The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld) Mass Market Paperback – December 22, 2009

Gena knows me personally, that's what reading her books feels like. It's as if she knows you!I love her

I've been researching young adult books, since this is the audience I'm writing my books for. Anyway, while I was looking for YA books to read, I came across Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series. I'll admit the cover of the book is what made me choose the book, so the marketing person at Harlequin is a genius. The brief detail of the book about demons and romance peaked my interest even more and I bought the book. The cover of the book is the real eye-catcher for this book. A sexy guy ripped with muscles and a body tattoo, well um, Hooooottttt.Oh by the way, the Lords of the Underworld series are not young adult reads.So, I have one word to describe the book, WOW! Yes, I know this is a very simple review of the book, but after I was done tearing through the book in one day WOW was the one word that went through my mind.As I've mentioned before, I was never a big romance reader. Also, I have not read paranormal or horror books. When I chose The Darkest Pleasure (The third book in the Lord of the Underworld series. Highly recommend reading the series in order. Reading the third book first, I was a bit lost and had to read The Darkest Pleasure again after reading the first two books in the series) I had no idea what I was getting myself into. After reading The Darkest Pleasure, I admit that I'm now addicted to the series and bought the other three books, The Darkest Night, The Darkest Whisper and The Darkest Kiss. Since reading The Darkest Pleasure, The Darkest Passion, The Darkest Lie and The Darkest Secret have been released and I've read them.The Darkest Pleasure was the first Harlequin book I read. After I read the first sex scene in the book, I was shocked. It was porn on a page. This isn't a bad thing, but I went on the Harlequin site to make sure what category The Darkest Pleasure was listed under, paranormal romance not erotica. I thought to myself, "Who knew Harlequin books were like this?" From the Showalter experience, I'm a BIG fan of Harlequin books!In a nutshell, The Darkest Pleasure revolves around Reyes, who is possessed by the Demon of Pain and Danika, Reyes' love/lust interest. Reyes must hurt himself often, because the Demon of Pain beckons him to. When I say hurt himself he usually jumps off a very tall building or cuts himself. Danika is a mortal, who calms the demon in Reyes. This is all I'm going to tell you about the book, because I don't want to give anything away.I never knew Demons could be so sexy, but all the Lords of the Underworld are a sight to see. After I was done reading The Darkest Pleasure, I thought how great it would be if Showtime or HBO did a series based on these books. I want to see the Demons in the flesh on a flat screen! Plus, the storyline is very interesting. There are hunters trying to kill the Lords of the Underworld. Despite being possessed with demons, the Lords are good guys, who are muscular, tattooed and just mouth watering tantalizing! Every time, I came to a part about Paris, who is possessed by the Demon of Promiscuity, I kept envisioning Henry Cavill as Paris. If you don't know who Henry is, watch The Tudors, he's Charles Brandon.If you are into paranormal romance books, I highly recommend Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series. It's steamy, adventurous, interesting and a fun read!

This is a very good series and I am enjoying each and every one so far. This is the story of Reyes and Danika, he is possessed by the demon of pain and needs pain to feel pleasure. I really felt this would be a hard book to read or write because of the demon he has. However, I found the book an easy read and the search for the box of Pandora is heating up. All of the other characters are in this one too.Reyes is possessed by the demon of Pain but since he met Danika all he can think about is her. He is determined to protect her from Aeron who has been ordered by the Titans to kill her and her family.Danika can't believe how she can desire one of the horrible monsters who are out to kill her family. But as Reyes saves her life again and again she comes to know him and realize there is a soul in him besides the demon of Pain. Danika has fought monsters in her dreams her whole life. She has visited heaven and hell in those dreams and now she faces them is reality.Lucian demands that Reyes tell him where he has imprisoned Aeron, and Reyes convinces him to keep Aeron chained to protect Danika. They both know that it is not a permenant solution. If Reyes could only find out why Cronos wants her dead.The story is good the romance is hot and the reading is easy. What more can you ask for a good summer read.

The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter is book three in the Lords Of The Underworld series and in my personal opinion also the best. This story is about the ancient warrior Reyes, who lives a tortured existence because he is also possessed by the demon of pain. Reyes' demon forces him to constantly harm himself and he can know no peace until the day that he meets the beautiful Danika, the one woman who can calm his demon...It's been a while since Danika Ford has known any peace herself. Her nice normal life has turned into a horrible nightmare with no end in sight. For some reason Cronos the King of the Titans has put out a contract on her life and that of her family...I know that I described The Lords of the Underworld books as my newest guilty pleasure and this book is no exception. I love all three of the books for this series but this one is my favorite for several reasons. 1. the world building is already done so the author was more able to concentrate on the characters. 2. The character of Danika is just so well done, she is one of the most likable characters that I've read about in a very long time. 3. Even though the book is 368 pages long I really wasn't ready for it to end...

In my opinion, this is the best book of the series so far. While I found Ashlyn too much of a goody-goody and Anya way over the top, I liked Danika's personality better. The plot itself was stronger than the previous books, though I've become a bit tired of the same formula after three books: hero meets heroine, both are instantly desperate for each other, can't live without each other (with no logical reason whatsoever), bad stuff happens, and then, true love forever. As for this book alone, I liked it very much, but contemplating the whole series, it has become rather repetitive. There's no romance between the characters that gives way to love, they simply love each other as soon as their eyes meet for the first time. Oh, and how come that after these guys have been walking the earth for thousands of years, suddenly they are all finding their soulmates practically at the same time? I hope, some time in the future, the author comes up with an explanation, I mean, just to give it some sense. Although I've enjoyed the series so far, I'm not sure if I'll continue.

these two were very intense & very angsty. Not my favorite of the bunch, but was still really entertaining

In this book we have the story of Reyes and Danika of whom we were introduced in the first novel. Danika also had a cameo appearance in book two.Reyes really is a tortured soul as his demon is pain and he is constantly cutting himself or throwing himself off buildings in order to feel as much pain as he can, as pain is his pleasure. He also cannot make love without pain.Danika is a strong woman who has had dreams since her grandmother tried to kill herself. She paints what she sees in order that she can then forget, but she sees both heaven and hell, and later we find out the gods themselves.On the run from the demons her family have split and struggling to cope. Her wages from any jobs she gets go towards the few meagre items she needs and self-defense lessons. Confronted by to guys at work she breaks one of their noses and is promptly fired. After running she is tackled by the other where she promptly kills him with her pencil.Waking up she has been kidnaped by hunters who ask her to help them, then is found by Reyes and the other demons and rescued.Reyes and Danika have a somewhat turbulent relationship until they learn that they can't cope without each other and Danika can calm his demon for pain, which the other members also notice.Of course Cronus pops up here and there trying to manipulate the situation with the other demons and we also see Paris's pain of not having Sienna. the girl from Athen, the hunter he cannot forget.Lots of twists and surprises in this book that follows our two main characters and some of the others in the most brilliant way. This series just gets better and better.

This is the 3rd book in the lords of the underworld series and follows Reyes the keeper of pain and Danika Ford who along with her family was marked for death by Cronus the king of the titans in the 1st book. Reyes as the keeper of pain needs to cause pain (to himself or others) to keep his demon at bay and he is afraid that Pain will corrupt Danika if he is with her.I have been desperate to read this story and I was not disappointed. The plot of this book was brilliant and we now know a lot more about the artefacts, the gods and the leader of the hunters is revealed. Also we learn more about Sabin for the next book and Paris faces a heartbreaking choice when faced with Cronus (where are you going with this Gena?!?). Obviously Danika and Reyes getting together was inevitable from Darkest Night but it was really enjoyable seeing how it played out. They were both great characters - if you can't resist dark, brooding guys then this will suit you - Reyes was a tortured soul through and through and you couldn't help but love him and Danika was great too if a little indecisive. Then again she was torn by family ties, pressure from hunters, fear of Aeron and unable to get Reyes out of her mind so i suppose that was to be expected.(I must say that at this point in the series the books really must be read in order to fully enjoy them. This story was set up from book 1 and is therefore not a good place to start reading).This is my favourite so far despite the fact it lacked the humour of the previous books - I am completely addicted to this series. Highly recommended!

I absolutely love the Lords of the Underworld books and I am hooked. Gena has managed to write a fantastic book and I was totally glued to the pages. For anyone who has maybe not read any of the Lords of the Underworld series then I would one hundred percent recommend them. Whilst obviously having the romance side to them they also have lots of action, humour and a brilliant concept idea for the back storyline from the author Gena Showalter.The series is set around a group of twelve immortal warriors (and absolutely hunky ones at that!) who once served the Greek Gods. Zeus decided to give possession and protection of the dimOuniak to the immortal warrior Pandora (which is why the alternate name for it is Pandora's Box). The dimOuniak/Pandora's Box held all the evil of the world such as Violence, Death, Pain, Doubt, Wrath, Lies, Secrets, Defeat, Promiscuity, Disease, Misery and Disaster and all of their Demons were kept safely locked in the Box. Twelve of the other immortal warriors were upset that Zeus had entrusted the box to Pandora and not to them and therefore stole the box from her and subsequently released the demons into the world. Zeus was extremely angry over this betrayal and therefore cursed each of the warriors to hold one of the demons within each of them for all time.This is the Third book in the series and tells the story of Reyes the keeper of the Demon Pain. An absolutely brilliant read.

I really liked this book and have quickly become a huge fan of this series; what a gripping story!I don't think that this book can be read without having read the previous books and it does leave you needing to read the next book to continue the main background story arc as well as leaving some romantic sub-plots hanging (hence not 5 stars) but what a cram-packed tale!I loved the relationship development between our romantic couple which started in the previous book; the twists & turns, the action, the passion and the heart melting romance. I can't wait to read the next book in this amazing series!

While I enjoy the series as a whole, this is one of the weaker books. I felt the end was rushed and not fully explained. Indeed, having read the rest of the books in the series, Danika's powers and what exactly she is capable of never seem to be explored/explained fully. Perhaps I'll re-read it, but the final events with Cronus just didn't seem quite right to me. Definitely read it if you're planning on continuing with the series. Warning: some may not like Reyes and his need for pain.