The Darkest Seduction

I normally don’t count down the days until one of my favorite authors releases a book, but I have been anxiously awaiting the ninth installment of Gena Showalter’s Lords of the Underworld, “The Darkest Seduction”. 

It isn’t the great writing or the exciting action-packed, cliff-hanging scenes that has made me excited to get my hands on the novel, but the main character, Paris, that readers have been following since the first book.

The stories take place in a remote fortress in Budapest, where immortal warriors are bound by an ancient curse. Hundreds of years ago, the Lords were slighted when the Gods gave Pandora the box to guard with her life. After seducing and killing Pandora, the box was opened and the contents of the box were released. As punishment, each of the Lords received one of the world’s evils intertwined to their souls. In each of the nine book and three short-stories, a warrior overcomes his evil with the help of his soulmate.

I’ve been studying Showalter’s series as each book has become darker and harder to put down as the characters have been changing. I have also been following Paris since the first book and his character arc has turned from a energetic, sarcastic Lord to a very dark, nearly suicidal tendencies. When he finds love in a human that had been hired to seduce and brought in for torture and investigation, Sienna Blackstone, she is killed accidentally as he is trying to protect her and readers follow his angst through the books. When she is raised from the dead and given one of the world’s evils, she is used to punish the Lords by the wicked Gods. 

Here is the excerpt from the book:

“Possessed by the demon of Promiscuity, immortal warrior Paris is irresistibly seductive—but his potent allure comes at a terrible price.  Every night he must bed someone new, or weaken and die.  And the woman he craves above all others is the one woman he’d thought was forever beyond his reach…until now.   
 
Newly possessed by the demon of Wrath, Sienna Blackstone is racked by a ruthless need to punish those around her. Yet, in Paris’s arms the vulnerable beauty finds soul-searing passion and incredible peace. Until a blood feud between ancient enemies heats up.
 


Will the battle against gods, angels and creatures of the night bind them eternally– or tear them apart?”

I have connected with this character from his witty comebacks to his internal torture. For writers, her series can be studied as her characterization is so skillful in my opinion as the Lords are once controlled by their evil and then give the ultimate sacrifice to rid themselves of it for true love. For readers, it is a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat read with a steamy romance, action-packed fight scenes and characters that you can connect and root for.

First thing tomorrow, I will be headed to my nearest Chapters to buy my copy of “The Darkest Seduction” and I’ve already warned my husband that I will be in reading mode and not to bother me until I reach the end or he will meet one of my evils. :)

R.J. :)