The Darkest Passion (Lords of the Underworld #5) by Gena Showalter review

 May contain spoilerish information for previous books!

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?

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...

From Goodreads

  Seriously, there has been someone's eyes glued to Aeron for a good majority of the time for several weeks. It's something so scary that it frightens his daughter-like demon Legion back into hell. She can't be around this invisible presence so naturally Aeron can't stand it. When his invisible stalker finally appears he's unprepared for what he sees.


Olivia is broken, bleeding, & crying out Aeron's name at the top of her lungs. Determined not to be enticed by her & truly believing her to be some sort of Bait (from the Hunters or from the gods) Aeron just wants her patched up & moved on. Unfortunately he doesn't take her seriously when she tries to explain that she is a fallen angel. Eventually the truth comes to light that she has chosen him & his company over her immortally blissful life as an angel. 


This doesn't mean that his assassination has been cancelled, the gods still want him dead for bringing Legion into a realm in which she did not belong. As the days pass many immortal beings interfere with Olivia's speedy exit from Aeron's life, providing them all the time they need to become rather desperate for one another. But who will pay the ultimate price? The piper must be paid & he's coming to collect sooner than they'd like.


This was one of the best Lords of the Underworld book I've read since the first one. Aeron has long since been one of the more intriguing Lords because of just how much he cares. All the Lords, being the Immortal warrior brothers they are, care deeply for their friends, but Aeron takes it much more personally. Possessed by the demon of Wrath, he feels compelled to punish others for their sins & crimes. With Olivia being an angel, she is free from any tainting that might have occurred in a mortal existence. 


The over-arching war storyline continues with some very distinct twists & turns. While we don't learn nearly as much about the warriors' female companions, we spend a lot more time in the field learning about the enemy. Even better, Gena brings some older characters back to the surface & allows their continued growth.


All in all, I'd have to give this one a big thumbs up! A reminder though, this is an adult series. There is cursing, questionable moral decisions (involving torture & murder) & quite a bit of sex. This is a romance book, so it's to be expected & honestly this is at least more tame than many other romance books I've perused. So if you're a fan of the paranormal romance genre, or even just looking for something steamer than your current reads, give this a shot!

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

Everyone has choices to make and those surrounding your heart's desires are some of the most difficult choices of all.

Eden honestly never expected to fall for anyone like she fell for Az. He was just so much more than she ever thought possible. He's kind, understanding, soothing, firey & entrancing all at once. It's all golden until he reveals his true nature... and his wings. Az is one of the fallen angels. He constantly struggles with his punishment & Eden is just a part of that struggle.

When Eden has to face a reality without Az, she takes matters into her own hands & gives up her life to the ocean. So begins Eden's perpetual state of limbo in the centuries' old battle for angelic control between heaven & hell. Now she must navigate a new world where she's unsure who she can trust & face the dire magnitude of her decisions. To love or not... if only it were that easy.

I have to say that this was a very interesting book. While I've enjoyed other angelic fiction books that have been written of late, this one seemed to strike a cord with me. It's one thing to fall in love with a fallen angel & another thing entirely to commit suicide over him & be forced into a battle that you have no real knowledge of.

Eden was quite a compelling character. I really felt like I understood her struggles & emotions while she was tossing about in the chaos of her new "life." Intense would be the best way to describe what she was going through & I think Leah Clifford really got that through to the reader without using heavy-handed phrasing. Also, the mythology behind why Eden became what she did & what her place was in the fight was very fascinating.

While at times I felt that this book was overly dramatic (I blame the hormones that are coursing though ALL the characters), it flowed well with the story. Truly, if you're looking for a provocative angelic read, then this is your go to book. Bravo!

Knight Angels: Book of Love

Some forces should never be reckoned with. Too bad some people never know when to stop. Jane Taylor, her sister Emily, & their cute neighbor Wes have all grown up together facing personal tragedies that no child should have to deal with at such young ages. Jane & Emily's father died before Jane's very eyes and both girls have never been the same since. Of course being gifted with seeing everyone's death & having to listen to everyone's thoughts (respectively) after said tragedy could definitely throw a kink in your attitude. Wes had the unfortunate instance of being an unwanted child, abandoned with no further indication of his birth-parents. Yet he's sure there was something weird about them because he's been in agonizing pain from major growth spurts all summer long.

Now separately these all seem like weird cases of oddities gone wrong, but when the twin Gordon brothers, doomed angels, show up on campus no one could have predicted the storm that was coming. Their powers bind them all together & their secrets run deeper than any of them truly know. Glenwood High has just become the new battleground between the light & the dark.

Knight Angels started out quite strong. There was variance to the narrators, partially due to the manor of writing & partially due to the rotation of narrators, that allowed the story a different feel. I felt it was a bit much for each character to have their own sections just because of all of the overlapping that seemed to occur. Although each character was sufficiently detailed & elaborated, I felt like I had lost track of my page number & was re-reading a section I had already read.

The drama & implausibility of the plot though drove me nuts. Maybe I am naive & there really are parents out there who are that blase & don't really care to actively parent their children, but I just find that unbelievable in most stories. To me it just seems overly exaggerated to the point that I can't buy into the idea. Unfortunately the annoying dynamics didn't stop there as there were so many overlapping relationships & interactions that I had a tough time keeping up with who was trying to get with whom. Really it just seemed like a glorified dating escapade.

I think the premise of this book is really great. I like the idea of teens with unexplainable, uncontrollable powers that they are struggling with & the impact it has on their lives. However I prefer a more direct approach & Knight Angels just didn't have that for me. As always, don't take just my word for it. Give the book a shot & see what you think.

Waiting on Wednesday: Crescendo (hush, hush #2)

Waiting on Wednesday recognizes that we as bookies pine for books. This post is about what I am impatiently waiting for right now. It was started by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This week I'm featuring Crescendo, the exciting sequel to last year's smash hit Hush, Hush. I'm so excited to see where Patch and Nora go from where they left off (talk about a cliffhanger!!) Here's the summary from Goodreads.

Nora should have known her life was far from perfect. Despite starting a relationship with her guardian angel, Patch (who, title aside, can be described anything but angelic), and surviving an attempt on her life, things are not looking up. Patch is starting to pull away and Nora can't figure out if it's for her best interest or if his interest has shifted to her arch-enemy Marcie Millar. Not to mention that Nora is haunted by images of her father and she becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened to him that night he left for Portland and never came home.

The farther Nora delves into the mystery of her father's death, the more she comes to question if her Nephilim blood line has something to do with it as well as why she seems to be in danger more than the average girl. Since Patch isn't answering her questions and seems to be standing in her way, she has to start finding the answers on her own. Relying too heavily on the fact that she has a guardian angel puts Nora at risk again and again. But can she really count on Patch or is he hiding secrets darker than she can even imagine?

Doesn't that just sound awesome?! I mean: hot angels, a mysterious death, and conflicted emotions?! What more could be packed into the 352 pages? If this one is as good as the first, then I will be extremely fulfilled. :D Make sure to check out my thoughts on Hush, Hush before picking this one up though.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Nora Grey is your average teenage girl. She is hanging out with friends, worried about college, and just generally shuffling through life. That is until her teacher decides it's time to switch lab partners and Nora gets stuck with the sketchy new kid Patch.

Patch is one of those guys that everyone warns you about. He's well-built, good-looking, mysterious, and rugged. Every word out of his mouth has a double-entendre that no one can miss and he just loves teasing his new lab partner. While Nora decides that she can put up with him in class, because there's just something about him that pulls her closer, she really doesn't like that he keeps showing up in her after-school life.

Suddenly things start to change. Nora feels like she is being watched and that there is someone messing with her. She practically totals her best friend's car when she hits a black-clad figure in the dark, but when she arrives at her friend's to report the damage, there's nothing there. And that's not all, at the same time that Patch and the mysterious incidents start occurring, two other mysterious boys jump into the picture. They seem a little to eager to be around for Nora's tastes and she doesn't really trust them.

Pretty soon, as the strange occurrences become more frequent and more extreme, Nora starts to piece together what she believes is going on. While she pegs some of the more obvious discrepancies in some stories, she doesn't ever see the whole truth coming. It's just too weird and unbelievable. Unfortunately Nora needs to become a believer quick, fast, and in a hurry or concede defeat and lose her life.

Hush, Hush was an eerie novel. I felt like I was reading the book through a haze that covered most of the story. That's not to say that the writing was off or that it was hard to follow, but Becca Fitzpatrick did a fantastic job of keeping the reader in just enough darkness to continue the intrigue. Nora is a standard "Mary Jane" type of character meaning that isn't anything really standout special about her, except that another nain character has taken an interest in her.

Patch in very captivating. Everything from his physical description (yay for well-built guys with scars) to his witty replies all feed into his special abilities. He's not only a charmer in the regular world, but he is also a mind controller. This ability fit in so well with his personality that it was almost too perfect.

The story was a little choppy at parts because that's what happens when you are dealing with angelic or really any kind of lore. It became cumbersome occasionally when you had to try to determine why something was possible or where it was coming from. And while I enjoyed the fact that there was an exterior antagonist, I really thought that Nora could have been a bit stronger and really done some more personal exploration. Overall though the story was quite fascinating and a wonderful read.

Don't forget!

I'm still hosting my giveaway of an ARC of Fallen by Lauren Kate. Check out the rules here. And remember, the giveaway ends 12/1!

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Lucinda "Luce" Price doesn't belong at Sword & Cross, the reform school she has been forced to attend. The accident last summer with Trevor was just that, an accident, but nobody believes Luce. Maybe if she hadn't been telling her parents about the shadows all those years, they might have believed her more.

As it is, Luce find herself the new kid in a reform school like no other. Sword & Cross, built on former Confederate soldier land complete with cemetery, is home to a number of strange and interesting characters that Luce befriends and finds herself attracted to. Daniel and Cam are just mesmerizing. Daniel catches Luce's attention because there is something eerily familiar about him. Cam catches her attention because he is sweet and charming.

Soon though, Luce finds that the shadows are not gone, they are not done with her yet, and they are not alone. Something is brewing and Sword & Cross is going to be the battleground again. Only this time, the battle is between the fallen and Luce is the prize.

I have to say, this book didn't do much for me. I found it tedious, jumpy, and quite honestly anti-climactic. Which is quite sad since I really wanted to like it. The back story on Luce was almost non-existent as we don't really know what happened to Trevor, the characters were not consistent in behavior (coming in and out of the story), and I found the ending very anti-climactic. Maybe that's because I was expecting it to be a stand alone novel and didn't find out until the end that it will be a series, therefore changing how I approach a novel. Don't get me wrong, there were parts I enjoyed, like the angelic lore, the typical teen antics and ambiance, and Luce as a character. Overall, I'm glad I read it, but I just don't think this book was for me. I hope you all enjoy it and don't let me review scare you off.

P.S. Don't forget to enter my giveaway to win an ARC of Fallen!