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

I was extremely disappointed with this book, specifically Reyes' story. Showalter can definitely tell a story, but this did not cut it (pun intended). Maybe I set high hopes, but it was truly boring. I enjoyed Maddox's and Lucien's story -- liked Lucien's more so.

I guess it was Danika, she irritated me. I felt little to no sympathy for her situation. I didn't even care at a certain point in the story. She seemed snotty, too hard and had little vulnerabilty to her. The author balanced the Anya character from the second series well,incorporating her strength and her vulnerabilty. I really felt her conflict and love for Lucien. Danika not so much.

Reyes I thought would have been a lot more interesting considering he is pain. I never felt we, the reader got to know him. Lucien's story was indepth, he was insecure, because of his self-inflicted wounds and couldn't understand why Anya, a beautiful goddess would want him, he was tortured by his past love, Miranda, and the souls he escorted to heaven or hell, and he is the leader of the Lords. So I got to know the Lord. Reyes I understood his conflict, but he didn't seem different from Maddox. Nothing really set him apart.

I guess I thought their would be a lot more BDSM. The author seemed to be afraid to go that far, relating if Danika gave Reyes pain that would make her sick, depraved or a freak, yes, in the real world, but we are dealing in fiction, where Reyes' pain gives him pleasure. The author should have pushed the envelope with this. Instead we kept getting fluff and Danika interrupting their moment, with questions, like "Should I...?" "Do you need me to...?" I just kept thinking do something, anything, just shut up. Reyes and Danika did not get to have sex until over 200 pages into the book. At that point I was more interested in the backstories. I am interested to see Paris' story even though the physical description of Sienna did not appeal to me and would be reminiscent of Danika who was working with the hunters and Sienna who was a hunter. Sabin, Cameo, and Torin also seem to be interesting, but I won't set too high hopes. This book was also lacking the humor the first two books had.

And lastly, Aeron's story seems to be good. It seems he is the only lord who doesn't seem to like or be influenced by humans, so I think even though he doesn't find love from a woman he might find a deep friendship with his liitle demon friend. And didn't his little demon friend remind anyone of the little demon from Lord of the Rings? I can't remember its name.

At the beginning of the series I was a little let down by the Darkest Night, but I have to say the last two books have been absolutely amazing. I think The Darkest Pleasure is my favorite book in this series, the level of detail is great and in the end everything really pulls together. All I have to say is keep them coming and it is going to be painful to wait till May 09' for the next book. Oh well...I will just have to read Acheron a hundred times till then.

I was really looking forward to reading this 3rd installment. I was a bit disappointed. For one thing a lot of these characters, especially the men, act the exact same way. I feel like I'm reading about different women but with the same guys. Each man has a different demon but she seems to write them having the same personality. There really is nothing to differentiate them except their names and their demons. I do like these books but I'm tired of the same descriptions for these male characters. If you read this book alone it would probably be pretty darned good but if you've read the others you may get a feeling of deja vu.

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.

I, too, was eagerly waiting Reyes story. This was a good read; but, really very little was written on Reyes & Danika. They seemed more of a 'backdrop' to set up future storylines/books in the series; which Ms. Showalter alluded to in the front of the book.

One might even think Paris was the subject of this book; not to give too much away. A lot of 'backstory' was crammed into this book.

Aeron was also a big portion of the book and his conflict was both torturous and laugh out loud funny. Sabin has gotten more and more intriguing and I look forward to his book.

Compared to Maddox and Lucien's stories; I felt letdown by Reyes'. I was eagerly looking forward to his and Danika's first sexual encounter and the build up was excellent; THEN that story just came to a dead stop and it was several chapters later before the author got back to them.

So, yes, I think it is a good 'buy'and hopefully the future books stay truer to the Lord of the Underworld in question.