Read Our Lips! Book Review Blog: Review: Passion Unleashed (Demonica #3) by Larissa Ione

FORBIDDEN TEMPTATIONS
Serena Kelley is an archaeologist and treasure hunter-and a woman with a secret. Since she was seven, she's been the keeper of a powerful charm that grants her health and immortality . . . as long as she stays a virgin. But Serena isn't all that innocent. And when a dangerously handsome stranger brings her to the brink of ecstasy, she wonders if she's finally met the one man she cannot resist.

FATAL DESIRES
Wraith is a Seminus demon with a death wish. But when an old enemy poisons him, he must find Serena and persuade her to give him the only known antidote in the universe-her charm. Yet, as she begins to surrender to his seductions and Wraith senses the cure is within his grasp, he realizes a horrible truth: He's falling for the woman whose life he must take in order to save his own.

My Review:

Passion Unleashed, Larissa Ione’s third installment in the Demonica series is just awesome! Each book in the series is more amazing than the next and I am just loving this series, Fellow Readers!

Passion Unleashed is Wraith’s book and we begin with Wraith (who has already gone through his s’genesis) going out, terrorizing some bad guys in the night. Just as he’s sinking his teeth into the gang leader, he feels something on his neck. A stranger approaches him and everything goes dark for Wraith.

Wraith wakes up to Shade’s voice at UG hospital and Wraith is shocked to learn he’s been out for two weeks. Shade tells Wraith he ended up in the hospital when Shade sensed his distress and they immediately went out to go get him.

Wraith is puzzled as to how someone could have gotten the drop on him, and Shade further explains that it seems their brother, Roag (who they they all hunted down and hexed in the last book with a curse that made Roag disappear), contracted a killer to eliminate his brothers in the event of his death, starting with Wraith.

Wraith relaxes for a second when he learns the assassin who came after him was killed, but wouldn’t you know it, the contract is still in effect, and another assassin is hired to gun him down. But that’s not the worst of Wraith’s problems. The first assassin did not fail in his mission – he actually hit Wraith with a dart tipped with an incurable poison and Wraith has anywhere from six weeks to a month to live.

Wraith resigns himself to his fate as do his brothers, until they realize UG, the hospital he founded with his brothers (which was created and warded with all their blood) is linked to the brother’s lifelines. So as Wraith comes closer to death, so do his brothers, and as an added bonus, the hospital will turn into a pile of rubble. Now it’s a race against time to find something/someone that will help Wraith avoid his fate as well as everyone else’s.

The brothers then learn from Reaver, a fallen angel working in the hospital, about Serena. She is a Marked Sentinel, a human given a charm by angels which keeps her immune from harm as long as she remains a virgin. In return, she must keep a mysterious jewel, the Heofon, safe at all times. A Marked Sentinel can pass their charm onto someone else, if they do so willingly, but Serena can’t. You see, before Serena received the charm, Serena was ill and on the brink of death. To give away her charm will bring back the disease she was exposed to before, ensuring her death.

Recognizing this is the only way Wraith might have to live, they all agree this is the only solution to their problem. Wraith embarks on the mission to take the charm from Serena to save the hospital, his own life and that of his brothers, and as the story progresses we find out the entire balance of the world is tied in as well. But when Wraith and Serena meet, a powerful surge of love and lust take hold in them both, changing their lives forever. Can Wraith sentence the one woman he desires above all others to death and can Serena live with Wraith’s death if she doesn’t try to save him?

Larissa Ione once again brings her ‘A’ game and unleashes a story of epic proportions wrapped in a package full of hott sexiness and non-stop thrilling action that will entrance you from the start.

What else is going on?

At almost 500 pages, Passion Unleashed is not all about Wraith getting Serena to hand over her ‘jewel’ to him. *snickers* There are several other plots happening and new characters are introduced into the series as well.

Lore. We are introduced to Lore, the second assassin hired to kill the brothers. He is half human/half demon who has the power to kill in one of his hands. It’s been a heavy burden to carry as he can’t be with a woman without killing her and he keeps his arm wrapped to avoid anyone accidentally touching it and dying. He’s basically a slave to his Master Detharu, and Lore has to obey him or pay a steep price if he doesn’t. You’ll be surprised to find out the part Lore plays in the story! Plus, he gives us a shocking revelation no one seems to catch on. Lore swears Roag is not dead! What? *faints* Was this a typo, or did Roag really find a way to come back from the dead - AGAIN?

Gem and Kynan. In the last Demonica book, Kynan leaves Gem and joins the military unit, R-XR. Some time has passed and Kynan basically writes off Gem, telling her to forget him. But then Kynan changes his mind, and armed with the knowledge he has a fallen angel in his family tree, he hopes it’s not too late to win back Gem. There’s a mini love triangle between Gem, Kynan, and Lore and I wish it could have gone on a little bit longer. It was hilarious seeing Kynan and Lore fight it out.

Byzamoth. Byzamoth is the big bad in Passion Unleashed. He’s a fallen angel hell bent on bringing on the end of the world and letting demons rule the Earth. You won’t believe what he evil he unleashes.

Babies! There’s an influx of babies in Passion Unleashed. We learn Runa and Shade become parents of triplets and towards the end of the book another brother becomes a proud papa! You’ll never guess who he is and who the mother is. Smile

Josh. There’s nothing I like better in a story than misdirection. In order to get close to Serena, Wraith takes the identity of someone who Serena has been in contact with, but never met: Josh. It’s hilarious as Wraith tries to keep up the ruse, and when things start to get hott between them, Wraith regrets the whole ‘Josh’ thing. In fact, when he injects naughty images of himself in Serena’s mind as she sleeps, he insists Serena calls him Wraith in her dreams. It’s funny to see Serena not even question this. I don’t blame her; I wouldn’t either! LOL The sexual tension between these two was palpable! *so hottt* Smile

Little bit of Luc. You know I’ll always root for the underdog (in this case the underwolf LOL) and I always love reading about the paramedic werewolf, Luc. Not only does he take out the first assassin sent out after the brothers, but he’s also involved in the battle for the world at the end of the book. However, my favorite part he plays in Passion Unleashed is how he handles a female wolf who’s trying to keep her wolf side a secret from her fellow Aegis members. *slaps Luc’s paw* He’s such a bad boy! LOL

Angels, Fallen Angels, and the end of the world. There is just no way I can recount all the subplots happening in Passion Unleashed with the angels and the end of the world, but trust me, it is non-stop action and a thrilling ride to the end. It was great seeing all the supernatural creatures come out to play, and there are so many plot twists, turns, and Aha! Moments, I guarantee you won’t be able to put this book down. Smile

*remember Josh is really Wraith*

The moment the doors closed Serena wished they’d taken the stairs. The tiny, enclosed space seemed to magnify the erotic energy pulsing off him, until the entire car was charged and her skin was tingling. As Josh’s fingers drifted over her shoulder in a lazy up-and-down motion, the very air became thick with sensual awareness. She might be a virgin, but she wasn’t naive or innocent, and she recognized sexual tension when she saw it … and felt it.
He waited for her to exit before he joined her, his long strides bringing him alongside her in half a dozen steps. A secret, wicked part of her wished he’d walk ahead of her so she could watch that extremely nice rear, encased in well - worn jeans.
“Your steps are very light,” she said, stupidly and for lack of anything else to say, but it was true. He moved like a cat on the prowl.
“I’m a hunter,” he said simply, and then he came to a sudden halt in the deserted hallway.
Startled, Serena froze. The last time he’d done this, a demon had been stalking her. “What’s wrong?”
He was looking at the floor, hair falling forward so she couldn’t see his expression.
“Josh?”
He lifted his head, and a predatory gleam sparked in his eyes. “I want to kiss you. I’m going to kiss you.” When I say I’m going to do something, I do it.
The unexpected declaration made Serena’s mouth drop open, but not a single sound came out even as he moved toward her. Her feet remained frozen in place, even though her pulse pounded and her mind screamed at her to run in some sort of fight-or-flight response. But neither was going to happen, because she couldn’t flee, and neither could she fight.
His hands came down on her shoulders, his grip firm and unyielding as he pushed her back against the wall.
“You want this, don’t you?”
She wanted to say no, but that would be a lie. She’d never wanted anything more, which, at the moment, made this man the most dangerous person on the planet. “Yes.”
His smile was pure male triumph as he took his hands from her shoulders and braced them high above her head so he was caging her in but not touching her. She had to tilt her head back to look at him, and she wondered if she looked the way she felt, like a mouse trapped by a cat.
Slowly, he leaned in, sinking to his forearms against the wall. He was close, so close she could feel the heat radiating from him, could hear the soft intakes of each breath even over the pounding of her pulse in her ears. His mouth descended.
Her knees shook, and thank God she was propped against the wall, because she felt like she could fall over at any moment. Panic wrapped around her chest like a steel band, and no, she couldn’t do this. Something told her she’d never be the same—
His lips claimed hers, not gently. Ravenously. Unapologetically. As if he did this all the time, and she supposed he did.
“Open for me.”