REVIEW: The Darkest Passion by Gena Showalter

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.... Adult - Paranormal Romance (May 25, 2010)


REVIEW:
Demons. Fallen Angels.
The Darkest Passion is the latest book in Gena Showalter’s Lord Of The Underworld series and here she tells Aeron – the keeper of Wrath’s story.
One day a woman appears at the Lord’s compound bleeding and calling out his name. Afraid she is being used as “bait” by their enemies; he is hesitant to save her but is unable to turn away from her cries for help.
Olivia is an angel sent to kill Aeron because he has freed Legion from the pits of hell. Legion is the demon who helped save his life while being tortured and has become like a daughter to him. When Olivia sees Aeron’s kindness and loyalty she finds she is unable to kill him and is kicked out of heaven, becoming a fallen angel.
Olivia is not the type of heroine I usually like. She cries a lot and is kind of wimpy. It all makes sense for her character though and I enjoyed watching her go from meek to a brave woman who has to make tough choices and sacrifice her own hopes and dreams for the sake of others.
Both Olivia and Aeron are put in almost impossible situations because of Legion’s loyalty to Aeron and hatred of Olivia. She’s in love with Aeron as a man – not as a father and makes a deal with Lucifer himself to win him over. A deal that puts all the Lord’s and even humankind in danger. To save everyone Aeron has to make a choice that could tear him and Olivia apart.
I was alternately angry with, skeeved out by and felt sympathy for Legion. I understand that she loves Aeron but sometimes I just couldn’t handle what she was doing. It will be interesting to see what happens with her character in future books because Gena did put in an interesting twist.
I really liked Olivia and Aeron together. Their pairing moves the big picture story arc of the Lord’s into a whole new territory! They really proved that they would die for each other.
Although I liked the Aeron/Olivia storyline - there are a few things I didn’t like about this book. Being a series you have to let people get a glimpse of past characters and set up future stories and that must be difficult to juggle. I felt like this book diverted from the main plot one too many times with side stories. Gideon’s book is next so that I can see that(and BTW, it looks so good!) but we also had a setup for William (another good one!) and Strider and Paris (again………OMG – that will be good!! nice twist with the Paris storyline!) I’m interested in all these characters and the setups look amazing but I felt jolted from the current story for just a tease of a story that won’t be fully written for a long time. I think that was the problem for me…..some of the diversions didn’t feel organic to the Aeron/Olivia storyline but more like a setup for a different book.
Loved: The love between Aeron & Olivia – the storyline was intense but in a good way – I stayed up all night to find out what happened!
Nitpick: Too many subplots

Rating: I’m giving this two ratings because I liked the main story but the subplots – not so much. Aeron/Olivia storyline 3.8 out of 4. Great couple & story! Overall 3 out 4 for taking me out of their story one too many times. Still a must read for any Lords Of The Underworld fan and despite my minor gripes I could not put this book down – staying up until the wee hours …eyes burning.

One more thing………PLEASE…….PLEASE……….PLEASE……I beg of you Gena…..do Paris’s story!! It’s going to be amazing! Oh….and William’s too….

Author's website: http://genashowalter.com/
Follow Gena on Twitter: @genashowalter
Buy the book! The Darkest Passion (Hqn)