Review of Sin Undone by Larissa Ione

Title: Sin Undone
Author: Larissa Ione
Pages: 400 pages, mass market paperback
Genre: paranormal romance
Standalone/Series: Series (Demonica series #5 (last of series))
Release: August 24th, 2010
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Purchased by me
Author info:  www.larissaione.com
Spoiler Alert: Small spoilers for previous books, small plot spoilers
GoodReads Blurb:  HER TOUCH IS DEADLY
As the only female Seminus demon ever born, master assassin Sinead Donnelly is used to being treated like an outcast. She spent decades enslaved, and now vows she’ll die before she’ll relinquish her freedom again. Then Sin’s innate ability to kill her enemies goes awry: She creates a lethal new werewolf virus that sparks a firestorm of panic and violence.

HIS HUNGER CAN’T BE DENIED
Half-werewolf, half-vampire Conall Dearghul is charged with bringing in Sin to face punishment for the plague. And she’s no stranger: He’s bound to her by blood, and the one sexual encounter they shared has left him hungering for her raw sensuality. Worse, Sin is the underworld’s most wanted and Con soon learns he’s the only one who can help her . . . and that saving her life might mean sacrificing his own.

REVIEW: This is the last entry into the Demonica series and by far one of the best books of the series (though really I love them all). Ms. Ione’s writing is as dark and sexy as the black leather pants her heroine Sin wears. Sin and the Sem brothers are a tough and loyal bunch and the backdrop of Underworld General makes an excellent setting. Sin is the only known female Seminus demon, a hybrid of human and demon genes that shouldn’t exist. Sin’s life has left her with a huge chip on her shoulder and the inability to trust and rely on anyone since everyone she has relied on in the past has left her. She has a hard time with her brothers due to this, her full brother Lore and her half brothers, E, Shade, and Wraith. It also doesn’t help that Sin’s Sem powers let loose a highly contagious plague that affects wargs (weres) that now her brothers are frantically trying to find a cure for before humans start noticing the massive amounts of deaths. Add in a dark and sexy dhampire, Conall, who both wants to destroy Sin for the disease she unleashed and do naughty things to her, and Sin has a lot to handle.

The story does an excellent job of drawing Sin out of her tough and jaded shell as she starts to let go of her hard assassin exterior and remember what it’s like to feel again. Though she retains her sharp wit and even sharper tongue – a characteristic of her I love! It doesn’t hurt that Con is there to help her along this journey in so many ways. And as we learn along the way Con has a dark past and a lot of secrets as well which keep him walled off from most of his friends outside the dhampire community. Con and Sin’s relationship is complicated to say the least and with all the secrets they keep from each other it seems doomed from the start. Though as they dodge the attempts on Sin’s life the action heats up and of course this wouldn’t be a Demonica series book without a lot of action on and off the sheets (they are sex demons so what do you expect..).

The book kept me happy with glimpses of the other Sem brothers and their women as well as an introduction to the Lords of Deliverance – which will be Ms. Ione’s new series based in the Demonica world and comes out early 2011 ( I can’t wait). We also get to see more of Luc – who has been a paramedic at Underworld General since the first book in the series and has generally ended up getting beat down by the world throughout the series. I was happy with his side story and I thought it tied in nicely with Sin and Con’s story though I wish there was a little more Gem in the story since I love the Goth girl half-demon doctor. 

Overall 5 out of 5 stars, sad to see one of my favorite series end!

Review of Devil Inside by Jenna Black - Dark and sexy with lots of ass-kicking!

Title: The Devil Inside (Morgan Kingsley #1)
Author: Jenna Black
Pages: 336 Pages, Paperback
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Standalone/Series: Series
Release:  Already Out
Publisher: Spectra
Purchased by me
Author info: http://www.jennablack.com/
Spoiler Alert: mostly in the clear
Good Reads blurb:Posession. Murder. Mayhem. Let the games begin...Exorcism isn't a job, it's a calling and a curse. Just ask Morgan Kingsley, a woman who has a stronger aura than any Demon. Or so she thought. Now, in a pair of black leather pants and a kick-ass tattoo, Morgan is heading back to Philadelphia after a nasty little exorcism and her life is about to be turned upside down by the Demon that's gotten inside her. Not just any Demon. Six foot five inches of dark, delicious temptation, this one is to die for;that is, if he doesn't get Morgan killed first. Because while some humans vilify Demons and others idolize them, Morgan's Demon is leading a war of succession no human has ever imagined. For a woman trying to live a life, and hold on to the almost-perfect man, being possessed by a gorgeous rebel Demon will mean a wild ride of uninhibited thrills, shocking surprises, and pure, unadulterated terror. . . .

This book had a little of everything – demon ass kicking, betrayal, and possession as well as phone sex, some S & M, and a little man loving sprinkled in.  Morgan Kinsley, the reluctant heroine of this story, is a modern day exorcist who has very personal reasons to hate both the legal and illegal forms of demon possession that occurs in her world. Unfortunately she gets mixed-up in a battle between different factions in the demon world and is forced to choose a side. Her decisions and her position on the matter make her some very powerful enemies that will stop at nothing to destroy her. Unfortunately, Morgan also has serious trust issues, and she is really good at making enemies of potential allies. With all the mistakes Morgan makes along the way while she continues to be the reluctant heroine, it will be amazing if she makes it out alive.

The action in this book is non-stop as Morgan gets herself out of one deadly situation then makes mistakes and lands in a worse situation. Morgan has a gigantic chip on her shoulder, so big I wouldn’t be surprised if she lists towards one side while she walks, and it stops her from trusting others and she tends to make really bad situations even worse. So many times during the book I wanted to shake her and say –what were you thinking – which is also the mark of a good book too since I cared so much about the choices she makes. During the novel Morgan definitely is reluctant to grow up and change her world view but she does and I can’t wait to read what happens to her in the future installments.

This book does have a good dose of sex and darkness too that made me a little twitchy. Though all this mixes in well with the main story so at least there is no gratuitous S & M but this book is definitely not for those who get squeamish with such things.

This is a 3.5 out of 5 for me, dark and sexy with a fair amount of ass-kicking!

Review of Ecstasy Unveiled by Larissa Ione - Can't get enough of the sexy demons!

This is the book that first started me on the Demonica series. I won this book in a contest, read the first chapter, and decided I needed to read the rest of the books right away before finishing Ecstasy Unveiled. And really how could you not get tempted by this series when the book opens on Lore getting busy with "AprilMayJune" (he doesn't remember her name) and then almost ends up getting eaten since his lady of the month ends up being a Dire Mantis (yup she eats her partners after sex). Needless to say he doesn't get eaten and thus begins my obsession with the Sem brothers.

GoodReads blurb: DEMON ENSLAVED. Lore is a Seminus half-breed demon who has been forced to act as his dark master's assassin. Now to earn his freedom and save his sister's life, he must complete one last kill. Powerful and ruthless, he'll stop at nothing to carry out this deadly mission.
 
AN ANGEL TEMPTED. Idess is an earthbound angel with a wild side, sworn to protect the human Lore is targeting. She's determined to thwart her wickedly handsome adversary by any means necessary-even if that means risking her vow of eternal chastity. But what begins as a simple seduction soon turns into a passion that leaves both angel and demon craving complete surrender.
Torn between duty and desire, Lore and Idess must join forces as they battle their attraction for each other. Because an enemy from the past is rising again-one hellbent on vengeance and unthinkable destruction.

Lore is the most recently discovered half-human and half-demon brother of the Sem brothers. Technically, offspring from a Seminus demon and a human should not exist, unfortunately for Lore and his twin sister Sin - the little demon sperm that helped make them didn't get the memo. Lore is just getting to know the brothers after almost killing them in the previous book yet their relationship is greatly strained when Lore finds out that to save his sister from being sold as a slave by their assassin master, he must kill Kynan - a human that is like a brother to the Sem brothers. Kynan is also the man that Lore saved the life of using his demon powers in the previous book, though Lore has been regretting it since Kynan ended up with the sexy goth demon Gem and Lore ended up alone again. Though soon Lore is distracted by sexy and dangerous Idess who is an angel in training - tasked to protect Kynan to earn her wings.

Another side plot in this book is the troubles that are facing Underworld General Hospital. All the employees are on edge, including the Sem brothers for some unknown reason. The fights and lines being drawn between the brothers are heart-wrenching as they argue over what to do with Lore once they find out his mission. Since we met E, Shade, and Wraith in the previous books I have a tender spot in my heart for them and hate to see them really fight. In the midst of the fighting, the brothers also learn that they are related to the impossible, a Seminus female, Sin, a being that shouldn't exist. It's interesting to watch how the brothers learn to deal with the new members of their family.

But of course you don't just read Ione's books for the story of family dynamics but for the love story as well. And this story, I have to admit, I did some back of the book peeping just so I could make it through. Idess is just the right mix of hard and soft for Lore, and she's one of the few people who won't die due to Lore's touch. Finally Lore can find release with a woman without fear of killing her. This is the third book of Ione's in which chains are used in the course of the romance, I think all except Wraith ends up in chains during the course of his book - which is kind of surprising knowing Wraith. Though my favorite person of this book is Sin - she's the female version of Wraith and an assassin as well. I can't wait till her book - Sin Undone - comes out in August!

This was a 4.5 out of 5 for me - true star-crossed lovers and a sarcastic assassin sister.

So this is my pick for the dark and brooding Lore (I found him over at Demon Lover's Book Reviews) let me know what you think of the half-human/ half-demon all sexy assassin pic.

To check out more about the sexy demon brothers head over to Larissa's site here!

Review of Passion Unleashed by Larissa Ione - Some More Sexy Demon Brothers!

Now that I'm a little more rested from my marathon reading weekend of naughty demon brothers I'm ready to tackle my review of Passion Unleashed. This was a brother I didn't think I was going to like, he was selfish, a total ass, and also completely broken from events in his past - so how could you build a story around someone who had no capacity to love and how was it going to be believable. Much to my surprise, this was one of my favorite stories of the bunch. Check out my review below along with my picture pick for Wraith.

Goodreads Blurb: 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.

Wraith finds himself in life-threatening trouble after a "hunting trip" ends badly for him. After finding out he's living on borrowed time due to a slow acting poison, he and his brothers can only come up with one possible cure, to be given a magical charm from a woman who will die without the charm. Well the woman in possession of the charm, Serena, has no plans of handing it over and giving up her life and to keep the magical ability of the charm she must remain a virgin. Though a sex demon can be quite persuasive when he puts his body and mind towards achieving a goal. Wraith doesn't have much experience seducing a woman though, especially a human, and he has to take pointers from his sister-in-law, Tayla, about how to woo a woman. The idea of Wraith sitting there taking notes about how to seduce, something he hasn't had to do in his almost 100 years as a incubus, from Tayla had me giggling.

My favorite part of this book was the developments that Wraith made. We finally get to learn more about the torture he suffered at the hands of the vampires, something that was always mentioned in the previous books but no details were given. Now we know more of why he avoids human females and understand even more about why he is so broken due to his treatment at the hands of vampires. Now that he is dying he really has to evaluate what is important to him and take a look at how his decisions affect more than himself, something I don't think he has ever done. Wraith faces seducing a woman who his life depends on and finds himself caring for her as well. As the stakes get more dire, Wraith gets stuck with an impossible decision to make.

Serena was an interesting character, she was a mix of Indiana Jones and Super Man. Indiana Jones due to her love of treasure hunting and Super Man because her magical charm makes her impervious to physical harm. Though as she and Wraith continue to spend more time together and dark forces are trying to steal something from her possession, she finds herself vulnerable and turns to Wraith for help. Serena's story is alot more complicated than it first appears and leads to a whole new story arc that I was surprised at and I look forward to finding out how it resolves in future books. I love the overarching theme of more than just finding a mate but also that the bad boys are important for saving the world too.

Overall this was a 4.5 out of 5 stars for me, treasure hunting, world saving, and smoking seduction all wrapped up in one story.

Now for how I see Wraith. Wraith looks different than his brothers, he's not dark and brooding, he is blond haired, blue-eyed and smoking (and so is model Lucas Kerr)- so let me know what you think. Just imagine longer hair!

Review of Desire Unchained by Larissa Ione - I love me some demon action!

So this weekend I purchased book 2 & 3 from the Demonica series (I have book 4 and have reviewed book 1 here) and then proceeded to tune out the rest of the world for about 2 days while I read book 2-4 (I apparently have to eat and sleep or I definitely would have devoured the books in a day). Now a day later, I have dark circles under my eyes, the inability to focus on people's conversations without daydreaming about sexy demon brothers, and a slightly worried hubby. So I thought I would share the delicious reasons for my sleepless nights with my lovely readers and review the lovely Sem brothers books for you guys. Along the way I plan to share some pics of how I picture these brothers and will hopefully leave you a little hot under the collar and panting like I was through the books. Enjoy!

GoodReads blurb: Pleasure is their ultimate weapon . . .

Runa Wagner never meant to fall in love with the sexy stranger who seemed to know her every deepest desire. But she couldn’t resist the unbelievable passion that burned between them, a passion that died when she discovered his betrayal and found herself forever changed. Now, determined to make Shade pay for the transformation that haunts her, Runa searches for him, only to be taken prisoner by his darkest enemy.

A Seminus Demon with a love-curse that threatens him with eternal torment, Shade hoped he’d seen the last of Runa and her irresistible charm. But when he wakes up in a dank dungeon chained next to an enraged and mysteriously powerful Runa, he realizes that her effect on him is more dangerous than ever. As their captor casts a spell that bonds them as lifemates, Shade and Runa must fight for their lives and their hearts—or succumb to a madman’s evil plans.
 
Runa never planned to be kidnapped and chained up to the arrogant ass who broke her heart a year before - but apparently fate isn't done playing with her. Shade never expected to see Runa again after she ran out his door after catching him in bed with two females, he broke her heart like he did with so many females before - he's an incubus and knows better than to get attached. So when Shade wakes up in a dungeon chained to a wall the last person he expects to see next to him is Runa. But one thing he notices right away is that Runa isn't the same sweet girl that ran away from him after his betrayal. She is tougher - both physically and mentally- due to being attacked by a werewolf the night she caught him cheating and she is itching to make him pay for what he did to her. Unfortunately they are both at the mercy of a sadistic killer who is hell bent on making Shade and his brothers pay for a tragic event in the killer's past that left him scared and broken. This black robed killer also has intimate knowledge of the Sem brothers and uses that knowledge against Shade by binding him to a woman that he must never love or he will suffer a fate worse than death.

I love this opening scene - you can check out the rest of Chapter 1 excerpt here at Larissa's website:
It had been at least two decades since Shade had awakened on a strange floor, hungover and without a clue as to his whereabouts. The heavy weight of a manacle around his wrist and the sound of a rattling chain made him smile. It had been even longer since he’d been in this situation and chained up.
Cool.
Sure, he preferred the females to be the ones in chains instead of him, but he'd roll with it.
“Shade.”
The female voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it through the ringing in his ears. He couldn't open his eyes, either.
"Shade. Wake up." A hand shook his shoulder, not gently, like he'd expect a female to do after a spending a night with him. Hell, she should be waking him with her mouth on his– "Shade, damn you, wake up!"
Groaning, he rolled onto his back, wincing at the dull ache pounding against the back of his skull. "I'm awake, baby. I'm awake. Climb on. I'll catch up."
"Thanks, I'll pass. But call me baby again and I'll rip your lips off."

The antagonistic banter between Shade and Runa is great from page one, and as the banter continues so does the increase in sexual tension between the two. Though they are thrown together by unfortunate circumstances they begin to care for each other as well, which could not be worse for Shade since he was cursed long ago with maluncoeur, if he falls in love, he will suffer a shadow existence of thirst, loneliness, and unslaked sexual desire. The closer the two of them get the more Shade tries to push Runa away and convince himself he doesn't care for her. Runa is constantly being thrown mixed signals and despairs that she is forever bound to someone who will never care for her. 

To distract them from their terrible situation is their kidnapper who is still focused on making the Sem brothers pay and does not go easy on them. The action in this book is one of the things that impresses me about Larissa Ione's novels, the action doesn't suffer for the sake of romance, the heroines in these books are just as tough as the men, and she isn't afraid to put her characters through hell. What the characters get in the end does not come easy and there is usually a high price to pay for any hope of happiness. Besides the heart-pumping fight scenes is also a sharp sense of humor - another favorite line in this book is the re-naming of PMS to be Pre-Moon Syndrome which describes the on-edge mood were's are in a few days before the full moon. Though I would be remiss if I didn't mention another favorite part of Larissa Ione's books - the love scenes. Shade is a bad boy so it is a given that when he makes love to a woman, it isn't going to be sweet - it's going to be hard and leave the woman panting for more. And wow does he deliver. 

Overall this was a 4.5 out of 5 stars for me, an excellent ill-fated romance, bloody battles, and a bad boy hero that loves to wear leather and is covered in tattoos!

Now onto the pictures of how I see Shade. For this one I picked Joe Manganiello - he's the actor for Alcide in the new 3rd season of True Blood though with a few glyphs on his arm and the long hair I could totally see him as Shade.

 So what do you think?

Review of Blood of the Demon by Diana Rowland - Some sexy demon lord action!

Goodreads Blurb:  BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL, MAN AND DEMON, SHE’S ABOUT TO FACE THE ONE THING SHE MAY NOT BE ABLE TO SURVIVE.

Welcome to the world of Kara Gillian, a cop with a gift. Not only does she have the power of “othersight” to see what most people can’t even imagine, but she’s become the exclusive summoner of a demon lord. Or maybe it’s the other way around. The fact is, with two troublesome cases on her docket and a handsome FBI agent under her skin, Kara needs the help of sexy, insatiable Lord Rhyzkahl more than he needs her. Because these two victims, linked by suspicious coincidence, haven’t just been murdered. Something has eaten their souls.

It’s a case with roots in the arcane, but whose evil has flowered among the rich, powerful, and corrupt in Beaulac, Louisiana. And as the killings continue, Kara soon realizes how much there’s still to learn about demons, men, and things that kill in the night—and how little time she has to learn it.

Just like working a crime scene, summoning a demon has rules you must stick too – though with demon summoning there are much more dire consequences if you fail.  Kara, who we first meet in Mark of the Demon is once again working a case that is more than it appears. People are dying around Beaulac and only Kira realizes that these murder victims are having their essence pulled out as well. Kira’s usual source of information, her aunt, is still in a coma after she was forcefully used to summon a demon in the previous book and her aunt’s library is in lock down. So Kira turns to the demon realm for answers as well as the sexy Lord Rhyzkahl.

Although Kira is a smart and tough detective, her biggest weakness is her loneliness. She has isolated herself emotionally and physically (she lives by herself in the country) due to her demon summoning and the weakness is really exploited, intentionally or not, during this book. First there are the two romantic interests in Kira’s life – Ryan and Lord Rhyzkahl. Kira never knows where she stands with Ryan, the two of them are friends but could there be more? His flirting demeanor with Kira is definitely confusing, at least I kept vacillating between Ryan liking her and just wanting to be friends. Ryan is so judgemental of Kira’s decisions to summon and bargain with demons that it’s surprising that they can remain friends.  Meanwhile Ryan isn’t being completely above board with Kira about his abilities and continues to be enigmatic.

Lord Rhyzkahl is a different beast entirely. Kira thinks she understands Rhyzkahl’s motivation but her yearning to be touched by a man coupled with her need for information about the arcane makes her relationship with Rhyzkahl complicated. He doesn’t give anything for free but you get the impression that he makes certain concessions for Kira and he refers to her as his “dear one”. Rhyzkahl offers more than his smokin’ hot demon body though, he offers to share his knowledge of the arcane with Kira for a price. It’s hard to decide which man is better for Kira or if either of them are good enough. They both have so many secrets they keep from her and manipulate her in their own ways. It will be interesting to see how the romance plays out in future books.

Along with learning more about the two men in Kira's life we also learn more about the demon realm. I like Ms. Rowland's concept of the demon realm not being good or evil and working on a different moral code. It's a different take on the typical idea for demons and it works well with the police procedural aspect of the book. And let me tell you the mystery aspect of this book is great - I had no idea who the bad guy was till the end.

This is a 4.5 out of 5 for me - sexy demon lord, excellent mystery, and a female detective/demon summoner you feel like grabbing some beers with.