“The Darkest Passion” by Gena Showalter, published by HQN Paranormal Romance, May 2010, 978-0-373-77455-5. To browse the book, click here. To buy it, click here.

Reviewed from Advance Reader’s Copy

Plot Summary:
For weeks, the immortal warrior Aeron has sensed an invisible female presence. An angel—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….

“The Darkest Passion,” the fifth installment in Gena Showalter’s acclaimed Lords of the Underworld series, reveals the story of Aeron, a warrior possessed by the demon of Wrath. The overarching concept of the series is that a long time ago, a group of warriors decided it might be cool to open Pandora’s Box, but instead of just plain vanilla chaos and destruction, demon spirits were unleashed and, you guessed it, they floated straight into the warriors and overtook their bodies. Now, I’ll be honest. I was expecting this book to focus completely on one of the demons pining after a mortal woman that he couldn’t have, and going on and on with that. But I sorely underestimated Wrath–at least to begin with.

Aeron is bitter and fierce, and he doesn’t exactly treat his “brothers” with kindness, especially not Paris. He sort of makes fun of them, if anything. I liked the ties to Greek mythology, because I find that Ms. Showalter did a good job of sticking to what readers are most familiar with in the myths, with a few creative exceptions. But for those who can’t get enough of Judeo-Christian stuff in the mix, fear not. There are angels aplenty in this story, and most of them want to kill Aeron. Then, he meets Olivia, who used to be an angel, but strayed from God’s path, so she’s essentially a mortal human (and although she asserts on multiple occasions that she’s Fallen, she isn’t the ravenous, blood-sucking human-killing vengeful “I want revenge” variety). But somewhere along the line, some demons thought it might be amusing to rape and torture her, taking her wings out to boot. As Wrath, Aeron makes it clear that he often takes to hurting the ladies more than pleasuring them, which makes sense. But it doesn’t stop his “brothers” (or Olivia, for that matter) from teasing him.

But his adopted daughter, Legion, who is, by all accounts, one pretty ugly demon, wants Aeron for herself (to be fair, we are in the Greek mythology universe where it wasn’t uncommon for sibling gods to marry, i.e. Zeus and Hera anyone? And plus, she is a demon ). Her ugliness aside, Olivia is proving to be quite a distraction for the demon of Wrath. Interestingly enough, Lucifer somehow comes into the mix. Needless to say, dark deals and deeds ensue

Even worse, a female warrior is after Aeron to issue a warning against him and his “brothers” not to pursue those like her. As it turns out, Cronus (yes, that Cronus lol) revealed to the warriors that there were other scrolls in Pandora’s Box. Other names. Other demons. And Aeron can’t pinpoint what this woman is, which makes her all the more dangerous (she could be a titan, for one. As in most cases, they’re not exactly a happy bunch here).

Add to the mix a group of Hunters trying to put all the Lords back into Pandora’s Box and you’ve got one entertaining thrill ride. In the fray, the love story between Olivia and Aeron develops and becomes more interesting–they do experience quite a bumpy ride before they reach their resolution. Fans of the other Lords of the Underworld books will love Showalter’s unique blend of romance and worldbuilding.

If you’re looking for what to read after “The Darkest Passion,” check out some of these titles::

The first book in the Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

The first book in the Nightwalkers series by Jacquelyn Frank

The first book in the Guardians of Eternity series by Alexandra Ivy

The first book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward