral damage ie. humans. His actions and lack of remorse have caused him to become the leader of an army of misfit angels. He has a year to whip these angels into shape, or he and his army will be cast from heaven. One more thing I'm going to mention about Zacharel is the fact that he's a virgin. I wouldn't normally consider this to be something worth mentioning but, since it doesn't often happen that the guy is as pure as the driven snow, it made for a nice change. It was pretty entertaining to watch Zacharel struggle with his reaction to our leading lady.

Annabelle Miller has had a supremely crappy last four years. When she was eighteen, she saw her parents being killed by a demon. The demon disappeared after the slaughter and Annabelle, being the only possible suspect, was charged with their murder. She was later institutionalised, crazy chick who saw monsters, and had pretty much gotten used to taking care of herself until she met Zacharel. 

I really enjoyed our two leads. Zacharel, having been out of touch with his emotions for so long, is completely clueless and seeing him try to deal with this pint-sized human chick was really funny. Annabelle was a good heroine. She was tough, but not so bent on proving herself that she was stupid. She was in touch with her emotions without being a crybaby. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I'm already excited for the next book in the series, Beauty Awakened. 

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.

Mark of the Vampire Series: Eternal Kiss

I was a little wary when I started this book. I was hugely disappointed by Eternal Hunger so I was on guard with Eternal Kiss. But I needn't have worried. The second installment of the Mark of the Vampire series totally made up for the first one. 

This is Nicholas' book and I actually liked him. He was working the whole "tortured hero" thing and, unlike with Alexander, we actually got a glimpse into his past. This poor guy had a really rough childhood and it still has a ginormous impact on his adult life. You just want to give the dude a hug.

I also liked our heroine a whole lot more in this book. Kate is a survivor. She's managed to live through a ten year stint in a vampire prison and she is determined to stay free no matter what. Her plans are shot to shit when she's witness to the murder of a female vampire and the attempted kidnapping of a vampire child. Before the vampire dies, she begs Kate to take the child to his father. No prizes for guessing who the baby daddy is. 

Kate and Nicholas have some serious trust issues in the beginning. Nicholas is convinced that Kate is in league with the dastardly Ethan Dare, and Kate just wants to get the hell away from Nicholas. 

I liked the fact that these two weren't immediately goo-goo eyes over each other. Yes, there was attraction but they weren't declaring their undying love for each other from the get go. 

We also see more of Dillon, Lucian, Bronwyn, Gray, and the evil "Supreme One". First, let me say that I totally saw the identity of the bad guy coming. Seriously, Wright wasn't even subtle about it.

Gray was an interesting character. He was just about catatonic in Eternal Hunger, but he's snapped out of it now. I have to be honest, I don't think his being up and about is an improvement. This boy has one hell of a bad attitude. Lucian is particularly keen on beating some manners into him. I have a sneaking suspicion that something's going to happen between Gray and Dillon, which is weird because I thought Dillon was gay. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens there. 

We also saw the story for next book being set up. Eternal Captive will be Lucian and Bronwyn's book. It's already looking to be one of those "forbidden love" things. 

I don't think this series is ever going to be one my favourites, but I do think I might carry on with it.

Mark of the Vampire Series: Eternal Hunger

I saw that this book had received rave reviews so I was really excited to read it. I mean, if the likes of Larissa Ione and Nalini Singh love your book then you have to be pretty awesome, right?

But I just was feeling it. The world that the story was set in was pretty cool, but I found the main characters frustrating. I initially thought that I was going to love Sara Donahue, our leading lady. She's a psychiatrist and seemed to be the sensible sort. Granted, she let this huge scary stranger into her house, but he seemed to be in need of medical attention and she's a doctor. So I could deal with this. I also liked that when Sara was attacked by a loony ex-patient, she wanted to call the police. Very good. The police are seriously undervalued in the paranormal romance universe. 

Then it starts going downhill fast. Sara has the appropriate "eeeek!" moment when Alexander, our hero, shows her his fangs. But then she goes wondering around with him like she's known him forever, without having that very important do-you-promise-not-to-eat-me conversation. 

In addition to dealing with a serious lack of self-preservation, we read about how these two are feeling intensely possessive of one another. Now, I know that things happen fast in the land of romance. I have read tons of books where, after a week, the lead characters decide that they can't live without one another. I usually suspend my disbelief. But in Eternal Hunger this was happening after one day.

One Day!

Sara wasn't the only character I was rolling my eyes at. Alexander is all "oooh, I just want to protect you", but then he takes her into a credenti (a vampire community) where humans are considered the lowest form of life. Hmmm... I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound terribly safe to me. He tells Bronwyn, a vampire who is under the impression that they're true mates, that he doesn't believe in love. But then he starts mooning over Sara like a starstruck Justin Bieber fan.

Let me throw out a few of my, ahem, favourite unlikely quotes from these two pea brains.

"This woman ruled his heart while the Order ruled his mind."

Excuse me? According to my mental calculations, you have known this chick for a day!

"It was utterly impossible for her to deny her attraction to him, her desire for him now, and she wasn't even going to try."

So far as I've been able to tell, you have made very little effort so far. Why start now?

It wasn't all horrendously bad though. There were some characters I kinda liked. There's Dillon, the fierce body guard, who had an inexplicable crush on Sara. We see quite a bit of Alexander's brothers, Nicholas and Lucian. Nicholas is the serious sort, whereas Lucian seems to be a bit of a loose cannon. Bronwyn is a vampire genealogist, and she doesn't take Lucian's crap. Looks like something is going to happen over there. 

There is some good news: I read the next book in the series (I'd already bought the damn thing) and it was much  better. 

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.

Midnight Breeds Series: Kiss of Crimson

Kiss of Crimson is the second book in the Midnight Breeds series and this is Dante's story. I think I've mentioned this before, but I'm going to say it again: Dante is hot!

He reminded me a little of Rhage from the BDB in that he's this utter player on the outside but a bit of a lonely soul on the inside. Dante has had these visions of his death from an early age, so he's been doing all he can to outrun his eventual demise. Basically, he lives a hard and fast life, just waiting for death to crash into him. After a nasty fight with a group of Rogues, it looks like Dante is going to meet his fate a little early. And he does, just not in the way that he expects. He staggers in all bloody and bruised into the storeroom of a veterinary clinic, looking for a place to hide from the Rogues.

Enter Tess. Tess is a vet with a way with animals. She's also got a Dark Past. This means that she's unwilling to let anyone get too close to her emotionally. She is utterly dedicated to her practice, which normally leaves her working late. So, she's there when Dante shows up and she is scared as hell. Here's this huge-ass guy decked out in leather bleeding all over her floor, and he's asking her not to call the police. What is she supposed to think? 

Tess agrees to help Dante, but their first meeting goes downhill from there. Dante, in desperate need of blood, bites Tess. What Dante didn't realise is that Tess is a Breedmate and he's unwittingly claimed her as his mate. This is so not what Dante needs just then.   

Further complicating matters is the fact that a drug called Crimson is being sold to young members of the Breed. This drug seems very benign from a human perspective, but has devastating effects on vampires. It gives them brief episodes of Bloodlust and, if taken often enough, can turn them Rogue. It's up to the Order to find out who's dealing Crimson and get the stuff off the streets. 

We meet some new characters in this installment of the series. Special Agent Sterling Chase is apparently as straight-laced as they come and he's keen on helping the Order get Crimson off the streets. However, we soon realise that he's not as cool, calm and collected as he'd like everyone to believe. He has a ginormous tourch burning for his widowed sister-in-law, Elise, and he's pretty much alone in his affections. Elise misses her deceased husband terribly and she lives solely for their son, Camden. 

I have two issues with this book. The first is superficial and the second is something that bugged me in Kiss of Midnight too. 

Firstly, not enough Rio and Nikolai! I really liked these two, so I didn't like that they were in the periphery. We did see Rio for a little bit, just enough to know that he is having some serious trouble adjusting to things after the explosion in Kiss of Midnight.

Secondly, there was a whole lot left unresolved. And these aren't cliffhanger issues. These are directly related to the current story. Tess lost two people she cared about. So, what happened to the grieving process? Same with Gabrielle. Her best friend was kidnapped with her. How did they handle the fact that Jamie was involved in something he wasn't supposed to know about?

Overall I enjoyed this book and I quite like the series. I just think that Ms Adrian kinda rushes her endings.