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

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.

What can I say that hasn't already been said...read the first two first! This one is as fantastic as the first two....I didn't think I'd like Danika and Reyes as much but once the story started going I was hooked! The only downer that I can see is that the next in the series isn't listed as coming out til 2009! I'm anxiously waiting for the next in the series and hope that Ms. Showalter decides to write one about Aeron...as his character is amazing ;)

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!

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...

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.