Book Review of The Darkest Seduction by Gena Showalter

Title: The Darkest Seduction

Author: Gena Showalter

Release Date: February 28th, 2012

Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance

At long last, New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter unveils the story of Paris, the darkest and most tormented Lord of the Underworld….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?

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review: Since Paris first appeared on the page back in book one he has been a favorite of mine. I have been waiting for his book for a long time and squealed a little when it showed up on my doorstep. Five hundred pages did seem daunting at first, but I sailed right through them hardly noticing the length at all.

Gena is one of the best paranormal romance authors out there. She is an amazing storyteller and does a fantastic job of weaving all the lives of the Lord’s together to make one cohesive story. In The Darkest Seduction we follow Paris and Sienna for the most part, but also get to peek into a couple other characters’ lives as well. There are also some snippets of Paris’ and Sienna’s lives that we have never heard before. There was an incident between Paris and Strider that I found particularly interesting. As for Sienna, we learn more about her family and how she became a hunter, so gaps we once had with these two are filled in. Therefore, we are left with well-developed characters that you cannot help but root for.

There is still plenty of humor laced throughout this book as well. Much of it comes from the banter between William and Paris. Even when facing danger they manage to pick at each other and had me laughing out loud numerous times. One of my favorite scenes is when they are trying to get somewhere that is located at the bottom of a cliff and Paris gives William a helpful “nudge”.

Suddenly William loomed over him, scowling, snarling and bloody, his suit dirt-stained and ripped. “Do you know. How many strands. Of hair I lost. On my way down?”

Whatever. “Math was never my thing, but I’m gonna say you lost…a lot.”

Electric-blues glittered with menace. “You are a cruel, sadistic bastard. My hair needs TLC and you….you…Damn you! I’ve gutted men for less!”

“I know. I’ve watched you.” Paris lumbered to his feet and scanned the rocky bank they stood upon, the crimson ocean lapping and bubbling in every direction. The drawbridge was only a fifty-yard dash away. “Don’t kill the messenger, but I’m thinking you should change your dating profile to balding.”

Masculine cheeks went scarlet as the big bad warrior struggled for a comeback.

Come on? Those two crack me up! Gena has always managed to pepper humor throughout her books and I often look forward to these hilarious scenarios.

As for the romance, you would think since Paris’ demon is promiscuity there would be a lot of action in the bedroom going on, but that was not the case. He is not the same guy we met in book one. Life has altered him severely because of all the hardships he has gone through. Sienna is the same way, her hatred for Paris was intense when she first met him, but death has changed her in many ways. While they are both different, I don’t think a relationship between them would have worked with the way they used to be. They both needed to change and the people they are now balances the other out perfectly. When Paris does find Sienna again, the two of them are so full of doubt and uncertainty that they are hesitant to let their true feelings shine through. And who could blame them? They have not exactly had an easy path and both of them have reasons not to trust the other. So it does take some time for them to get together, but once they do Paris easily makes up for the lost time. I really enjoyed watching their romance develop as the book progressed and hoped that they were not doomed because of their unfortunate circumstances.

The plot itself is everything you have come to expect from Gena’s books. It was filled with twists and turns and follows the lives of multiple characters. There are quite a few Lord’s and their friends in bad situations and their stories are intertwined into this book seamlessly. Surprisingly one of my favorite side plots was between Galen and Legion. Did anyone out there see that coming? I certainty didn’t, and I did not think I would ever find myself rooting for Galen, but that is what happened. I am very interested to see how that particular story will play out. Many of the side plots are left up in the air as this book comes to a close and I am not sure whose story is going to be next, but I do have a few guesses. I would personally like to see William’s next, but I suspect we still have a couple other stories to go before we get to him.

The ending of this book was amazing! My mouth was literally hanging open when I read certain events. It took me a couple of minutes to wrap my brain around all the repercussions of the final battle and loved every second of it. I am very interested to see how all the lives of the Lord’s will be affected because of the last couple of chapters. Gena continues to pull out fantastic surprises that I never see coming and continues to prove her skills as an author over and over.

Overall, this book was another solid addition to the series. It comes in at just over five hundred pages and brings forth a lot of revelations and more pieces to the overall puzzle. I was already a fan of Gena, but this book just reaffirms why I love her so much. This is a series that cannot be missed and I highly suggest you check them out.

FTC: Thank you to the publisher for sending me this book for review.

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