Review: The Darkest Craving (Lords of the Underworld #10) by Gena Showalter

 

New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter is back with a breathtaking Lords of the Underworld tale about a warrior trapped by darkness and the woman determined to save him
Having endured weeks of torture in the bowels of hell, Kane wants nothing to do with his beautiful rescuer, Josephina Aisling. The half-Fae female threatens to awaken the demon of Disaster inside him—a beast he’s determined to kill, no matter the price.
Josephina is hunted by a brutal enemy—her royal family—and Kane is her only source of protection. He’s also the only male to ever set her aflame, and even he succumbs to the heat. But as they navigate the treacherous world of the Fae, they are forced to make a choice: live apart…or die together.  

My Review:

The Darkest Craving is the tenth installment of Gena Showalter’s (GS) Lords of the Underworld (LOTU) Series. I wasn’t sure at all what to expect in this book as the last installment, The Darkest Seduction, didn’t really leave much room for continuation.

In the previous book, the central storyline of Cronus vs. Rhea that has been prevalent throughout the series came to a conclusion when both deities met their end. So with that major conflict resolved and The Hunters obliterated as well, I wasn’t sure just what there was to keep this series going other than getting to Pandora’s box and possibly getting rid of the LOTU demons since they have now collected all the artifacts necessary to get to the box. I thought this book was going to center around this, but I wasn’t even close.

The Darkest Craving is about Kane’s HEA. Picking up his storyline from the last book, Kane was tortured in hell by various demons, to include rape. He is saved by Josephina, a half fey who leads a tormented life herself. In exchange for freeing him from hell, Josephina (who Kane calls Tink) makes him promise to kill her once she sets him free. Kane agrees, but he goes back on his promise once he is set free.

Instead, he vows to help Tink and find out why she wants to die. He discovers Tink is royalty, but leads a very dreary existence. Her sister is inhabited by a mischievous demon and whenever her sister does something wrong, she takes the punishment for her sister. She is also a little above a servant to her family’s whims and is sexually accosted by her brother.

Kane follows Tink to the Fae realm where he vows to free her from her torment and also find a way to stop the Apocalypse. It’s hilarious to see the LOTU are almost worshipped there. They even have their own fan clubs LOL

Kane sets out to change Tink’s life, though it’s hard to work around the various laws in the Fae realm. But because of his popularity, Kane always find an exception to the rule. The couple goes through a lot of hurdles along their path to their HEA, especially with Tink’s sister in the way.

Kane and Tink’s love story was okay and all that, but again for me it just boils down to the fact that I wish GS would write about the main characters and stop concentrating on lesser characters no one cares about. But this book wasn’t entirely skip worthy. The other storylines happening in the background totally saved this book for me.

William brings his A-game to The Darkest Craving, of course, providing several humorous moments.

I was devastated to read that Torin and Cameo parted as friends! *sobs* But before Cronus kicked it, he sent Torin a girl. Torin is just getting to know her and sees her for a limited time each day. There is something going on with her, though, and Torin vows to help/free her from whatever’s causing her grief.

There is a super-brief mention of Legion. She is still down for the count and no one really knows what to do/say to her as she mopes about in the corner. I REALLY need there to be a book just dedicated to Legion ASAP! *sobs* I just can’t take anymore of this.

Someone disappears into another realm after monkeying around with the artifacts and Cameo sets out on a mission to rescue her. Cameo meets up with a past book character long thought dead. This storyline intrigues me and I wonder what’s going to happen next.

Ugh! Harpies rear their ugly heads again in The Darkest Craving. In order to get them to give some information, they ask the LOTU to empty out their new home for a short period of time – no questions asked – to them. Are you kidding me? Ugh can’t there be a deadly virus released that only affects Harpies so we can be rid of them? They are soooo annoying LOL I just hope whatever they’re into doesn’t take over the entire plot line of the next book.

So as you can see, there are lots of juicy side stories going on in The Darkest Carving. So, in case you’re not into Kane and his HEA, there’s always a little something on the side to keep you going!

The Darkest Craving features:

• paranormal romance
• sexual content
• demons
• mentions of rape
• incest themes
• mythology
• humor
• abuse

 

Rating: 3 Kissses