The Darkest Lie by Gena Showalter

Title:  The Darkest Lie
Author:  Gena Showalter
Series:  The Lords Of The Underworld, Book 6
Released:  June 29, 2010
Genre:  Paranormal romance
Publisher:  Harlequin
How I Got It:  Purchased ebook for Nook
Lend Me Feature:  No


Book Summary
Forced to his knees in agony whenever he speaks the truth, Gideon can recognize any lie—until he captures Scarlet, a demon-possessed immortal who claims to be his long-lost wife.  He doesn’t remember the beautiful female, much less wedding — or bedding — her.  But he wants to . . . almost as much as he wants her.

But Scarlet is keeper of Nightmares, too dangerous to roam free, and a future with her means risking everything.  Especially as Gideon’s enemies draw closer . . . and the truth threatens to destroy all he’s come to love . . .     



My Thoughts
For anyone that has been hiding under a rock, and haven't read any of the older books, let me give you the cliff notes.

A bagillion years ago, twelve  immortal warriors stole and opened Pandora's Box unleashing evil and chaos into the world.  As punishment, each warrior was cursed with a demon's spirit and damned to carry out any wicked act the demon fancied.

Through centuries, the warriors have been possessed by Violence, Pain, Death, Disease, Disaster, Misery, Doubt, Promiscuity, Defeat, Lies, Secrets, and Wrath.  The only way to separate from the demon  is for the warrior to die.  Each warrior must learn to survive with his curse and hope that they find women that can love them and their demons.

The Darkest Lie is the latest tale in The Lords Of The Underworld Series.  It tells of a twisted HEA for Gideon, The Keeper of Lies, and Scarlet, The Keeper Of Nightmares. 

I enjoyed this book even though it had me sniffing and wiping my eyes constantly.  Yes, I am such a cry baby!  Scarlet's pain was so vivid that I couldn't help but be pulled into the story.  From the beginning, I knew I would be so mad if they didn't end up together.

I loved Gideon, but that damn "Gideon Speak" got on my very last nerve.  Who could stand to be around someone like that without killing them?  I would have been pleased just to shut him up rather than trying to figure out what he was really saying.  He better be glad that Scarlett could put up with his annoying self.

Now what I didn't like about the story was Aeron and his selfish ways.  Okay, he's got his HEA, and he and Olivia are sickly happy but he still wanted to bring back the demon spawn, Legion?  WTF? She tried to murder the love of his life and tried to make him sleep with her.  And he still wants to play Daddy to her?  Okaaay...

But seriously, I smell the HEA that's being cooked up and it stinks!  If Legion gets who I think she's going to get, the series will never be the same.  I'll still read it, but I'll probably skim through the romance of it.


My Rating
Loved it and would recommend it but I was able to put it down.  It wasn't one of those where I get stuck to the story and can't put it down until the end.  There were moments when I wanted to skip a page or two because I wanted to get to the real action of the story.  In the end, I felt like both Scarlet and Gideon lost their badass and it kinda let me down.   Anyhoo, I give it four flowers of love because Ms. Showalter is getting better with each new book.

Read an excerpt from The Darkest Lie

The Darkest Passion by Gena Showalter

Title:  The Darkest Passion
Author:  Gena Showalter

Released: Will release May 2010
Series:  Lords of the Underworld, Book 8

I received this galley courtesy of Netgalley.com to review. 

Book Summary
For weeks, the immortal warrior Aeron has sensed an invisible female presence.  An angel--a demon-assassin--has been sent to kill him.  Or has she?  Olivia claims she fell from the heavens, giving up immortality because she couldn't bear to harm him. But trusting - and falling for - Olivia will endanger them all. So how has this 'mortal' with the huge blue eyes already unleashed Aeron's darkest passion?

Now, with an enemy hot on his trail and his faithful demon companion determined to remove Olivia from his life, Aeron is trapped between duty and consuming desire. Worse still, a new executioner has been sent to do the job Olivia wouldn't... 

My Thoughts
Olivia is an angel that wants nothing more than to molest the very demon that she is suppose to kill.  She even goes so far as to give up her wings to become human so that she can win his heart.  Well, ladies, once we set our sites on that one particular guy, nothing can save him.  Olivia is determined to have Aeron, even if it means dying for him.


Aeron is the clueless demon that can't comprehend why a fallen angel craves his attention so much. Besides being a total idiot, he has a heart of stone-or so he thought-and has no time to play boyfriend to a misguided angel.  He tries his best to fend off Olivia's advances but the more he fights, the more he starts to be crave her attention as well.   

I loved this story and had so much fun reading it. Who knew that angels and demons could play so nicely and so dangerously?  The drama and the dialogue had me not wanting to stop reading.  Each time I got to a spot that I thought I could bookmark, I just couldn't put it down. 



There was very few dislikes for me.  One thing I didn't like was the history and mythology.  I know those parts were probably essential to the story but I was a little too eager to get to the meat of the story.  Some parts I did read, but others I just skipped right over.  I like getting to the juicy drama filled parts, and this book had quite a few parts.

I also did not like the way the book ended.  Sure it left room for another installment, but I hate it when things are tied up all nice and neat but you're still  left feeling  like it should be more.

My Rating
I give The Darkest Passion Four Stars.  I would definitely recommend this book.  I've always loved everything Gena Showalter writes,  and this one didn't disappoint.  It was a good read.  The dialogue alone  makes me want to reread just for the laughs.  


Read an excerpt from The Darkest Passion

Kiss Me Deadly by Michele Hauf

Title:  Kiss Me Deadly
Author:  Michele Hauf
Released:  September 2007
Series:  Bewitching the Dark, Book 2

Book Summary
Death cocktail is what the vampires call a witch's blood. It's poisonous--a drop will destroy a vampire within minutes. Nikolaus Drake is the rare vampire who has survived his first taste. Now he's on the hunt for the witch who almost brought him to his demise--Ravin Crosse.
A witch who spends her nights hunting vampire tribes, Ravin has three obligations to fulfill to set her soul free. One of those obligations--crafting a love spell--twists her world upside down when Nikolaus draws the spell from her veins. Natural enemies rarely make the best bedfellows--but is it possible their intentions are really, truly the same? Can Nikolaus's tribal loyalty survive if he surrenders to desires far darker than his own?

My Thoughts
I got this ebook for FREE at barnesandnoble.com.  This is another reason why I can't wait to get my Nook.  I was just browsing the site and came across five-yes five pages of FREE ebooks.  This particular book looked interesting so I downloaded it.
I also found it on amazon.com for free, but the ratings were so bad that I almost didn't download it.  

Kiss Me Deadly starts with Nickolaus Drake, a peaceful vampire leader that is killed by a misguided witch bent on destroying all vampires.  Unfortunately, Nickolaus doesn't die and is forced to feed on a friend to save his own life.  Now he's mad as hell and will stop at nothing to kill the witch responsible.

Ravin Crosse hates vampires.  Ever since she witnessed them kill her parents, she has made it her personal mission to rid the world of every last "longtooth".  Her blood alone, known as a witch's cocktail, can turn a vampire into ash.  But, as an added protection, she sells her soul to the devil, aka Himself, for "the sight" -the ability to recognize vampires and other beings by their aura.

Now, this is where it gets good.  Okay, Ravin's plan is working, but she doesn't know that Nickolaus has survived and is out to get her.  A vampire that survives being touched by a witch's blood is referred to as a phoenix.  Everybody knows that once a phoenix rises, nothing can bring them down.  So instead of killing him, she has made him one of the most dangerous creatures to walk the Earth... and she's #1 on his shit list.

In any other book, you'd expect a bloody throwdown between two deadly creatures, but instead we get....romance?

Imagine your worst enemy calling you "sweetness" and wanting to sex you up. Eeeeeew!  Exactly what Ravin thinks and no matter how hard she tries to explain that Nickolaus is under a love spell, he continues to confess his undying love for her.  He even apologizes for ripping her throat out and attempts to join her in the shower!  By now, I'm laughing my ass off because Nickolaus tries his best to win Ravin over but she is repulsed by him, being the enemy and all.  The dialogue between the two is so funny.   

Eventually, Nickolaus believes that he's under a spell because he knows he should hate her, even kill her, but he can't stop loving her long enough to do either.  Raven comes around and starts to have feeling for him, but can't forget that eventually the spell will be lifted, and he'll want to kill her again.  She's just afraid that it will be sooner rather than later.

Besides the love/hate relationship between Raven and Nickolaus, there is other drama in the story. Himself is a constant thorn in Ravin's side until she gains her soul back.  He appears as the one person you love most in life.  For Ravin, that's Johnny Depp.  But when he starts appearing as Nickolaus, things start getting dangerous.

Meanwhile, Nickolaus is working overtime to keep his relationship with Ravin under wraps.  On one hand, he's disgusted that he's in love with a witch and can't stop having sex with her.  Yeah, I can see how that can be disgusting for any guy.  On the other hand, he knows that his tribe will never accept his sudden love for their enemy. To make matters worst, Truvin, the tribe's new leader and his former friend, is out to destroy Nickolaus-using Ravin.


My Rating
I give it 41/2 stars because it started out with a bang, but ended with me wanting much more. This was my first book by Michele Hauf, but certainly not my last because I was not dissappointed.  Well, I was disappointed that the sex scenes were  rated PG and totally left to the imagination.  Dammitt!

Anyhoo, I actually read this book(334 pages) in one day!  Now you know that I am the queen of book whoring and cannot keep my mind focused on one book unless it's a good read. Kiss Me Deadly was good and then some. Despite the Amazon.com reviews, I did enjoy the book.   I would recommend it because it was truly an interesting story.. and because it's free!