~REVIEW of Larissa Ione's PLEASURE UNBOUND~

                      DARKLY ORIGINAL, SUPER SEXY AND COMPLETELY ABSORBING

Pleasure Unbound (Demonica, #1)

Opening Line: "Had Eidolon been anywhere but the hospital, he would have killed the guy pleading for his life in front of him.

Welcome to Larissa Ione’s utterly imaginative world of Demonica. Full of demons, vampires, shifters, weres, slayers, humans and every combined half version of them. PLEASURE UNBOUND is a great ride I just couldn’t put down; action packed, erotic and sinfully dark with witty humour and engaging, fresh characters. Including a kick-ass heroine and her uber-sexy, scrub wearing Demon love interest. It’s the perfect combination of paranormal romance and urban fantasy and it’s oh so good.

Tayla has been taught that all demons are evil and since they are also responsible for the death of her mother she has dedicated her life to destroying them, she is a demon-slayer, an Aegi. So when a slaying goes bad, killing her partner and she finds herself laid up in UGH (underworld general hospital) all she can think about is taking names and then taking the place down. (And unreasonably the cute doctor able to heal with a simple touch.)

Eidolon is a Seminus demon doctor, sworn to heal and protect even the worst of his world. He is also nearing his transition, a change that will cause him to go mad with lust, craving every woman in his path and likely getting himself killed by a jealous male in the process. He is fighting the change but when Tayla enters his realm even though he hates the Aegi, all bets are off.

The underlying moral here isn’t unique; what if your entire belief system was destroyed by getting to know and spending time with your enemy? What if you discovered that they weren’t the evil incarnate you’d been led to believe but in fact were no different from yourself? That they had families, jobs and problems and thought YOU were the evil one. And what if it then came to be that you were actually one of them?

Pleasure Unbound is the first in the Demonica series and like I said it’s original and fantastic. Eidolon’s demon brothers really piqued my interest and I look forward to reading their books in particular bad-boy Wraith‘s story. I would also highly recommend this to fans of the Ward’s BDB who will see several similarities between the sets of “brothers” with their tortured pasts, sacrifices for each other and continual bantering. Cheers!

~REVIEW of Gena Showalter's THE DARKEST PLEASURE~

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

Opening Line: Reyes stood on the roof of the Budapest fortress, five stories up, his feet balanced precariously on the highest ledge.

THE DARKEST PLEASURE is book 3 in the fantastic and addictive Lords Of The Underworld Series and this time it's is all about Reyes, an immortal warrior cursed after opening Pandora's box and ever since bound to the demon of pain. We've been waiting since book 1 to see Reyes' unrequited love for Danika reach its foregone conclusion and Showalter doesn't disappoint.

As in past books this is an ensemble piece, involving the continuing stories of past immortals and their now mates, as well as those Demons yet to have their stories told. Rather than distracting I found all these characters only added to the story in a very `Brothers' living in the mansion kind of way. I love the bantering between the warriors who at the same time respect each others torturous curses. This dysfunctional family unit continues to change and grow, all the while maintaining their constant search for Pandora's Box and fighting off the ever threatening `Hunters.'

Reyes is kinda sexy but he's been cursed with the demon of pain. To avoid hurting others (and feel some pleasure himself) he must satisfy the demon by either releasing it during a fight or self inflicting pain. I.e. cutting or stabbing himself, although he has also been known to jump off the roof of a building just to feel his bones break and hear the demon purr. Reyes was introduced to Danika Way back in The Darkest Night and he's never been able to forget her. She unfortunately was targeted by Cronus the new King of the Titans and along with her family sentenced to death. To make matters worse it was Reyes's best friend Aeron ordered with upholding the death sentence and the longer he's kept from this task the more bloodthirsty his own demon Wrath has become. In fact Aeron's become so crazed that he's been locked in the dungeon where he's trying to chew off his own hands to escape the shackles. Reyes can't bear to see his friend like this but he can't allow Aeron to kill Danika either and will fight him to the death if need be.

Meanwhile Danika remains on the run, now separated from her family she fears that they may all be dead and in an attempt to find and protect them strikes up a deal with the `Hunters' allowing herself to be used as `Bait' against the immortals. Once inside the castle walls however her resolve starts to fail. Something draws her to Reyes, this man who warms her skin and haunts her dreams. He has shown her nothing but safety and kindness and she has come to desire him, demon and all. Reyes in turn is pretty much useless, unable to concentrate on anything except getting Danika into his bed and keeping her safe from the bloodthirsty Aeron. Now if only he could figure out where Danika's loyalties lie and why Cronus wants her dead they could all live happily ever after.

This was a great read and anyone invested in the series won't be disappointed. Besides the love story there are some excellent sub-plots. (Paris's story is getting progressively heartbreaking *sigh*) My only regret here would be the surprisingly mundane love scenes. Given the subject materiel I guess I expected a little more, I mean pain=BDSM right? Unfortunately (or fortunately?) Reyes wants to keep things gentle and not exploit Danika's dark, kinky side. At times I also felt bogged down with too much Greek Mythology and history but all the same can't wait to read the next instalment. Cheers