The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld Series #2)

A reviewer

Gena Showalter continues to make her unique mark in paranormal romance with THE DARKEST KISS, Book #2 in her Lords Of The Underworld series for HQN 'June 2008'. In Budapest, Lucien, the leader of a group of immortal warriors who have all been possessed by a different demon lord for opening Pandora¿s Box centuries ago, humors his men with one last night on the town at a local nightclub before they go in search for the missing Pandora¿s Box. As the keeper of Death, Lucien has eschewed softer emotions, so that he can effectively do his duty -- escort souls to heaven. . . or hell. Anya is the Goddess of Anarchy and cannot help but create chaos where ever she goes, never taking herself seriously. So why the beautiful, mischievous Anya is attracted to the dark, scarred Lucien with the unusual colored eyes 'one brown/one blue' is puzzling even to her. Anya flirts outrageously with Lucien and first convinces him to dance with her and then kiss her. Lucien is totally wary of the sexy Anya, who could have any man she wants, and thinks she must be Bait sent by human Hunters, who want to capture all the warriors to trap their demons back inside the box. When Cronus, the King of the Titans, arrives and catches them together, he orders Lucien to kill Anya or all the Lords will suffer. However, Anya, who possesses a special All-Key that Cronus wants, manages to escape since she has the ability to flash herself anywhere just like Lucien does. Little does Lucien know, Anya is also cursed and is not as wild as she seems. Lucien and Anya combine forces by flashing themselves all over the world to seek four ancient artifacts: the All-seeing Eye, the Cloak of Invisibility, The Cage of Compulsion and the Paring Rod that will assist them in finding Pandora¿s Box and destroying it before Hunters can use it against them. Through terrifically witty verbal repartee they are constantly battling their attraction for each other but soon give in to burning passion. As a bonus to this fantastic primary romance, there is also the brilliant set up for two other Lords love stories: Reyes, Keeper of Pain 'THE DARKEST PLEASURE/June 2008' and Paris, Keeper of Promiscuity '11/09'. THE DARKEST KISS really showcases all of Gena Showalter¿s wonderful writing talents 'endearing, dark, quirky, hot, touching and sexy' into an absolutely phenomenal complex paranormal tale!

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Highly addictive!

I was totally blown away by Anya and Lucien... I had a big smile on my face the whole time I was reading this book. The main characters journey of love and hate kept me awake until the wee hours of the morning, turning page after page.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Death and Anarchy Reign!!!

Anya is SUCH a tease in this book! LOL She and Death make a very interesting pair; loved it!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I THOUGHT I would be disappointed

I so loved the first book with Maddox and Ashlyn and when I started this book I immediately started to dislike the heroine. Anya was a constant tease, enjoyed lying and stealing, had an over confident attitude and could be really sassy at times. Half way through the book I was hating her and thought the book would end with me very disappointed.

Well, that was rather foolish of me. Now that I have finished the book, I can say that the last half of the book changed my opinion. I admit I did not enjoy the first 200 pages but after that, the plot got thicker and more exciting. Anya was finally able to open up to Lucien. Lucien showed more emotion towards her which seemed to settle down some of Anya's not so good behaviors that so bugged me. I liked when her friend William enters the story. They're relationship was fun to read. Especially with Lucien been all protective of her. It made me laugh a little. After that I was hooked.

So for those of you who start to read the story and find yourself not liking Anya, I say be patient and don't give up. Remember her character is a minor goddess and goddess characters tend to have a bit of an attitude. You never know by the end of the book, you may find that she has finally grown on you and will admit to liking her. I do now.

PS the back stories with Paris and Reyes fuel to the book. Adding excitement and anticipation for the next books.
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I love this book!!!

This book/series is so wonderful!! I will buy more of her books from here on out!!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Awesome

Okay, I loved this book. I could put it down a little more then the other two books but this one was still great. It still gets five stars

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

GREAT

After reading the first one, HAD to read this one, and was not disappointed!!!!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellant Read

I truly enjoyed this book, as well as all the other Lords of the Underworld books. The story is so very unusual both exicting and sensual at times. Many different turns so it was hard to see exactly how things would end. The characters are all so very different opening up so many different possibilities for future books. Loved it and can't wait for the next in the series.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Loved it!!!!!

Loved it!! Loved It!!! Loved it!!!! My favorite of the series!! I started with book 9 about Paris, not knowing it was a series. (got it from Walmart) I instantly loved the other characters and realized it was a series. I finished that book and immediately started at the beginning. I loved the cat-and-mouse chase of Lucien and Anya!!!! The cage and memory part was lack luster, seemed a little rushed to finish but I loved it anyway!!! I love this series! This book is my personal favorite of the bunch! There weren't enough interactions between the two in the rest of the series. I high recommend this book and the whole series!!! Ready for the Angels Series coming in July!!!! Showalter fan!

Another Good Book in the LOTU Series :)

Another good book in the LOTU series. Not one of my favorites but still worth reading. Looking forward to reading more about the Lords. :)

Great!

This was a good book. I love thhis series.

Amazing

This was the first book that I read by Gena a few years back and I fell in love with the world she created and her writing stlye. I loved every moment of it. If you had to choose which one to read from her, this one is the one to choose. I can picture all of it in my head perfectly without even thinking about it.

uuugggghhh

Not as good as I hoped.....:(

Must Read

What a great story... Lucien and Anya's story was full of passion. Loved it! Can't wait to read next one. :)

Action packed and full of love

I really enjoyed this book not only did it have for bidden love but the was a lot of action between the two lovers :)

I really liked Lucien's story

I read the first book in the series (The Darkest Night) and really liked the story. I was surprised that I felt the same way with this book. Not because Gena Showalter is a bad writer but because normally when you read a series especially romance novels, the first one is always the best and then they fall down hill fast afterward. However this book could hold it's own against the first. You could even read it without having read the first one and you would still be clued in on everything. Now there are some references to the first book but it isn't anything too major. Right from the get go you are caught up to speed on the back story of the lords of the underworld but not in the way that most books do where you are skipping pages thinking "where is the story, I already know this!".

The story starts off with Anya seeking out Lucien at a club and wanting to dance with him. I felt bad for him when he thought that she was just trying to "tease the ugliest man" there, because of his scars, and the fact that all of the other lords thought the same thing, really made me feel bad. When really, she had been following him for a while at that point and had grown really interested in him. After their encounter at the club Lucien is instructed by the gods to kill Anya or his friends will suffer, so... he sets off to kill her. The majority of the book is a cat and mouse chase of his chasing her, they spar a little bit and then she disappears... literally. Anya and Lucien can "flash", they can disappear and reappear in another location of their choosing. I should also mention that this book does have some parts on Paris (keeper of promiscuity) and Reyes (keeper of pain). Since after all, the books have to twine together somehow. So I cannot wait to read what happens there. It's a good thing that the third book just so happens to tell the story of Reyes.
All in all I really enjoyed the book and was glad to see that it was just as good as the first, which is a good thing since I bought the entire series.

I highly recommed

The Lords of the Underworld series is very addicting! After the first series I couldn't wait to get to the next. MUST READ!

Good serie but is predictable

What I do like aboutt his series is the Gods - Titan Gods are part of it as they have over thrown the Greeks. Wish she wrote a book about how all that happened. I also like that the female was on equal footing and not a mortal and that they must seek the objects that Cronus needs that make him powerful. What I did not like was the predictability of the story but alot of times that happens with series books that are fantasy / romance and the characters all being lonely - then finding the "mate" as they are called.

Overall I do like the plot of the series and its sexy and romantic.

Series is a must read!

Great story

great book

loved it the story was great better then the first book and i cant wait to read the next one.