I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Darkest Kiss
by
Gena Showalter
mythic fantasy, paranormal romance in a paperback edition that was published by Harlequin on May 27, 2008 and has 384 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Awaken Me Darkly, The Darkest Night
Second in the Lords of the Underworld mythical paranormal-romance series.
The Story
After Darkest Night, I had assumed we would follow the story of Dannika instead we follow Anya, goddess of Anarchy, as she follows Lucien/Death around the castle and the world using childish tricks to attempt to get him to see her as a woman. The Lords are closing up shop in Budapest. They believe they must find the artifacts before Cronus does. Find Pandora’s box before the Hunters. Somehow get rid of their demons and gain independent life.
My Take
Oh gawd, this had all the nuance and depth of lousy Saturday morning cartoons. Puh-lease. I can tell ya I ain’t gonna be reading anymore of this series. It was all I could do to stagger through as it was.
“Want to fight me? Huh, huh, please?” is an example of the craftsmanship and maturity of Anya.
Gideon, one of the second group of Lords, is Deceit so everything he says is a lie. Fortunately, Showalter is constantly reminding us:
“‘Unspoken ones? I’ve heard of them,’ Gideon said. Which of course meant that he hadn’t.”
What?? Am I six years old??? Is there any possible chance that Gideon gets to say more than six words? Oh wait, we’re too stupid and thick to puzzle out his lies if he says more . . .
“Now she crossed her arms over her chest. Keep talking like this, and he just might jump you. Please, please, please. ‘Are you going to try to kill me?’
‘You know I must, but I will give you fair warning before I do.'”
Oooh, I’m just shivery with…disgust . . .
And, there’s just something about a goddess wearing panties. At least they’re not granny panties . . . at least I don’t think they are.
The Cover and Title
Yup, the cover had a good-lookin’ guy on it, bare chest with its huge butterfly tattoo wrapping around his shoulder with wings wrapping around to front and back. Obviously not Lucien since Lucien is all scarred up.
The title. Well. Um. Still thinking . . . Anya and Lucien are pretty dark in their outlooks with fairly dark activities, so, I guess, um, that Darkest refers to their characters and they do Kiss . . .
