Mona Lisa Darkening (Monere Series #4)

Using an excellent twist, Sunny totally refreshes her unique erotic urban fantasy saga

Queen of the Louisiana Monere Children of the Moon Mona Lisa behaves very differently towards her followers than her peers. She treats her subjects with respect rather than contempt. Perhaps it is her being the only half-breed Monere queen or her having lived amongst the humans.

On the night of the vernal equinox, Mona takers her followers outside in the bayou to celebrate the holiday by drawing on rejuvenating power of the light. However, under the full moon, something goes wrong; instead of light Mona is cocooned in an eerie darkness. While some of her shocked subjects remain paralyzed with fear and others want to act but don¿t know at who or what, she vanishes. In the realm of the damned, a gargoyle captures her while the evil Monere queen Mona Louisa tries to take control of Mona Lisa¿s body. However a hero will step forth to go into hell for the heavenly cause of rescuing Mona or being damned for eternity if he fails.

Using an excellent twist, Sunny totally refreshes her unique erotic urban fantasy saga. A simple celebration turns dangerous for Mona Lisa while her loyal followers feel helpless and concerned as they do not know what happened to their beloved queen, whose involved or what to do; their frustrations enhance Mona¿s trek through Netherhell, the realm of the damned that makes Dante¿s depiction look PG. The superb DARKENING focuses mostly on a beleaguered Mona as she struggles to survive while trying to control her appetite of wanting the hard gargoyle inside her and not succumbing to the sexual desires if becoming enslaved to him.

Harriet Klausner

7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Great series

Mona Lisa Darkening is a spectacular continuation of the Children of the Moon series that moves this series from interesting and enthralling to an extraordinarily riveting series that will hook you from the first book and always, always leaving you wanting for more of Mona Lisa and her motley family that she has created for herself. In this installment, Sunny has done a masterful job in this book of delving into Mona Lisa's depths and exploring her as a woman, as a queen and as a child of the moon - a Monère woman. For the most part, this book is entirely about Mona Lisa and how she finally comes to terms with who she is, what she is becoming and what she means to those around her - but it's not until she almost loses it all that she realizes how much she loves being who she is - a Monère Queen. I must admit that I loved this book so much that I felt cheated when I turned the last page and there was no more to read, leaving me anxiously awaiting for the next installment of this spectacular series. Mona Lisa Darkening is an incredible book that will hook you into the fantastic universe that Sunny has created for the Monère and the rich characters that inhabit this wonderful landscape. Do get yourself Mona Lisa Darkening as it is an action packed book that is bound to make you a fan of Sunny and the Children of the Moon series!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Mona Lisa Darkening by Sunny

Sunny's 'Mona Lisa' series is a fascinating, dark fantasy filled with otherworldly creatures that are quite a bit different from the usual paranormal fare. Her world is based on the Monere, a society of moon descendants who 'bask' in the moon's rays to sustain their life. They are stronger, faster, and prettier than normal humans...and many, if not most, are quite a bit crueler.

Mona Lisa is drawn into NetherHell this time, and neither her status as Queen nor her Hell mate Halcyon can help her out of this one. Instead it may fall to Mona Lisa's bitterest enemy, Mona Louisa, to provide the knowledge and skills to save herself.

If you haven't been reading this series, you don't want to start with this one! It would still be an interesting and different read, but you would miss all of the broad scope that's packed into such a small novel. The back cover states that Sunny's series will appeal to fans of Anne Bishop and Laurell K. Hamilton, and I agree with that. But I would add Sherri L. King, Laura Anne Gilman, Jennifer Rardin, and fans of C E Murphy's 'Shaman' series to that list. There's not as much sex in this book as in her previous, but the heat is still pretty darn high and in many ways I think this book rides that line between romance and erotica because of the number and 'kinds' of sex portrayed. I'm hooked on this series and look forward to each new book...so yet another for my groaning keeper shelves.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Leaves you wanting more....

I have read all 4 of the books in the series and I want more. It just ends and I never like that when it comes to a story that I fall in love with. The way that Sunny makes you apart of the story with her utstanding writing is something that I have not seen in a long time. Thank you Sunny for an outstanding series!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

WE WANT MORE!

I am completely in love with the Mona Lisa series! This book rates fourth of the four in the series in my ratings but it is still by far one of the most interesting, erotic, emotional books I've read. I just hope Sunny makes more!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great Books

This is an easy read and truly enjoyable to read. I suggest starting at book one and working your way up, because you'll be glad you did it. I love how Sunny has taken the world that you typically know, and added a layer of mystery to it, one that seems believable and well thought out. I love when writers do that; fantasy is great, but when they can make it so creative that it almost seems plausible, that's when I enjoy books the most.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

One of the best series

I sure hope this is not the end to the Monere series I love her books and this book was just as good. I found myself peeking ahead of the chapter because I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen next. This last book was full of twist and turns and like all the other's a real page turner she did lessen the sex scenes in the book which is ok with me because it dosent take away from the book at all. The only thing I didn't like was I felt at the end it was unfinished like I had questions about where does this leave her relationship with some of the men in the story. overall buy the book good read, read it in on sitting.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Love this series

I can't wait for her to write more of this series. I read the books back to back. I didn't get much sleep because when I would close my eyes all I could think of was what was going to happen next. Good plot, sex, romance. Very good!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Heartbreaking as usual

All of her books a wonderful and heartbreaking. This one was very well written and I really enjoyed the plot and new characters.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Mona Lisa Darkening Monere Series # 4

This book was excellent, I L.O.V.E how it started off, and I especially L.O.V.E how it ended. If you have not started on the Monere Series...you need to. Because every book in this series, is very consistent, and thrilling.

Sunny gives you romance, L.O.V.E, drama, thrill, excitement, devastation, and most of all vampires.

Mona Lisa comes back with a kick, and a side of her you never seen in the other three books.

On this night of the vernal equinox, one of the two times a year when night and day are equal and the barrier between Earth and Hell is at it's weakest something goes terribly wrong. She is engulfed by darkness and disappears only to find herself in NetherHell.The whole time she finds her self trapped in this unknown world.Her inner demon, the evil Monere queen that she shares her body with, Mona Louisa, is doing her level best take control of Mona Lisa's body.

In case your wondering,NetherHell is the lowest level of hell and a place where even her mate and a Crown Prince of Hell, Halcyon, dares not go. While struggling to survive in NetherHell a gargoyle warlord named Gordane captures her. He's soon obsessed with Mona and she finds it difficult not to return his affections. By becoming her protector through NetherHell Mona Lisa finds herself more and more drawn to him. Her feelings for Gordane begin to grow and strengthen, when out of no where her lover. Comes and rescue her.

If your looking for something different, and exciting please read this book.

I cant wait until BOOK 5!!!! GO SUNNY GO!!! LOL>

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A great read into another realm.

This is such a good book! It really "pulled" me in and didn't let up. I kept turning the pages and the story got more intense and more sexy, if that were possible. Two thumb's up!!

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Love this series!

Copy Cat Writer

I bought this series becuase it said it would appeal to fans of Anne Bishop. Well of course it would, the author Sunny basicly took the ideas of Anne Bishops The Black Jewel series and slapped her name on it. No its not the same story, but the ideas are. She even went as far as using Bishop's book title Dreams made Flesh as a expression and using the main characters name as a character of her own. The only originallity i found about this series was you finally hit the 3rd book, you actually see that the author Sunny put something of her own in the story, which was refreshing, and actually nice to read. She ruined the start of the story but copying another writiers exact story ideas. The story didnt flow well, it left out major key points along the way, as if she forgot some of the things she wrote, making a statement that they were important then casted them off to the side. When i bought this series, i already expected a dark fantasy story, but not one i have read already. It was very disappointing. If you have not read Anne Bishop's work, I highly suggest you do. She writes elegantly, with a loving heart and a wicked hand.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

not as spicy but a good read none the less.

Sunny's 'Mona Lisa' series is a fascinating, dark fantasy filled with otherworldly creatures that are quite a bit different from the usual paranormal fare. Her world is based on the Monere, a society of moon descendants who 'bask' in the moon's rays to sustain their life. They are stronger, faster, and prettier than normal humans...and many, if not most, are quite a bit crueler.

Mona Lisa is drawn into NetherHell this time, and neither her status as Queen nor her Hell mate Halcyon can help her out of this one. Instead it may fall to Mona Lisa's bitterest enemy, Mona Louisa, to provide the knowledge and skills to save herself.

If you haven't been reading this series, you don't want to start with this one! It would still be an interesting and different read, but you would miss all of the broad scope that's packed into such a small novel. There's not as much sex in this book as in her previous, but the heat is still pretty darn high and in many ways I think this book rides that line between romance and erotica because of the number and 'kinds' of sex portrayed. I'm hooked on this series and look forward to each new book...so yet another for my groaning keeper shelves.

Read this series - fantastic!

Book #4 is as good as the other three - I can't wait for more

Fun and Easy read

great erotic series for adults.

KINDA BLAH

THIS BOOK WAS OK BUT IT SEEMED AS THOUGH THE CHARACTERS & THE STORY COULD HAVE BEEN EXPANDED & MADE FULLER

Great! Great! Great!

I loved the new twist on this book! Great job Sunny!!! Also, I'm glad she reduced the number of love scenes and focused more on the story. I love the author's splash of erotica throughout the book (it's great when your looking for something a little juicier than your regular day romance)but it was nice to have a story to go with it. I can't wait to read her next book; if there is one. I might even try to read the sister books to this series... I'm sure they have a similar feel. Either way, I have thoroughly enjoyed the books in this series thus far. Looking forward to more.

Mona Lisa Darkening

This book, was just. . .GREAT! I was so into it that I didn't put it down for long periods of time until I was done. I could read it over & over again. There was such vivid details put into the writing that I thought I was there with the characters.

Good book to read when you want to not think about your every day problems.

It is an interesting book. With a new twist on sci-fi. A good mix of romantic story telling and action. If you have read the other books in the Mona Lisa series then you will like this one as well.