Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(29)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Long ago a band of immortal warriors stole and unleashed the evil within Pandora's box. In the melee, the box was lost. As their punishment for the deed, the gods forced each warrior to 'contain' one of the demons within themselves. So the Lords of the Underworld were born.

At present, some of these possessed immortals live a sheltered life high on a hill in Budapest. They struggle daily with their demons eventually succumbing to the demons desires. As well as warding off attacks by the radical humans called Hunters who want to see them and their demons dead.

The immortal warrior Reyes possesses the demon of Pain. He can only feel pleasure in one of two ways 1)unleashing his demon during fights or 2)self inflicting pain -cutting himself. That is until he meets his *angel*.

Danika Ford is the unfortunate woman whom the gods have targeted for death (along with her family). Aeron (Wrath) has been assigned the task of murdering them. The more he resists, the more the bloodlust grows within him.

Meanwhile the other warriors continue to look for the pieces of the puzzle to find Pandora's box. Only Reyes cannot concentrate on anything other than keeping Danika safe and away from his warrior friend. Soon he must choose between his two loves -his woman or his friend.

A good book but I liked the second one in the series The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld, Book 2) much more. I think I expected something else here -perhaps some mild BDSM? (he is Pain after all). And the adventure was somewhat lacking unlike the previous installment. There is a lot of foreshadowing (more like teasing for the next book! ;)) too . In particular, Showalter showcases Paris and Aeron. Those parts were my favorites (made it a 4 star rather than a 3 star book) and make me anticipate the sequels.

On the other hand as far as the romance goes -Reyes and Danika are a engaging couple but nothing that is earth shattering. Good sexual tension but somewhat mundane love scenes. Perhaps my expectations were too high *shrugs* I don't know.

I mostly liked it and recommend it to those who have liked the previous books. And I will be definitely looking forward to the next in the series. Showalter has an interesting take on the mythological in the paranormal genre.

This is a very good series and I am enjoying each and every one so far. This is the story of Reyes and Danika, he is possessed by the demon of pain and needs pain to feel pleasure. I really felt this would be a hard book to read or write because of the demon he has. However, I found the book an easy read and the search for the box of Pandora is heating up. All of the other characters are in this one too.

Reyes is possessed by the demon of Pain but since he met Danika all he can think about is her. He is determined to protect her from Aeron who has been ordered by the Titans to kill her and her family.

Danika can't believe how she can desire one of the horrible monsters who are out to kill her family. But as Reyes saves her life again and again she comes to know him and realize there is a soul in him besides the demon of Pain. Danika has fought monsters in her dreams her whole life. She has visited heaven and hell in those dreams and now she faces them is reality.

Lucian demands that Reyes tell him where he has imprisoned Aeron, and Reyes convinces him to keep Aeron chained to protect Danika. They both know that it is not a permenant solution. If Reyes could only find out why Cronos wants her dead.

The story is good the romance is hot and the reading is easy. What more can you ask for a good summer read.

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 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.

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 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!

Having read lots of reviews about this series, I eagerly bought all 3. Someone, maybe more than one someone, said the plot was far-fetched and ridiculous, in so many words. I dismissed that, because I like mythology, in fact I am very interested in it and have studied it for years. So the premise for these books sounded tantalizing.

Now having read these 3 in the series-and I won't touch on the other two here, except to say that I thought #1 was the best at 3.5 stars- I have to say that those people were absolutely right, and I feel sad, because this idea had potential. The author has a good imagination, I think, but it was rather poorly executed. Plot holes abound, the romance was just presented-I don't think I ever understood why they loved each other, although they said they did. The characters certainly didn't grow and neither did the story.

When her first book came out, one reviewer said this series was J.R. Ward rip-off. I guess the person was referring to the tortured hero and the heroine who sets him free. If that's the case, I could list a lot more books that fit that description. This is romance and most in this genre follow a formula.

Over the years, I've read a ton of books in this field. I usually don't favor one sub-genre over the other. I search for something particular in each book and originality isn't it. I look for that emotional pull that is so strong, the reader can feel it physically. If the book is part of a series, I also judge how the author blends in other characters without distracting from the hero and heroine or the story itself. In my opinion, not all authors are able to pull this off. Not only does Showalter do both, but she does it with a masterfully.

The three books in her Lords of the Underworld series are THE DARKEST NIGHT, THE DARKEST KISS, and THE DARKEST PLEASURE. Most the time, readers can skip around in sequence - not so with this one. Each book builds on the last, so read them in order.

Gena Showalter just keeps on getting better and better with her extraordinary Lords of the Underworld paranormal series for HQN in Book #3, THE DARKEST PLEASURE (July 2008). In the Lords Of the Underworld's Budapest fortress, Reyes is always hurting himself since Pain is his constant companion. Centuries ago, Reyes and his fellow immortal warriors let all the demons of the world out of Pandora's Box and Reyes ended up being the Keeper of Pain. In Los Angeles, Danika Ford is in disguise, broke and working at a greasy diner to try to escape the Lords, who had previously kidnapped her, her sister, mother and grandmother in Budapest and then let them go. However, Aeron, the Keeper of Wrath, has been ordered by Cronus, the King of the Gods, to kill them because they might know too much. So Danika and her relatives were forced to split up and flee for their lives. Meanwhile, Reyes, who is enamored of Danika, has imprisoned Aeron so he will not murder her. Unfortunately the Lords aren't the only ones who are after Danika, since the evil Hunters want to find her to help them destroy the Lords. When Reyes hears the Hunters have captured Danika he goes to her rescue, kills some Hunters and brings her back to Budapest. Unbelievably Danika seems to have a calming effect on his Demon Pain. The only problem is Reyes can't make love without there being pain involved because his demon finds it pleasurable. In the meantime, the other Lords are out searching the globe for the three remaining artifacts: the All-seeing Eye, the Cloak of Invisibility and the Paring Rod, they need to find Pandora's Box that will put an end to their demon curses. Will Danika be able to save her family and still remain with Reyes and what about her strange visions and paintings she creates? And poor Paris, Keeper of Promiscuity, who has made love to countless women but is pining for the only one who has ever rejected him and is lost to him forever? THE DARKEST PLEASURE is the ultimate pleasurable paranormal romance not only for its amazingly clever plot twists, its delightfully witty dialogue but also for its infinitely touching love story between the dark tortured, Reyes and the angelic feisty, Danika, who's finally able to tame him and his inner demon!

You will love this book. If you are a fan of Black Dagger Brotherhood or Midnight Breed Series then you will really love these books too! With a whole new spin on things you will fall in love with this series!

Reyes, keeper of Pain, is a man tortured by his need for self mutilation. In order to prevent Pain from inflicting it's own breed of violence upon others, Reyes has looked to himself to provide the demon with it's painful desires. But in that pain there is pleasure to be found. Although at the moment, the demon's drive for satisfaction is raking through his mind at a cutting rate and it's demands for more and more cause Reyes to resort to throwing himself off the Lord's fortress in Budapest. Feeling his body crumple on the jagged rocks below is the single satisfying pleasure to be had and Reyes knows of only one other that can soothe his demon more than the gruesome promise below - the human, Danika Ford.

Danika is on the run. After a group of warriors kidnapped her, her sister, mother, and grandmother while they were vacationing in Budapest, it became known rather quickly that the warriors wanted their death with no viable explanation. But after their rescue and inexplicable release in the States, the four hit the ground running and split up to make recapture difficult. Now broke and alone, Danika has no idea if her family is still alive. What Danika does know is that she will never be taken advantage of again. Still ridden with guilt for freezing up during their kidnapping, Danika vows to herself that she will never again be helpless and spends all her money on self defense classes. But despite all her rage at the warriors who destroyed her life, there is one that she can not break free from - Reyes. The gorgeous warrior haunts not only her dreams, but her every waking hour. But her infatuation will not cloud her desire for revenge and Danika is finally given that chance when a group of men - Hunters - share her same hatred and ask for her help.

The Hunters are a human faction bent on killing the Lords of the Underworld with the ridiculous belief that by eradicating Pain, Death, Disease, etc., those traits will also be eradicated from humanity. Previous intel has linked Danika to the warriors and the Hunters hope to lay a trap. The warriors will undoubtedly come for Danika and the Hunters will let them take her but with a little insurance by promising Danika that they will find and protect her family if she relays any and all information she can obtain from the Lords. Wanting to save her family at any cost, Danika agrees.

When news reaches Reyes that Danika has been abducted by Hunters, he will not let her go again as he did in the past. He will retrieve her from his enemy and make her his, if only for a little while. Reyes knows immediately that the Hunters have asked something from Danika. For all intents and purposes, he should kill her. Gods know the other Lords want him to. But selfishly, he will not allow any harm to befall Danika. In addition, he promises to take her to the one person that he knows for certain will be able to tell where her family is - Aeron, keeper of Wrath. The Lord was summoned by the gods and ordered to kill Danika's family. Knowing that the females were innocent, Aeron resisted killing them and instead abducted them until a decision could be made. But as the gods foretold, with each passing day his bloodlust would grow until he ultimately became consumed with their deaths. Now, chained and locked in the dungeon bellow the Budapest fortress, Reyes takes Danika to see the man intent on her and her family's destruction.

Answers aren't the only information that Danika receives from Aeron. Something about herself is discovered as well. Something that changes her role with the Lords of the Underworld.

Yet in the midst of searching for her family and coming to terms with her unbelievable abilities, Danika finds herself falling in love with the one man she should hate. Her burning desire for Reyes can't be denied any longer but when she makes attempts to become intimate with the gorgeous warrior, all she receives in return is rejection.

Reyes swore off women long ago when it became apparent that his brand of sex inadvertently turned his bedparnters into beings consumed by pain. Their eyes no longer projected their once gentle nature and they did things, painful things to others that they wouldn't normally do. His demon would corrupt them until they were filled with bloodlust. After everything Reyes has already done to Danika, he's not going to turn her into a monster on top of it all.

'The Darkest Pleasure' has proved to be my favorite of the current releases in the Lords of the Underworld series. With each book, Gena Showalter weaves a darker and darker tale with TDP being the darkest.

Reyes was a wonderful multi-layered hero. He sacrifices so much to help Danika. And while he burns for her, he's also so self conscience of how she's going to feel when she discovers his need for pain. He's never hated himself more when he sees her look of abject horror when she stumbles upon his way to gain release. But he's soon shocked when her desire for him seems to burn even hotter. I think Reyes felt so humbled by Danika's acceptance of him but still, his worries that his demon would corrupt her linger and it takes time before he'll allow Danika to have all of him. He's not holding back because of ego but because of a deep seeded need to protect her at all costs, even from himself.

Danika was a strong heroine. While I disliked her initial hatred of Reyes, I could sympathize with her reasons. This man and his friends ruined her life and broke apart her family. But when she realizes all that he's sacrificed, she's quick to rethink her judgements. It had always felt wrong for her anyway, her hatred of him and the emotion withered quickly when faced with Reyes. And while her initial reaction to Reyes's need for pain is disgust, it's more in the way of a reaction to the rules of society. People should not cut themselves, but she soon feels the need to be the one to inflict his pain. It sounds weird but she knows that it's pleasure he feels and he needs it to protect others. Danika recognizes it as her right to be that person for Reyes.

I have been waiting for Darkest Pleasure since I finished Darkest Kiss. Gena Showalter definitely has created believable, hot, tormented characters in her Lords of the Underworld series.

Reyes is the Keeper of Pain; which makes one wonder how he's supposed to enjoy pleasure with Danika if he constantly has to self mutilate to keep his demon happy and quiet. Danika escapes Aeron only to end up in the Lords' enemies hands. Reyes has to choose whether or bring her back and protect her or let her go for good.

The beginning is a little rough if you haven't read Darkest Kiss right before reading Darkest Pleasure, but the reader soon is transported into the Lords' world. Definitely a keeper.

This is a great paranormal romance to read. All of the characters tug on your heart and you want each of the Lords to find someone to help tame their demon. Reyes will truly have you falling in love with him. On Gena's website she said there will be many more books! I believe the next one is about Sabin...