Review: The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld #2) by Gena Showalter

The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld #2) by Gena Showalter
Format: ebook
Source: purchased
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: September 6, 2011

Lords of the Underworld
0.5. The Darkest Fire
1. The Darkest Night
2. The Darkest Kiss - Paperback | Kindle
3. The Darkest Pleasure
3.5. The Darkest Prison
4. The Darkest Whisper
4.5. The Darkest Angel
5. The Darkest Passion
6. The Darkest Lie
7. The Darkest Secret
8. The Darkest Surrender
9. The Darkest Seduction
10. The Darkest Craving
11. The Darkest Touch
12. The Darkest Torment
13. The Darkest Promise
14. The Darkest Warrior
14.5. The Darkest Captive
14.6. The Darkest Assassin
15. The Darkest King
15.5. The Darkest Destiny

Related Series:
(find all the reviews for the series under the first review)
Angels of the Dark
1. Wicked Nights

Rise of the Warlords
1. The Warlord

Gena Showalter
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

She has tempted many men...but never found her equal. Until now.
Though she has lived for centuries, Anya, goddess of anarchy, has never known pleasure. Until Lucien, the incarnation of death--a warrior eternally doomed to take souls to the hereafter. He draws her like no other. And Anya will risk anything to have him.

But when the merciless Lord of the Underworld is ordered by the gods to claim Anya herself, their uncontrollable attraction becomes an anguished pursuit. Now they must defeat the unconquerable forces that control them, before their thirst for one another demands a sacrifice of love beyond imagining...

 My Thoughts:  Oh, my.  Gena Showalter sure knows how to turn up the heat and keep it on, doesn't she?  Lucien and Anya are HOT together.  It doesn't matter if they're walloping each other, kissing the pants off of one another or trading witty barbs, those two have some serious sizzle going.

I'm going to confess something here - I wasn't terribly excited when I saw that Lucien's story was the 2nd book in the series.  Hey, he was a hard guy to get to know in book 1.  He had all that icy control and you never got to really see him.  Then Anya comes barreling into his life and suddenly he's not quite as icy or controlled.  We got a chance to see the turmoil that lives under the surface and it made him wonderful and tragic and so interesting.  Anya's his complete opposite and yet they're so perfectly matched it hurts.  In a good way.

Lucien and Anya aren't the only draw to this story, though.  Those other Lords nearly killed me.  Paris... *sniffle* you poor, poor baby.  And Reyes... I can't wait to see how his story plays out.  I literally can't get enough of these guys.  They're all so horribly broken and conflicted and OMG! I LOVE THAT!

As much as I liked the first book, I think book 2 blew it out of the water.  The characters were all deepened and given more life and the mythology and overriding arc got bigger and better.

Yes, book 3 is already calling to me.  Because I'm a total sucker for broken heroes and the women who love them.