The Darkest Craving (Lords of the Underworld)

I was unable to put this book down. It had me hooked from page one and left me waiting for the next book in line. This book in particular was nice, it touched on sexual abuse and what true love can do to help a person heal from it. Love conquers all...lust, passion, and some intimate sure does help too. TEAM TINK!!!!!

On other great read from Gena Showalter! What a wonderful disaster true love can be. Kane was definitely deserving of demon makeover and a whole bashful of pixie dust from his own personal Tinkerbell!

I'm not sure why all the bad reviews. It was a LoU story just like the previous stories. I liked Josephine. I liked the twists. The set up for at least two more stories was stuffed in there easily enough. This wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't a let down. Looking forward to the next installment of LoU.

I just loved this series when it came out and eagerly awaited each next book and gobbled them up, that is until Paris' story, which was totally DUMB. Kane's story is even DUMBER, and I didn't think anything could be worse than Paris' story. This series has become a joke from what it started out as. Kane and Josephina's story was just one farce after another. There was really nothing likable about either character and The Fae were just plain annoying. The Lords of the Underworld Fan Club aspect was ridiculous. I won't be reading any more of this series and don't care how it all ends, if it ever does. The writing has gotten terrible and the dialog is just awful. I am done with Gena Showalter's books and the LOTU series. It's so sad to see that the Lords have become caricatures of their former selves.

I really believed this story had potential. Not only was I curious about the mystery heroine, but I wanted to learn the reason why the Fae King was after his own daughter, or why she felt the need to runaway in the first place. But a few pages into the book, and I see... THIS is a Disaster waiting to happen. Pun intended. Now, before I go into rant mode, let me give you the gist of the story...

Josephina is the bastard daughter of the Fae King and her human mother. The King and Queen have a daughter of their own, so unfortunately for Josephina, she gets to be the blood slave. Any mistakes the girl makes, and Josie here must bare the brunt of the punishments. God forbid the princess EVER take responsibility for her own actions. Which brings me to another thing, the princess (who's name I've forgotten) is the keeper of the demon of Irresponsibility. I see some of you perking up now (heh). So as you can imagine, this doesn't exactly make for a happily ever after for Josie, which is why she's run away determined to die. Once Kane comes to, he sees Josie, determines she's his MINE and bam! One week after he recovers he leaves The Realm of Blood and Shadow determined to find the little fae and save her. But Kane has his own agenda. After the hell he endured (literally!) he's determined to end Disaster at whatever cost to his own life.

With me so far? ...Nice! :)

Like many other readers, I'm not a fan of instalove, and I'm disappointed to say, that as quickly as Josie appeared, THAT quickly she became Kane's MINE. Good lord, 5% in, really Ms. Showalter? Being how this is a HEA type romance regardless of circumstance, why not allow the characters to get to KNOW each other BEFORE tramp-stamping their love interests with their neanderthalish-MINE ways? Of course though, Kane refuses to believe she's his mine because he's no good for anybody, regardless of the fact that every bone in his body is telling him otherwise. And Josie refuses to believe Kane would be interested in her after seeing what her sister looks like. So there were a lot of frustrating moments of insecurity issues going on.

Next, you'll be happy to know that Showalter spared us all the religious nonsense that was consistent with the second installment in her Angels of the Dark series. Although there were moments where she preached, but those were few and far in between it wasn't too bad, thank the stars.

While I'm all for HEAs and finding your mate no matter what, what I've always loved about LOTU was that the love didn't deter from the actual plot of the series, finding Pandora's Box. Unfortunately, that was not the case here. The only ones determined to find the damned thing were the rest of the Lords. Yes, we are given a glimpse into the Fae Realm, and its beauty and deceit, but Showalter veered way off course with Kane's story. IMO anyways. She filled the pages with incoherent thoughts, incoherent sentences, and information overload I would have happily done without. In book ten of any series, I don't need a recap of who is who, or what has been happening. If I'm on book ten it's because I've been following the series and know what's been going down.

Like with Beauty Awakened and the angels, excuse me "Sent Ones", Showalter felt the need to change a few facts from previous books. I know this may be petty, but it aggravates me to see that something that was already explained once, is being explained differently now. Ya'll know Willie's kids are the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse, right? Well, not anymore! They are now mere shadows of the Horsemen.

"He'd heard demons call them the four horsemen of the apocalypse. But these four were not, not really; they were more like shadows of the originals."

Palm. Meet forehead.

She also changes something else, but that would be a spoiler, so... sorry, but I can't say anything. Just know I'm annoyed by it.

Does Gena Showalter bring sexy back in the Lords of the Underworld? ...No. Not really. The sex scenes are still way too watered down for my liking, and even though they are better than in Beauty Awakened, I am highly disappointed. For someone who had no qualms whatsoever in previous books using the words penis, or cock, Showalter absolutely refused to write them down whilst describing Kane's.

"The wings of the butterfly tattoo appeared more jagged than before, stretching closer and closer to his... his... there."

"And his... his... his tattoo was getting larger, because one of the butterfly's wings rode the length of his..."

She called his cock an it you guys... an IT!!

"It grew, and it thickened, and it hardened, and it mesmerized her."

The characters that captivated me most were definitely William, Cameo and my Torin. The Ever Randy is present throughout the book while he "helps" Kane find his way to Josephina and I am so glad. He was a much needed distraction! Cameo and Torin battle for the spotlight in this one, at least that's how I saw it. Both their journeys will have you wishing for more this instant, but we'll have to be satisfied with waiting for the next book in the series. As for the main characters, if you haven't already guessed it, I am not a fan. I thought I could grow to like Josephina because at first she seemed spunky, but once she started whining about her death, and acting terribly immature, it went downhill from there. Kane was and still is a big mystery for me. Unlike the previous lords', we don't really get a glimpse into the man that is, or WAS Kane. We know he's keeper of Disaster and that the guys are always wary about bringing him along in missions because of his demon, but even then, it would have been nice to see his POV on some situations that happened throughout the series. I mean, ten books and you couldn't fill me in on who this guy is? We don't even learn who he was before, when they were in the Heavens and what role he played in releasing the demons from the box!

It might surprise you all, but I actually loved Disaster in this book. Unlike the previous demons, he couldn't be tamed by a woman. He detested Josephina and did everything in his power to get rid of her. True demons, will never be topped or tamed, and Disaster won a brownie from me. I did like the interactions with the other guys and their demons because they were funny and cute sometimes, but Kane and his demon were proof, that housing a demon is as miserable as the Lords have claimed to be.

Last thing, because this review is already way too long. The writing. While there are no religious undertones noticeable enough in The Darkest Craving and there are still some funny moments to be had while reading the book, I feel like Showalter is either running out of ideas, or she just can't be bothered enough to form a coherent thought or sentence anymore. Every few pages or so, I'd see things like this:

"Kane didn't even want a mate. He wanted... he needed... yeah, some part of him wanted and needed a mate."

"If he did it, if he allowed his lips to meet the princess's, she would... she would...oh! There was no action violent enough."

"Too late? They were...they were...no way."

"The minions had sense him. The minions...the minions who had...had...NO!"

This book dragged its arse all over the place with what you read above, plus the consistent need to either retell me something or give me more info than I needed. Showalter didn't show me a story, she told it to me, and went ahead to bore me out of my ever loving mind. The whole thing was wrapped up into a very sugar coated, barf inducing romantic package I don't even think I can read the next book for fear that she'll ruin Torin in my eyes.

After finishing this book, I read some other reviews and I have to agree with the criticism that was brought up. This book wasn't bad, but it lacked the spark and entertainment I used to get from the LOTUS.

The good things: Cameo's and Torin's story teaser. Both storylines appeared more engaging than Kane and Josephines. William provided some dearly needed laughs, so bonus points here. And Kane's demon strayed true to his evilness.

What didn't work for me: The drama and conflicts between the protagonists were painfully YA issues: jealousy, insecurity, angsty feelings. Pretenting to sleep with someone else in order to hurt the other person in an act of vengeance? I couldn't suppress an eye roll. Poor Kane, his character was reduced to such inmaturity. At the same time I feel cheated out of a strong, admirable, swoon-worthy hero, that Gena Showalter normally delivers in her previous LOTU books. Josephina started out funny and strong but somehow became tame and meek in the middle. She saved the day in the end, but by then the story lost my excitement. Also, the supporting Fae characters were written one-dimensional and stereotypical, it made their actions predictable and hence the storyline, frankly, boring. Another disappointment of this book was the lack of toe-curling, panty-melting heat. Granted, the bar of expectation is set up pretty high here, though.
The overarching story line hasn't been brought forward much. Rather than creating more suspense and sharpening the conflicts between the parties in the LOTU series, this book doesn't do much in terms of bringing the Lords closer to the third artefact or acquiring knowledge about the impending apocalypse. Instead, the rules seem to have been loosened with the introduction of free will as a tool against fate/future predictions. We'll see if this turns out to work out. I cross fingers that in the next books Showalter will bring back the quality of writing we got spoiled with in the previous books.

I don't even know where to begin with this book...it was so very painful to read, and to finish. I almost DNF'd it several times. I kept hoping it would get better. (Hint: It didn't.) I used to really love and enjoy this series. But it's gone downhill, and fast.

My first hate was Kane himself. In previous books, I felt for him. Not pity, but compassion, because if I were to house any of the LOTU demons, I most certainly have Disaster in me. So I was looking forward to learning more about him. But I never liked him. I could never sympathize with Kane, and I felt...nothing for him. Which made me extremely sad.

Then Josephina. Or as Kane calls her, Tinker Bell, Tink, and oh yeah, Tinky Dink. *vomits* Oh boy. I could not stand her. Could not. She started out sooo promising. She had a sharp tongue, motivation, and questionable strength. But it was there. Then she dropped away. Tink's only value as a person is Kane. She only accomplishes things because Kane gives her permission/strength/etc. Gena TELLS us that she's a strong heroine, but no where is there proof.

Any time Tink does anything strong or good, Kane is there. She's the strong woman who picked up a branch while her big, strong MAN is there getting rid of the rest of the heavy tree. It was disgusting.

Tink being naive and a virgin and all that yadda yadda isn't even the problem. It's that Gena has reduced the woman - oh, wait, no *female's* role to solely be pleasure for her man. She can do other things on the side, but each woman is defined by the male who owns her. While noticeable in past books, it really stood out in this one. Kane's motivations the entire time looked something like, "CAVEMAN KANE NEED HIS WOMAN. KILL, GET MY WOMAN. MINE. MINE. MINE." (Trust me, it's even more annoying in the book)

And the "villains"...they were about as frightening as the monster in Robot Monster. They were unbelievable, and weak. It was obvious Kane could overpower them easily, and with the addition of William and his kids, it was laughable. The stakes needed to be a heck of a lot higher. As it was, I was very :| meh about everything.

I can ramble on, but those are the bottom lines. I really wanted to love this book. I was so excited. I can even deal with lackluster sex scenes, even though they did bother me a little. The big issues were the blatant sexism and patriarchal demeaning all throughout this book, and these characters. I can't read something like that and enjoy it.

Kane, keeper of Disaster, survived weeks in Hell after brutal torture and rape by demon minions and even more torture from two of the Horseman of the Apocalypse who rescued him from the minions. His real rescue came in the form of a half-fae/half-human blood slave named Josephina.
Both Kane and Josephina are in very dark places in their lives and they’re ready to die. Literally, die. Kane wants to kill Disaster, the horrible demon who lives inside his body, but to do that, Kane must die, too, which he’s fine with. Josephina has been tortured for centuries by her royal Fae family because her eldest sister, Princess Synda, is a beloved spoiled brat who is never held accountable for her actions and crimes. Josephina is always punished in Synda’s place.
Kane and Josephina’s love story blooms gradually and I really enjoyed watching both of them grow out of their dark shells. Josephina has a hard time trusting people and that’s completely understandable after what’s she’s suffered. The Fates, aka the Moirai, prophesized Kane would marry the demon keeper of Irresponsibility, Synda, or the only female Horseman, White (William’s daughter), but he can’t stand either of those two women. He’s drawn to Josephina.
My main problem with this story is that Kane constantly calls Josephina ‘Tink’ or ‘Tinker Bell.’ I absolutely love with guys give their women cutesy pet names but he called her Tink as her regular name, not a pet name, as though the name Josephina wasn’t good enough for him. This is very insulting. Even Josephina told Kane to stop calling her that, but he wouldn’t and she started to like the name Tink after a while and started to call herself that.
Of all the demon-possessed warriors, Kane seems to have it the hardest with Disaster. With the other guys, their demons loved their women and it’s like a threesome-type relationship. Not in this book. Disaster hates Josephina and will do anything to kill her.
I soooooo love the scenes with Cameo and Lazarus stuck in the Paring Rod. Strider beheaded Lazarus two books ago, but Lazarus is alive and well in spirit-form inside the Rod. He teams up with Cameo to escape and sparks ignite between them.
Torin meets Mari, the one human in the world who is supposedly immune to Torin’s disease, but she’s also Cronus’s prisoner. Turns out she might not be immune, after all, and Mari has a very powerful friend who will punish Torin if Mari dies.
I’m anxious for William and Gilly’s story, but I’m frustrated he’s acting as her protector while tomcatting around and trying to keep it from her. Granted, they aren’t lovers yet and he’s free to sleep with whomever he wants (he usually does), but he shouldn’t hide his whorish ways from the girl he’s crushing on. She deserves to know the truth about his real character and not what he wants her to know. Gilly is a smart young woman, but she’s blind when it comes to William and he’s taking advantage of that. At the end of the book, however, I think her eyes are finally open but I doubt it will stay that way.
To fully understand this book, unfortunately, you should read the first two books in the spinoff series, Angels of the Dark: Wicked Nights and Beauty Awakened. While a few events in those books are recapped in The Darkest Craving, there are unanswered questions for readers (like me) who hadn’t read the spinoff books.
This is the last book I have so far in the LOTU series. Since the spinoff series is intermingled with the main series, Burning Dawn (the third Angel book) comes after this one, followed by The Darkest Touch (Torin’s book), and then Baden’s book that came out in the summer of 2016. Will I continue collecting the LOTU books and now the Angel books, as well? I don’t know. I’m invested in the characters but I’ll probably wait to buy the books when I find them on a big sale.
4 Stars

Disclaimer – I bought this book for my own enjoyment. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.

I had eagerly been awaiting this LOTU installment for weeks. I read the book in two days, not because I couldn't put it down, but because I kept hoping it would get better...it didn't.

Kane came across as a bit of jerk in the book. He doesn't even really treat Tink (aka Josephina) that well, often saying things just to hurt her. I feel like Gena Showalter was trying to make him into this twisted, shell of a man that needed to be saved, but she didn't manage to pull it off. Instead he comes across as muddled, abrasive, and utterly fake.

Josephina is the same way. I was exicted for her in the first few chapters, her bubbly, somewhat kooky attitude highly charming...but within a few pages her personality disappears and she become a completely different character. It's as if Ms. Showalter couldn't decided what sort of woman she wanted Tink to be.

The way these two characters were portrayed made me feel very cold toward their eventual joining. I honestly couldn't care less when they ended up together. And the sex scenes between the two? Lukewarm at best. I hoped that her style of pg-13 writing in the Angel's series was simply a style choice for that series alone but apparently not. No where was that delicious, amazing, sticks with you and makes you blush smut that featured in her previous LOTU books. Going from Seduction to Craving was like I was reading two completely different authors. I understand this may have something to do with Gena's new found interest in religion, which is great...whatever, to each his own, if it makes you happy, super....but I hope she realizes that her fans have come to expect a certain level of sexiness in her writing that was COMPLETELY absent in this book. I can only hope that with Cameo and Torin's story lines it comes back (please oh please with Torin, I have been waiting so so patiently).

The only saving grace from this book were the side plots. William the Ever Randy and his Rainbow rejects made this book for me. I found myself wanting to know more about the horsemen and what they want/where they came from etc. Torin and Cameo's story lines enthralled me and I about dropped my jaw when Cameo's supposed (I hope) HEA made his appearance. I can only wish and pray and chant that Gena Showalter picks up the slack with the books that follow.

Not every story line of the LOTU has been super enthralling (I was never a big fan of Amun or Sabin's books) but even when they fell short they were still an entertaining read...The Darkest Craving wasn't even that and I was severely disappointed. I can only hope the old Gena returns, and soon.

Kane has always been a walking disaster. Literally. The Lord houses Disaster, a particularly vile demon that revels in making Kane's life hell. Then Kane actually ended up in hell, suffering horrible torture and rape for weeks on end until he was rescued by a strange female with one particularly odd request for her assistance. She wants him to kill her.

Still lost in darkness from his ordeal, wrecked in a way he's having a hard time dealing with, one thing is absolutely clear to Kane. He's not killing the feisty, adorable half-fae Josephina Aisling. He's going to rescue her instead.

Then he's going to finally kill the demon inside him. Even if he has to die to do it.

~*~

I feeling oddly ambivalent about this tenth installment of the Lords of the Underworld series. After Paris' book, which gave readers some much-needed resolution to the nagging problems of the Hunters and Cronus and Rhea, I figured this one would have to be a transitional book. Transitional books tend to not be my favorite books in a series for a lot of reasons, but I've always felt they were a necessary evil and dealt accordingly.

Had this book actually offered some transitional series arc plot development or given any attention to the lingering issues generated by the big battle that ended the previous book, I think I would have been fine with this one in that role. My problem is that it really didn't. In fact, Kane and Josephina's story didn't do much of anything to establish a new, Hunter/Cronus-free direction for the Lords and their allies for the series, nor did it do much to progress the plot line about the hunt for the Pandora's box - though that did receive a bit of attention with the kick off of Cameo's story threads and the return of a character I was really hoping to see again in this series.

As for the romance, that didn't really wow me with character or relationship evolution of the main characters, either.

I like Kane. I've always felt bad for the guy (pretty much the standard for the pre-mated Lords), even when he served as little more than comic relief at the start of the series. It was nice getting a closer look at how he deals with Disaster. I also enjoyed Disaster being given a far more sinister presence than the demons of the other Lords have been given. Disaster just seemed more actively evil than some of the others have been. Not a bad thing, either. I liked it.

We've had a couple of books now, seeing Kane's story unfold, and much of that was pretty horrifying, so I also liked that he got some happiness. What he didn't get, what none of the characters in this series get much of lately, is character depth and complexity or realistic character evolution, and that, along with my issues with the stories themselves, is bothering me a lot in this series.

Yes, Kane is tormented by his time in hell, and rightly so, but that seems to be the sole defining element of his character, and that's just not enough to make him well-rounded and realistic to me. Josephina, maybe because she's new to the series, got a bit more character evolution, and I liked her more for that, but again, her role in her family was her defining characteristic and there wasn't a huge amount of depth to her beyond that.

But depth of character and complexity of internal and external conflict have never really been something this series has really offered, and I'm just now starting to remember that. Hellaciously sexy times, yes. Action and adventure, even breath-stealing emotion, yes. Summer-blockbuster-movie amounts of fierce battles and wicked villains, sure. And like those summer blockbusters, not a whole lot of coherent, well-written story surrounding it all.

On a brighter note, I thought the beginning of this book was awesome. I loved when Josephina tried to get Kane to keep his end of the bargain, then turned to Lucien and Sabin when they showed up. I love the idea that the fae were huge fans of the Lords, whose antics they follow as rabidly as the paparazzi dog the Kardashians. I loved Cameo's cameos and Torin's plague-filled drama. And there was other stuff that I truly enjoyed as well.

Kane and Josephina's extended time in the fae world didn't add to the fun. It bored me. And they seemed to spend an awfully long time there, because this was an awfully long book. That's a lot of boredom. Boredom mixed with perplexity, because for the two previous books in this series, several critical things were brewing relating to Kane's fate and the fate of the world, and those threads were just butchered in this book, with no justification or supporting development.

Kane was supposed to start an apocalypse...marry one of the Horseman or the woman who housed Irresponsibility. Or both. Josephina had nothing at all to do with one of those fateful threads and Irresponsiblity had almost nothing to do with the other. Not in anything but a completely transitory way. So what was the point of even having those threads in the previous two books if you're just going to pull in some extremely tenuous threads of suspect connection to go around all of it?

Not deal with it, mind you, completely go around it. Two very different things.

None of that worked for me at all, and all of it, including several threads of resolution seemed way too convenient and contrived. And the end of the book, with the resolution, was too-typical of Showalter in this series. Completely unsupported by previous development and utterly abrupt, repetitive. Seriously, how many books has it been now when an angel (who I guess we're calling Sent Ones now) has stepped in at the critical moment in the climax and flicked his wings (or, you know...fiery sword...whatever) to solve all the problems for the main characters and expedite the HEA? More than once is too many. Three times is appalling.

And one other thing: I loathe the, "Oops, I was wrong," explanation to force feed a conflict resolution and fast track an HEA and Showalter uses it All. The. Time. Call it a deus ex machina, a plot contrivance, or whatever, it's that moment when you're reading a story that's been written into a very clearly defined and concrete corner only to have the author decide the room is round so the problem is solved. Argh! Drives me absolutely crazy.

The one at the end of this book was particularly heinous, too.

There are just too many things going wrong for me with this series lately, so many that I'm starting to wonder if the two year hiatus I took from the series between Amun's and Strider's books was, in fact, long enough.

~*~*~*~
Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.

I will be in book hangover mod for a while, I love the other Lords of the Underworld books but this one ranks up there with Paris's story. You will be in for a journey that stretches in to three realms, now we have the Fae and future home for the Lords. This starts with Kane keeper of Disaster and his rescuer just getting out of hell and his rescuer is someone he wants to hate but claims as his when Sabin and Strider comes to help him. He never thought that she would be half Fae and half human that has a death wish. Josephina/ Tink (his only pet name for her) needs to die and will find anyway to see her life end, even in the hands or one of the most legendary Lords Kane. In her realm her people have spies for the Lords and they write all kinds of books detailing the wars, life and woman the Lords of the Underwood experience, so she know who he is and what he hosts, but is not the ones she really really wants to me (that world be Paris and Torin). She knows he could and will kill her for the bargain that she made him agree to to get out of hell with her. But she never would have imaged that her death would not be handed to her in his hands but her heart will be his. Warning William will do something to help Kane out in the beginning what might make you want to reach in and strangle both Kane and William. Lots of adventure, action, building romance will happen but with a sides of rage, lies, hurts and others that will keep you guessing til the end. Cameo? will have a few chapters for her as well as Torin. She will be on a paring rod adventure where she meets up with the handsome but 'dead' Lazerous?, from Strider's story with Kaia at the Harpy Games. Torin well his is a like his past is about to be a repeat.

I just loved this series when it came out and eagerly awaited each next book and gobbled them up, that is until Paris' story, which was totally DUMB. Kane's story is even DUMBER, and I didn't think anything could be worse than Paris' story. This series has become a joke from what it started out as. Kane and Josephina's story was just one farce after another. There was really nothing likable about either character and The Fae were just plain annoying. The Lords of the Underworld Fan Club aspect was ridiculous. I won't be reading any more of this series and don't care how it all ends, if it ever does. The writing has gotten terrible and the dialog is just awful. I am done with Gena Showalter's books and the LOTU series. It's so sad to see that the Lords have become caricatures of their former selves.

I really believed this story had potential. Not only was I curious about the mystery heroine, but I wanted to learn the reason why the Fae King was after his own daughter, or why she felt the need to runaway in the first place. But a few pages into the book, and I see... THIS is a Disaster waiting to happen. Pun intended. Now, before I go into rant mode, let me give you the gist of the story...

Josephina is the bastard daughter of the Fae King and her human mother. The King and Queen have a daughter of their own, so unfortunately for Josephina, she gets to be the blood slave. Any mistakes the girl makes, and Josie here must bare the brunt of the punishments. God forbid the princess EVER take responsibility for her own actions. Which brings me to another thing, the princess (who's name I've forgotten) is the keeper of the demon of Irresponsibility. I see some of you perking up now (heh). So as you can imagine, this doesn't exactly make for a happily ever after for Josie, which is why she's run away determined to die. Once Kane comes to, he sees Josie, determines she's his MINE and bam! One week after he recovers he leaves The Realm of Blood and Shadow determined to find the little fae and save her. But Kane has his own agenda. After the hell he endured (literally!) he's determined to end Disaster at whatever cost to his own life.

With me so far? ...Nice! :)

Like many other readers, I'm not a fan of instalove, and I'm disappointed to say, that as quickly as Josie appeared, THAT quickly she became Kane's MINE. Good lord, 5% in, really Ms. Showalter? Being how this is a HEA type romance regardless of circumstance, why not allow the characters to get to KNOW each other BEFORE tramp-stamping their love interests with their neanderthalish-MINE ways? Of course though, Kane refuses to believe she's his mine because he's no good for anybody, regardless of the fact that every bone in his body is telling him otherwise. And Josie refuses to believe Kane would be interested in her after seeing what her sister looks like. So there were a lot of frustrating moments of insecurity issues going on.

Next, you'll be happy to know that Showalter spared us all the religious nonsense that was consistent with the second installment in her Angels of the Dark series. Although there were moments where she preached, but those were few and far in between it wasn't too bad, thank the stars.

While I'm all for HEAs and finding your mate no matter what, what I've always loved about LOTU was that the love didn't deter from the actual plot of the series, finding Pandora's Box. Unfortunately, that was not the case here. The only ones determined to find the damned thing were the rest of the Lords. Yes, we are given a glimpse into the Fae Realm, and its beauty and deceit, but Showalter veered way off course with Kane's story. IMO anyways. She filled the pages with incoherent thoughts, incoherent sentences, and information overload I would have happily done without. In book ten of any series, I don't need a recap of who is who, or what has been happening. If I'm on book ten it's because I've been following the series and know what's been going down.

Like with Beauty Awakened and the angels, excuse me "Sent Ones", Showalter felt the need to change a few facts from previous books. I know this may be petty, but it aggravates me to see that something that was already explained once, is being explained differently now. Ya'll know Willie's kids are the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse, right? Well, not anymore! They are now mere shadows of the Horsemen.

"He'd heard demons call them the four horsemen of the apocalypse. But these four were not, not really; they were more like shadows of the originals."

Palm. Meet forehead.

She also changes something else, but that would be a spoiler, so... sorry, but I can't say anything. Just know I'm annoyed by it.

Does Gena Showalter bring sexy back in the Lords of the Underworld? ...No. Not really. The sex scenes are still way too watered down for my liking, and even though they are better than in Beauty Awakened, I am highly disappointed. For someone who had no qualms whatsoever in previous books using the words penis, or cock, Showalter absolutely refused to write them down whilst describing Kane's.

"The wings of the butterfly tattoo appeared more jagged than before, stretching closer and closer to his... his... there."

"And his... his... his tattoo was getting larger, because one of the butterfly's wings rode the length of his..."

She called his cock an it you guys... an IT!!

"It grew, and it thickened, and it hardened, and it mesmerized her."

The characters that captivated me most were definitely William, Cameo and my Torin. The Ever Randy is present throughout the book while he "helps" Kane find his way to Josephina and I am so glad. He was a much needed distraction! Cameo and Torin battle for the spotlight in this one, at least that's how I saw it. Both their journeys will have you wishing for more this instant, but we'll have to be satisfied with waiting for the next book in the series. As for the main characters, if you haven't already guessed it, I am not a fan. I thought I could grow to like Josephina because at first she seemed spunky, but once she started whining about her death, and acting terribly immature, it went downhill from there. Kane was and still is a big mystery for me. Unlike the previous lords', we don't really get a glimpse into the man that is, or WAS Kane. We know he's keeper of Disaster and that the guys are always wary about bringing him along in missions because of his demon, but even then, it would have been nice to see his POV on some situations that happened throughout the series. I mean, ten books and you couldn't fill me in on who this guy is? We don't even learn who he was before, when they were in the Heavens and what role he played in releasing the demons from the box!

It might surprise you all, but I actually loved Disaster in this book. Unlike the previous demons, he couldn't be tamed by a woman. He detested Josephina and did everything in his power to get rid of her. True demons, will never be topped or tamed, and Disaster won a brownie from me. I did like the interactions with the other guys and their demons because they were funny and cute sometimes, but Kane and his demon were proof, that housing a demon is as miserable as the Lords have claimed to be.

Last thing, because this review is already way too long. The writing. While there are no religious undertones noticeable enough in The Darkest Craving and there are still some funny moments to be had while reading the book, I feel like Showalter is either running out of ideas, or she just can't be bothered enough to form a coherent thought or sentence anymore. Every few pages or so, I'd see things like this:

"Kane didn't even want a mate. He wanted... he needed... yeah, some part of him wanted and needed a mate."

"If he did it, if he allowed his lips to meet the princess's, she would... she would...oh! There was no action violent enough."

"Too late? They were...they were...no way."

"The minions had sense him. The minions...the minions who had...had...NO!"

This book dragged its arse all over the place with what you read above, plus the consistent need to either retell me something or give me more info than I needed. Showalter didn't show me a story, she told it to me, and went ahead to bore me out of my ever loving mind. The whole thing was wrapped up into a very sugar coated, barf inducing romantic package I don't even think I can read the next book for fear that she'll ruin Torin in my eyes.

After finishing this book, I read some other reviews and I have to agree with the criticism that was brought up. This book wasn't bad, but it lacked the spark and entertainment I used to get from the LOTUS.

The good things: Cameo's and Torin's story teaser. Both storylines appeared more engaging than Kane and Josephines. William provided some dearly needed laughs, so bonus points here. And Kane's demon strayed true to his evilness.

What didn't work for me: The drama and conflicts between the protagonists were painfully YA issues: jealousy, insecurity, angsty feelings. Pretenting to sleep with someone else in order to hurt the other person in an act of vengeance? I couldn't suppress an eye roll. Poor Kane, his character was reduced to such inmaturity. At the same time I feel cheated out of a strong, admirable, swoon-worthy hero, that Gena Showalter normally delivers in her previous LOTU books. Josephina started out funny and strong but somehow became tame and meek in the middle. She saved the day in the end, but by then the story lost my excitement. Also, the supporting Fae characters were written one-dimensional and stereotypical, it made their actions predictable and hence the storyline, frankly, boring. Another disappointment of this book was the lack of toe-curling, panty-melting heat. Granted, the bar of expectation is set up pretty high here, though.
The overarching story line hasn't been brought forward much. Rather than creating more suspense and sharpening the conflicts between the parties in the LOTU series, this book doesn't do much in terms of bringing the Lords closer to the third artefact or acquiring knowledge about the impending apocalypse. Instead, the rules seem to have been loosened with the introduction of free will as a tool against fate/future predictions. We'll see if this turns out to work out. I cross fingers that in the next books Showalter will bring back the quality of writing we got spoiled with in the previous books.

I don't even know where to begin with this book...it was so very painful to read, and to finish. I almost DNF'd it several times. I kept hoping it would get better. (Hint: It didn't.) I used to really love and enjoy this series. But it's gone downhill, and fast.

My first hate was Kane himself. In previous books, I felt for him. Not pity, but compassion, because if I were to house any of the LOTU demons, I most certainly have Disaster in me. So I was looking forward to learning more about him. But I never liked him. I could never sympathize with Kane, and I felt...nothing for him. Which made me extremely sad.

Then Josephina. Or as Kane calls her, Tinker Bell, Tink, and oh yeah, Tinky Dink. *vomits* Oh boy. I could not stand her. Could not. She started out sooo promising. She had a sharp tongue, motivation, and questionable strength. But it was there. Then she dropped away. Tink's only value as a person is Kane. She only accomplishes things because Kane gives her permission/strength/etc. Gena TELLS us that she's a strong heroine, but no where is there proof.

Any time Tink does anything strong or good, Kane is there. She's the strong woman who picked up a branch while her big, strong MAN is there getting rid of the rest of the heavy tree. It was disgusting.

Tink being naive and a virgin and all that yadda yadda isn't even the problem. It's that Gena has reduced the woman - oh, wait, no *female's* role to solely be pleasure for her man. She can do other things on the side, but each woman is defined by the male who owns her. While noticeable in past books, it really stood out in this one. Kane's motivations the entire time looked something like, "CAVEMAN KANE NEED HIS WOMAN. KILL, GET MY WOMAN. MINE. MINE. MINE." (Trust me, it's even more annoying in the book)

And the "villains"...they were about as frightening as the monster in Robot Monster. They were unbelievable, and weak. It was obvious Kane could overpower them easily, and with the addition of William and his kids, it was laughable. The stakes needed to be a heck of a lot higher. As it was, I was very :| meh about everything.

I can ramble on, but those are the bottom lines. I really wanted to love this book. I was so excited. I can even deal with lackluster sex scenes, even though they did bother me a little. The big issues were the blatant sexism and patriarchal demeaning all throughout this book, and these characters. I can't read something like that and enjoy it.

Kane, keeper of Disaster, survived weeks in Hell after brutal torture and rape by demon minions and even more torture from two of the Horseman of the Apocalypse who rescued him from the minions. His real rescue came in the form of a half-fae/half-human blood slave named Josephina.
Both Kane and Josephina are in very dark places in their lives and they’re ready to die. Literally, die. Kane wants to kill Disaster, the horrible demon who lives inside his body, but to do that, Kane must die, too, which he’s fine with. Josephina has been tortured for centuries by her royal Fae family because her eldest sister, Princess Synda, is a beloved spoiled brat who is never held accountable for her actions and crimes. Josephina is always punished in Synda’s place.
Kane and Josephina’s love story blooms gradually and I really enjoyed watching both of them grow out of their dark shells. Josephina has a hard time trusting people and that’s completely understandable after what’s she’s suffered. The Fates, aka the Moirai, prophesized Kane would marry the demon keeper of Irresponsibility, Synda, or the only female Horseman, White (William’s daughter), but he can’t stand either of those two women. He’s drawn to Josephina.
My main problem with this story is that Kane constantly calls Josephina ‘Tink’ or ‘Tinker Bell.’ I absolutely love with guys give their women cutesy pet names but he called her Tink as her regular name, not a pet name, as though the name Josephina wasn’t good enough for him. This is very insulting. Even Josephina told Kane to stop calling her that, but he wouldn’t and she started to like the name Tink after a while and started to call herself that.
Of all the demon-possessed warriors, Kane seems to have it the hardest with Disaster. With the other guys, their demons loved their women and it’s like a threesome-type relationship. Not in this book. Disaster hates Josephina and will do anything to kill her.
I soooooo love the scenes with Cameo and Lazarus stuck in the Paring Rod. Strider beheaded Lazarus two books ago, but Lazarus is alive and well in spirit-form inside the Rod. He teams up with Cameo to escape and sparks ignite between them.
Torin meets Mari, the one human in the world who is supposedly immune to Torin’s disease, but she’s also Cronus’s prisoner. Turns out she might not be immune, after all, and Mari has a very powerful friend who will punish Torin if Mari dies.
I’m anxious for William and Gilly’s story, but I’m frustrated he’s acting as her protector while tomcatting around and trying to keep it from her. Granted, they aren’t lovers yet and he’s free to sleep with whomever he wants (he usually does), but he shouldn’t hide his whorish ways from the girl he’s crushing on. She deserves to know the truth about his real character and not what he wants her to know. Gilly is a smart young woman, but she’s blind when it comes to William and he’s taking advantage of that. At the end of the book, however, I think her eyes are finally open but I doubt it will stay that way.
To fully understand this book, unfortunately, you should read the first two books in the spinoff series, Angels of the Dark: Wicked Nights and Beauty Awakened. While a few events in those books are recapped in The Darkest Craving, there are unanswered questions for readers (like me) who hadn’t read the spinoff books.
This is the last book I have so far in the LOTU series. Since the spinoff series is intermingled with the main series, Burning Dawn (the third Angel book) comes after this one, followed by The Darkest Touch (Torin’s book), and then Baden’s book that came out in the summer of 2016. Will I continue collecting the LOTU books and now the Angel books, as well? I don’t know. I’m invested in the characters but I’ll probably wait to buy the books when I find them on a big sale.
4 Stars

Disclaimer – I bought this book for my own enjoyment. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.

I had eagerly been awaiting this LOTU installment for weeks. I read the book in two days, not because I couldn't put it down, but because I kept hoping it would get better...it didn't.

Kane came across as a bit of jerk in the book. He doesn't even really treat Tink (aka Josephina) that well, often saying things just to hurt her. I feel like Gena Showalter was trying to make him into this twisted, shell of a man that needed to be saved, but she didn't manage to pull it off. Instead he comes across as muddled, abrasive, and utterly fake.

Josephina is the same way. I was exicted for her in the first few chapters, her bubbly, somewhat kooky attitude highly charming...but within a few pages her personality disappears and she become a completely different character. It's as if Ms. Showalter couldn't decided what sort of woman she wanted Tink to be.

The way these two characters were portrayed made me feel very cold toward their eventual joining. I honestly couldn't care less when they ended up together. And the sex scenes between the two? Lukewarm at best. I hoped that her style of pg-13 writing in the Angel's series was simply a style choice for that series alone but apparently not. No where was that delicious, amazing, sticks with you and makes you blush smut that featured in her previous LOTU books. Going from Seduction to Craving was like I was reading two completely different authors. I understand this may have something to do with Gena's new found interest in religion, which is great...whatever, to each his own, if it makes you happy, super....but I hope she realizes that her fans have come to expect a certain level of sexiness in her writing that was COMPLETELY absent in this book. I can only hope that with Cameo and Torin's story lines it comes back (please oh please with Torin, I have been waiting so so patiently).

The only saving grace from this book were the side plots. William the Ever Randy and his Rainbow rejects made this book for me. I found myself wanting to know more about the horsemen and what they want/where they came from etc. Torin and Cameo's story lines enthralled me and I about dropped my jaw when Cameo's supposed (I hope) HEA made his appearance. I can only wish and pray and chant that Gena Showalter picks up the slack with the books that follow.

Not every story line of the LOTU has been super enthralling (I was never a big fan of Amun or Sabin's books) but even when they fell short they were still an entertaining read...The Darkest Craving wasn't even that and I was severely disappointed. I can only hope the old Gena returns, and soon.

Kane has always been a walking disaster. Literally. The Lord houses Disaster, a particularly vile demon that revels in making Kane's life hell. Then Kane actually ended up in hell, suffering horrible torture and rape for weeks on end until he was rescued by a strange female with one particularly odd request for her assistance. She wants him to kill her.

Still lost in darkness from his ordeal, wrecked in a way he's having a hard time dealing with, one thing is absolutely clear to Kane. He's not killing the feisty, adorable half-fae Josephina Aisling. He's going to rescue her instead.

Then he's going to finally kill the demon inside him. Even if he has to die to do it.

~*~

I feeling oddly ambivalent about this tenth installment of the Lords of the Underworld series. After Paris' book, which gave readers some much-needed resolution to the nagging problems of the Hunters and Cronus and Rhea, I figured this one would have to be a transitional book. Transitional books tend to not be my favorite books in a series for a lot of reasons, but I've always felt they were a necessary evil and dealt accordingly.

Had this book actually offered some transitional series arc plot development or given any attention to the lingering issues generated by the big battle that ended the previous book, I think I would have been fine with this one in that role. My problem is that it really didn't. In fact, Kane and Josephina's story didn't do much of anything to establish a new, Hunter/Cronus-free direction for the Lords and their allies for the series, nor did it do much to progress the plot line about the hunt for the Pandora's box - though that did receive a bit of attention with the kick off of Cameo's story threads and the return of a character I was really hoping to see again in this series.

As for the romance, that didn't really wow me with character or relationship evolution of the main characters, either.

I like Kane. I've always felt bad for the guy (pretty much the standard for the pre-mated Lords), even when he served as little more than comic relief at the start of the series. It was nice getting a closer look at how he deals with Disaster. I also enjoyed Disaster being given a far more sinister presence than the demons of the other Lords have been given. Disaster just seemed more actively evil than some of the others have been. Not a bad thing, either. I liked it.

We've had a couple of books now, seeing Kane's story unfold, and much of that was pretty horrifying, so I also liked that he got some happiness. What he didn't get, what none of the characters in this series get much of lately, is character depth and complexity or realistic character evolution, and that, along with my issues with the stories themselves, is bothering me a lot in this series.

Yes, Kane is tormented by his time in hell, and rightly so, but that seems to be the sole defining element of his character, and that's just not enough to make him well-rounded and realistic to me. Josephina, maybe because she's new to the series, got a bit more character evolution, and I liked her more for that, but again, her role in her family was her defining characteristic and there wasn't a huge amount of depth to her beyond that.

But depth of character and complexity of internal and external conflict have never really been something this series has really offered, and I'm just now starting to remember that. Hellaciously sexy times, yes. Action and adventure, even breath-stealing emotion, yes. Summer-blockbuster-movie amounts of fierce battles and wicked villains, sure. And like those summer blockbusters, not a whole lot of coherent, well-written story surrounding it all.

On a brighter note, I thought the beginning of this book was awesome. I loved when Josephina tried to get Kane to keep his end of the bargain, then turned to Lucien and Sabin when they showed up. I love the idea that the fae were huge fans of the Lords, whose antics they follow as rabidly as the paparazzi dog the Kardashians. I loved Cameo's cameos and Torin's plague-filled drama. And there was other stuff that I truly enjoyed as well.

Kane and Josephina's extended time in the fae world didn't add to the fun. It bored me. And they seemed to spend an awfully long time there, because this was an awfully long book. That's a lot of boredom. Boredom mixed with perplexity, because for the two previous books in this series, several critical things were brewing relating to Kane's fate and the fate of the world, and those threads were just butchered in this book, with no justification or supporting development.

Kane was supposed to start an apocalypse...marry one of the Horseman or the woman who housed Irresponsibility. Or both. Josephina had nothing at all to do with one of those fateful threads and Irresponsiblity had almost nothing to do with the other. Not in anything but a completely transitory way. So what was the point of even having those threads in the previous two books if you're just going to pull in some extremely tenuous threads of suspect connection to go around all of it?

Not deal with it, mind you, completely go around it. Two very different things.

None of that worked for me at all, and all of it, including several threads of resolution seemed way too convenient and contrived. And the end of the book, with the resolution, was too-typical of Showalter in this series. Completely unsupported by previous development and utterly abrupt, repetitive. Seriously, how many books has it been now when an angel (who I guess we're calling Sent Ones now) has stepped in at the critical moment in the climax and flicked his wings (or, you know...fiery sword...whatever) to solve all the problems for the main characters and expedite the HEA? More than once is too many. Three times is appalling.

And one other thing: I loathe the, "Oops, I was wrong," explanation to force feed a conflict resolution and fast track an HEA and Showalter uses it All. The. Time. Call it a deus ex machina, a plot contrivance, or whatever, it's that moment when you're reading a story that's been written into a very clearly defined and concrete corner only to have the author decide the room is round so the problem is solved. Argh! Drives me absolutely crazy.

The one at the end of this book was particularly heinous, too.

There are just too many things going wrong for me with this series lately, so many that I'm starting to wonder if the two year hiatus I took from the series between Amun's and Strider's books was, in fact, long enough.

~*~*~*~
Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.

I will be in book hangover mod for a while, I love the other Lords of the Underworld books but this one ranks up there with Paris's story. You will be in for a journey that stretches in to three realms, now we have the Fae and future home for the Lords. This starts with Kane keeper of Disaster and his rescuer just getting out of hell and his rescuer is someone he wants to hate but claims as his when Sabin and Strider comes to help him. He never thought that she would be half Fae and half human that has a death wish. Josephina/ Tink (his only pet name for her) needs to die and will find anyway to see her life end, even in the hands or one of the most legendary Lords Kane. In her realm her people have spies for the Lords and they write all kinds of books detailing the wars, life and woman the Lords of the Underwood experience, so she know who he is and what he hosts, but is not the ones she really really wants to me (that world be Paris and Torin). She knows he could and will kill her for the bargain that she made him agree to to get out of hell with her. But she never would have imaged that her death would not be handed to her in his hands but her heart will be his. Warning William will do something to help Kane out in the beginning what might make you want to reach in and strangle both Kane and William. Lots of adventure, action, building romance will happen but with a sides of rage, lies, hurts and others that will keep you guessing til the end. Cameo? will have a few chapters for her as well as Torin. She will be on a paring rod adventure where she meets up with the handsome but 'dead' Lazerous?, from Strider's story with Kaia at the Harpy Games. Torin well his is a like his past is about to be a repeat.

RATING: 3.75 STARS

Starting a book with trepidation and disinterest in a main character is never a good sign. Admittedly, that was the relationship between me and Kane. I only saw him as ‘just’ a side character. Surprisingly, and quite wonderfully, The Darkest Carving turned out to be, not only, a good read, but an enjoyable one at that, despite some major flaws.

This book follows the traditional PNR tale, a HUGE step-back from Showalter’s earlier books. Unlike Paris’ book which had so much plot to offer, Kane’s book, in comparison, fell flat in that regards. There is no extensive plot follow up, nor the exploring of possible repercussions of previous events, instead giving us the customary play of events – girl in trouble, guy to the rescue, stupid reasons why they think they can't be together, and a predictable end. The inadequacy of the plot made the story feel more like a side story rather than a part of the main series. In spite of, the addition of Fae did bring a nice change from the usual Greek mythology.

Another aspect that bothered me to no end is the lack in smexy scenes, and this has been an issue for the last couple books. This series has gone from deliciously sexy to hardly tepid. More Young Adult material than Adult. The scarcity in the romance does no favours in building a solid connection between the two characters, instead ensuing a rapid decline of excitement and care for the couple from the reader. It would be nice to have the ‘old’ Gena Showalter romance spark back, and hopefully in the next books, it does.

Individually, both Kane and Josephina are solid characters. Kane, Keeper of Disaster, may have a demon that elicits nothing but feelings of hate, yet that does not deter from his character. His manly ways are temptingly appealing (although, the jealousy and “mine” scenes could use some toning down) and, for all that he has been through (trapped in Hell and tortured), his emotions are strikingly raw, giving rise to a fleshed out character.

Josephina, half-Fae ‘princess’, brings humour with her smart-mouth and quirky attitude, and an instant like for putting Kane’s demon in his place. The problem in here lies when the two come together. The romance is satisfying enough, despite the dull sex, with plenty of angst and cheers rooting for them to get their HEA, still there is a lingering sense of something missing. Something that fails to fully captivate.

The truly redeemable quality in this are the side stories. William the Ever Randy has been an instant favourite, his humour and odd ways never ceasing to make a story more entertaining and worth the read. Not to mention, his relationship with Gilly (these two need a book, STAT!). Cameo and Torin’s side stories are also both enthralling, giving us mere glimpses of more (hopefully) fabulous stories to come.

Again, many flaws and not at all up to par with previous installments, yet fun and an easy read, nonetheless. Gena Showalter is always a good choice. VERY MUCH looking forward to Torin’s story next!

3 stars: Liked it, but I had some issues (B-)
Review originally posted at That's What I'm Talking About
Review copy provided by the publisher.

After being captured and tortured in hell, warrior Kane, keeper of the demon Disaster, was rescued by Josephina, member of the Fae. (Much of this was outlined in the previous book, The Darkest Seduction.) In order to drag his body out from the netherworld, Josephina (aka Tink or Tinker Bell) used her fae talent to temporarily drain the power and strength from her fellow captive, Petra, a banished Phoenix. Josephina saved Kane only so that he would end her life - something she cannot do to herself.

Josephina's sister Princess Synda (much loved) carries the demon of Irresponsibility, and for every bad thing Synda does, Josephina gets punished. She made Kane promise to kill her if she helped him escape; a promise he will not keep as his mind and heart scream "Mine," whenever he thinks of Josephina. When he won't help her die, she escapes the Lords knowing that she is being hunted by her father (King of the Fae) and Petra, who wants to enslave her for temporality disabling her.

As I look over my notes for this review, I ask myself: where do I start? A LOT happens in this 466-pages-of-text story. So much so, that I felt the entire book would have benefitted from some paring down. The primary story follows Kane, Disaster and Josephina. However, there is some substantial face time for William and his four Horsemen of the Apocalypse children, Torin and his possible mate, and Cameo - who is looking for Pandora's Box and what appears to be her possible mate.

While I enjoyed Kane the hero, I found myself not a fan of his demon, Disaster. Unlike most of the demon/Lord combinations in previous books, Disaster is at odds with Kane THE ENTIRE TIME. In fact, Disaster cannot stand Josephina and desires to kill her. Kudos to the author for mixing it up on this, the tenth book in the series, but personally, I got frustrated by Disaster's continual attempts to destroy Kane and Josephina. Kane and Disaster's constant warring became draining after a while.

However, when Kane and Josephina were on - I adored them. Unfortunately, since there is so much going on in this book, I felt that their relationship didn't get the attention I wanted. The side-stories had me distracted and unable to connect with the pair for chucks at a time. But there were parts that consisted of touching moments and smexy scenes, which were well-done.

Individually, both Kane and Josephina were hot and cold. I liked that Josephina was feisty and determined - even after centuries of physical, emotional and psychological abuse by her family. However, at times she came across too naive and childlike, and I felt that she was out of sync with Kane.

On the other hand, Kane seemed too weak at times - giving into Disaster in order to keep him "content." The fact that he would go out and do something "wrong," or let Disaster commit atrocities rather than fight his inner-demon rubbed me the wrong way. But there were times when he would woo Josephina or kick some bad-guy butt, and I felt we were seeing Kane as he should be seen.

As I mentioned, there is much more to The Darkest Craving than Kane and Josephina's love story, and if I tried to capture all of the side-stories, this review would be way too long. While some of the stories, like Cameo's quest for the Box, fit the overall story arc, others, like The Four Horsemen, felt forced, and perhaps they would have been better left out. With that said, I trust Ms. Showalter and her ability to weave a wonderful story, so I'll wait to see what comes down the pike before ruling the scenes out completely. There are also direct tie-ins to the Angels of the Dark spin-off series, and I would suggest reading both series is best for overall continuity.

As the book drew to a conclusion, I felt that the overall story picked up pace and direction. I was really pleased with how the final battle scenes played out and wanted more of this in the story itself.

In conclusion, I really wanted to love The Darkest Craving, but I just didn't connect with the hero/heroine for more than select moments. I felt that there were too many side stories that detracted from the central characters; some of which I enjoyed, others felt forced. I wasn't a big fan of how Disaster and Kane coexisted and Kane's behavior resulting from his need to satisfy his demon. I did enjoy seeing several of my favorite characters, and the ending was excellent. And even with that all said, I couldn't put down this behemoth title. I definitely recommend to fans of the series, and for those new to the series - you really need to start at the beginning.

In a nutshell, I can't see this as being a really satisfying read to those who aren't familiar with Showalter's world already. For those who are and who have enjoyed previous installments, it is much the same - a blend of he/she chemical attraction set within a world of heroes and villains and moral ambiguity. Some of these heroes are only heroic by comparison. There's a lot of darkness in this world.

I used to follow Showalter's series but drifted off when the world-building became too complex. While I like the sense of richness you get from having a consistent fantasy setting with a common cast of characters, I find it works best for me when I am either focusing on one character across the series (with a close cast of supporters) OR focusing almost exclusively on one at a time. I can float a few tangentials, but when the cast gets too big and the story too sprawling, I reach saturation and can no longer remember (or care) about the outliers.

I was aware from reading reviews of Showalter that some are unhappy with the diminished sex in her book. This actually intrigued me enough to pick up one when I was offered a review copy. To me, sex in romance novels (paranormal or otherwise) is generally just filler. It doesn't offend me, but it doesn't really interest me, either. I know that for some it's the good stuff, and I don't have any problem with that. We all do romance in our own way.

This particularly entry in the Lords series suffers just a little from sprawl, with characters from earlier books (the kind that make me go, "Oh, yeah. That guy") derailing the primary story now and again. Showalter did a pretty good job of reintroducing the ones I needed to know, the ones interacting with the main plot (pretty good - I resigned myself to having no idea who William's crayon kids were), but these little side vignettes didn't mean much to me. If you're the kind of person who likes the epic and can detail out the personalities and problems of characters you met X books and Y years ago, your experience may differ. So long as your reading is up to date. I really can't recommend this for newcomers.

In terms of the degree of sex, I can't say I really noticed a difference, but, again, I don't pay that much attention. Showalter's characters remain healthy in the libido department, and there seems to be plenty of it going around.

I enjoyed the book but doubt that I will make any effort to get back into the series. Showalter is an able writer with a grand vision. Unfortunately, I myself can't quite keep up.

I have been following Showalter's "Lords of the Underworld" (LotU) for a few years now (ever since meeting her at FeverCon in 2011, woot!).

In Paris' book, "The Darkest Seduction", fans had been waiting forever for his story of "happily ever after", but at the same time, Showalter provided a bit of a teaser to Kane's character. Trapping him in Hell was definitely a cliff hanger, but then readers caught a break because there was an excerpt from Kane's book at the back. Caution to others who have devoutly followed the Lords previous escapades because this story is no longer in the land of Lords vs. Hunters. "The Darkest Seduction" laid the ground work for operating outside the human realm full-time by moving headquarters to a fortress in the Realm of Blood and Shadows.

"The Darkest Craving" in summary is Kane's story of "happily ever after". That shouldn't be a spoiler to anyone. Josephina is a character equivalent of Cinderella with a nasty twist. She's not just any servant. She's a blood slave. Which is almost as nasty as it sounds. Although she's supposed to be a proverbial "whipping boy for the royals" she is a bit of a paradox. On one hand she is given harsh punishments for her sister's transgressions, but she remains a virgin although she lives in a realm of Fae people who worship sex and scandal and has been lusted after by her half-brother most of her life (I do not recall her being given an age). The virgin/innocent thing was what threw me off the most. When Olivia, from Aeron's book, was clawing her way up from Hell, she was molested in all sorts of vivid, gross ways, but Jospehina gets out AND manages to pull Kane with her (sorry, spoiler, but Josephina pulls Kane from Hell). She manages to withstand the tortures of falling through hell and the numerous punishments and humiliations heaped on her by her family, but still manages to have a smart mouth and decent fighting skills despite having never been trained. Long story short, there's a lot going on in this book. So my best simile is to lightly touch on the words as a gazelle over the savannah. You've got a lot of ground to cover, and hitting every point too hard could make your head spin from where information is coming from. If you linger too long on a point, you're liable to be taken down by a lion or other incongruity that will knock you out of the story and finding out how Kane could ever get his happy ending. Getting to Kane's happy ending was the focal point in my mind so I tried not to get too distracted by the other animals in the field, like the Sent Ones (umm, apparently they are characters for Showalter's new series), the Rainbow Rejects (remember meeting these guys in "The Darkest Secret"?), the Fae - who alternate between being able to knock you on your ass with a word and being locked in a broom closet, and Phoenix creatures. Oh, and Torin and Cameo each have their own messes happening.

I will give Showalter kudos for the entertaining idea of the Fae as interested observers in the activities of the Lords and treating them as celebrities with fan clubs and tabloid articles. The story starts out pretty good and Josephina's character is solid. Unfortunately, things don't stay that way.

For me, Showalter's writing is always a bit of a roller coaster. And I mean that in regards to the quality her writing style not the story itself. One of Showalter's problems is one that all paranormal romance series that "just seems to keep going" run into eventually: the story gets too big, ie. introduction of new characters, various creatures and their complicated worlds, realms and dimensions. This creates a lot of "explanations" about things in order to keep the original story moving forward. Those explanations can drown your book and Showalter barely manages to keep her head over the water line. All in all, it was a light read, and it didn't kill my interest in finding out what happens to Torin (I'll be on the lookout for Torin's book,"The Darkest Touch", scheduled to release November 25, 2014) and Cameo (the original characters from day one), but I always enter this world with the knowledge that the ride can be bumpy.

Happy Reading!

DEMON-FAE-TASTIC!

I love love loved this story. I never laughed so hard while reading a story until now. Gena Showalter is clearly a brilliant and creative writer. With visionary words this story kept me captivated and on the edge of my seat through out the whole book. This series is an addiction I will continue to crave never to end.

First I love Kane’s demon Disaster – it was totally hilarious what this demon would do to Kane to get its satisfaction of destruction. Everywhere Kane went the demon would rain down destruction in the form of having the ground crack, walls falling, ceilings falling, or things flying through the air to hit him. I mean the guy couldn’t even have sex without a light fixture falling down on his head. It’s no wonder Kane wanted to get rid of the demon. LOL

Through the many books in this series we knew that Kane had disappeared in Hell and this wonderful written story brings his story to light and gives him one shocking and surprising Happy Ever After but not without an adventure of trials and errors first.

Kane and Josephina’s story is amazing. Besides being a fierce and sexy Lord, I loved seeing Kane’s sensitive side and see him gain more hope as the story went on.

I loved Josephina (Tinker Bell) too – her ability to suck powers from others and then in turn have temporary use of them for herself. Being a Fae was just as bad as being a host for a demon and in this case I think maybe worse especially if you were not Royal Blood. Tink’s background of being a slave, a abused slave who was used as a punching bag so to speak for all punishments that any Royal Fae did – she literally paid for their mistakes. Like Tink, I think I would of tried to find away to kill myself too.

I love how the author weaves the Lords of the Underworld and their quest in trying to find Pandora’s box. I loved seeing them and their wives with kids – it was a great reminder of how bonded they all are and how hilarious their bantering between each other totally captivated me along with their story.

It was awesome to see William (Adopted brother of the underworld’s king Lucifer) trying to help Kane (I’d love for William to do a Magic Mike show for me – LOL). William totally cracked me up and then to add his 4 kids White, Red, Black, and Green – the four horsemen of the apocalypse to the story just added to the humorous situation between Kane and Tink.

Most of the story was about Kane and Tink but in between the reader gets a inside view of Viola keeper of Narcissism, Cameo keeper of Misery and her adventure with Lazarus inside the Paring Rod. Plus an additional insight to Torin keeper of Disease and a woman he was promised he could touch “Mari”. I can hardly wait for their stories. LOL

Of course Kane and Tink’s story of falling in love sizzled between the sheets but its description was described with a sweet tasteful vocabulary that still gave you a clear vision of the intense passion between the two. (3 Flames)

The plot had many twist and one minute I thought I knew how it would end but then in the next moment when Kane and Tink change their paths by choosing their free will leading to another loop of disaster regardless of the faith-ed future Danika (Reyes’s woman) had painted which in turn fools the 3 predicting Moirai and myself the reader.

I have to say my emotions were a mixture of happiness and sadness. I almost cried in the end thinking Tink and Kane didn’t get their HEA but thanks to the Sent One’s (Angel Like – Malcolm) a awesome surprise was in store for the two.

Overall, this awesome story is a reminder that any selfless sacrifice of love or putting other’s before yourself is guaranteed to put you in the good graces of the higher powers where miracles happen and HEA’s are a forever times infinity. At this point I couldn’t stop smiling as I hugged the book with a satisfied giddiness.

I highly recommend this awesome book – better yet, the who awesome series to every reader!

Excellent Read!

**Song that reminds me of this series is **

ATOMIC PUNK by Van Halen

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a LOTU book (probably since our Borders closed) and I didn’t realize I’ve actually missed Paris’s story which I was anxiously awaiting for ages. But that’s beside the point. I remembered how much I love this series. There were a few things that turned me off but overall a great story.

I loved the humor in this book. The whole situation of why Josephina initially rescues Kane from Hell is pretty darn hilarious. She wants someone to kill her in order to escape her life in the Fae court but neither Kane nor his fellow Lords will accommodate her. The bantering between Josephina and the others had me laughing and the pep talks she gives herself because no one else will give her compliments cracked me up.

I had mixed feelings about Josephina herself. She starts off as a kick ass heroine who reminded me of Rogue from the X-Men comics. She’s able to hold her own in a fight against just about anyone but once she was back in the Fae court while I understand how she didn’t want to incur any further punishments she just became blah.

Kane was one of the lords I felt most for because he was basically a walking disaster and I can only imagine how it must be living for so long with even your own friends are afraid of having their loved ones near you. His nicknames for Josephina got on my nerves though. I mean really Tink?! and I think another one was Tinky Dink or Tinky Dinky, something horrible like that which I tried to block out.

My favorite part of the book though was William. He’s always cracked me up in the earlier books but each book makes me love him even more. His sarcasm, irreverent attitude and yet a heart of gold hidden beneath his flippant attitude endears him to me even more.

A few other side stories take place as well with Cameo, which sounds interesting, and Torrin, which I didn’t care for as much. Still a solid re-introduction to the LOTU series.

By the 7th word of this novel I had a gut feeling this was going to be a Romance book I wasn't going to like. Romance genre is hit or miss for me; mostly miss since I find the stereotypical plots, characters, and language boring at best and dangerous at worst especially for single or younger people. However I have read a few Gena Showalter pieces that I really liked because they pushed those guidelines and starred alpha women along with alpha men...

Not that you'd find those here because apparently the words "men/man" or "women/woman" is a foreign concept for the world. That would be great if there was a cultural or social reason within the book for this but I can count on one hand how often I didn't see "male" or "female" when a better choice was one of the previous "foreign concepts." If this is a trend in any literature today, it needs to stop now.

Given the back blurb, always dangerous to believe fully, I was shocked to find sexual attraction and literally fangirl worship by page 17... I was expecting an aggressive alpha woman but instead got Josephina on a mission to end her suffering in the least positive ways. I don't want to ruin the plot, but the subplots happening in other realms was more interesting than that between Kane and Josephina. Kane is just unpleasant, so much so that I really wished he'd give into the demon inside because at least it might be less moody, more focused, and still occupy the hot body he is described as having. He seems to be winging it as much as Josephina most of the time.

If you are looking for hot sex... it isn't here. The number of "sex scenes" I can also count on one hand and none are particularly explicit, not even in the floral-tool euphemisms that used to populate romance books. Again the subplots sections had more intense and believable attractions between characters.

I suppose some of you may like vague sex scenes, characters who don't seem to like each other and are not likeable, but for me, if romance is going to be good enough for my money, it must go beyond the guidelines and craft people I can identify with and care about. I'd give it one-star but in terms of editing and romance formula, it was fine.

The Darkest Craving is book 10 in Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld (LOTU) Series. This series has gone down hill and shows no signs ofr coming back to life. The 1st half of this series was awesome, I really enjoyed books 1-3, and then it slowly lost me after that until now, where I will no longer follow this series. Which is a shame as she used to be one of my "instant order" Authors for both LOTU and the Immortals After Dark (IAD) Series. That series followed the same path: Awesome, to Mediocore, to Bad.

I am not into erotica, I like more story than sex in my Paranormal Rromance (PNR) books, but that being said I am an adult and want adult books, sex scenes are fine, I just do not want that to be the sole focus of the book. This book was written like a Young Adult book with adult themes. The women characters (once strong or even week but growing strong and just being well developed characters) are now written pre-pubesently. Their dialog and actions are very immature and they talk and act like middle schoolers. I'm talkign foot stomping and whinig galore.

Josephina started out well, but it took too long to get to the backstory of why she was trying to get herself killed off. Kane was just as much of a mistery in his own book and he was in all the previous books. There just not enough information about Kane the "man" not just the demon of Disaster that possessed him.

In a weird contrast to the Young Adult type characterizations and dialog, the Male Characters went from being strong alpha males to men who have been tortured in heinous ways and are just one step short of being mentally unstanble and just broken shells of their former selves. Rape of the Male leads is a prevalent theme in almost all of her books now. They are all victims of entrapment, enslavement, and/or imprisonment - and vile torture. Their characterization has just gotten darker and darker while the dialog has gotten more childish.

SOrry to say this series is not for me anymore.

This book was a disappointment. First of all, I hated having to read about Kane with another woman and then twelve more women AFTER he met Josephine. That's a no no for book I like. I don't mind a H being with hundreds of women, especially since he's thousands of years old. But it's got to stop after the book starts...after the H/h meet for the first time. I get that it was to forget memories, but I didn't want to read about it. I find it distasteful. Kane runs hit and cold throughout the whole book. I LOVE the whole "mine" thing, and him doing what it takes to protect Josephine. But he was also all like "I can't be with her" I was on the fence with him because of this. But at 60% he lost me. He pulls a total douche move. I don't care that it was a lie. He said whAt he did to hurt Josephine on purpose, and that is being an a hole. I liked Josephine's character, but I hate she forgAve him so easily. She was interesting, and funny, and strong. In the end Kane and Josephine get all lovey dovey and sweet. Kane turns into Mr. Awesome...but the damage was done.

This series has gotten to be way too long. And forget about the spin off. I read a lot, so by the time each book comes out, I have forgotten what happened in the last book. I don't even know who Viola is. I will probably read the next one. Who knows about the one after that.

Oh the heartbreak Kane caused me! One changes after going through hell, literally, and surviving, though Kane had wished he were dead.

After being taken into hell, tortured and then rescued by Josephina - Tink - he was a man on a mission. Destroy his demon, even though that meant destroying himself. He was through putting up with Disaster. The torturing in hell was the nail in the demon's coffin.

But the warrior finally found something - someone - to be his. And he wanted her and he would have her, for however long he'd still be alive.

Josephina was a kindred spirit, never wanted by anyone, being as she was the bastard child of the King. Her mother passed and left her alone, to be mocked by everyone in the Fae kingdom. Being half-human didn't help her cause. So, she wanted to die. And she knew the right person to kill her. Except, that person had changed his mind.

As per Ms. Showalter's style, there are twists and turns at every corner of the book. When you think it's finally good, bam! And vice-versa, of course. There are a few times when you hold your breath, hoping it's not what you are reading.

Kane has earned a place in my heart and I have a soft spot for the tormented warrior. All of them have their literal demons and have had it bad, but probably Kane is one of the few that had it worse. The other being Torin. Yes, we get parts with him, as well. I'm eager to get my hands on that book!

4 1/2 stars. I chuckled, melted and shed tears. Mission accomplished, Ms. Showalter.

As the keeper of Disaster, all Kane lives for is to kill the demon inside him; even if it means ending his own life. Kane has never disagreed that he was deserving of Disaster after he and the other Lords of the Underworld opened Pandora's Box, yet one by one he has watched his friends find happiness he will never have. The only happiness he will ever have will be killing his demon. Then he was saved from being tortured in hell by a woman. A woman that begs a promise from him. She will rescue him if he will kill her.

Josephina wants nothing more than to leave this life and see what may await her in the next. When she finds one of the famed Lords of the Underworld in hell, she considers it a boon! He is definitely strong enough to kill her. After she gains his promise, she pulls him out of hell and waits for him to heal. Unfortunately for her, when he comes to, he backs out of his promise.

I found myself unable to put this book down, as is usually the case with this author's books. I found the banter between Kane and Josephina charming and humorous. Josephina didn't let Kane take things too seriously while Kane made sure that Josephina knew that she knew her worth. Of course there was enough violence and fighting for those of us who like that (I'm one of them) and the series was propelled forward (which I also liked).

Read this book. You'll like it.

This book finally gives Kane a chance to be more than a punchline. He's always been the joker, smirking in the background, but here is where we learn everything there is to learn about Kane.

Being trapped in hell has forever changed Kane. He's rescued by the most unlikely rescuer, a fae girl who has the ability to "borrow" powers from anyone she touches. Kane foolishly agrees to grant her request in exchange for his freedom, only to find himself reluctant to follow through. The two play a game of cat and mouse that only makes the fae girl (Josephina) that much more likable in my book. Josephina has lived her life accepting the punishments her sister, the princess has accumulated. Being the daughter of her father's indiscretion, she's shunned, beaten, and jailed most regularly. That all changes when Kane sets his eyes on her.

I love the idea that for the fae, the Lords of the Underworld are like a soap opera. It was fun to watch them swoon all over the keeper of disaster while he is destroying their palaces. This couple might have had a lot of obstacles, but the end result was worth the drama. I can guess that the next book will follow Torin as he recovers from his latest mistake.

I'm starting to wonder if I will ever truly love and devour a Gena Showalter book again. However I am happy to say that this book was a huge improvement over her last few books that were just so painful to get through. It doesn't have the overall religious push as the others, though I wonder if she'll keep this new trend of marrying her couples before she lets them seal the deal. Honestly I don't care about sex scenes in a book, but by comparison they are definitely lacking to past books and I can understand that complaint from fans. I care about the character connection and love story. That to me is what is severely lacking in her recent works.

I really liked Kane and feel bad that his book is just a far cry from the beginning of the series which was so strong. I liked Tink in the beginning. She was strong, determined and confident. But when we got down to the Cinderella story I just hated her, she did a complete role reversal and she never won me back.

William stole the show in this book, as he tends to do wherever he appears. I just love him and can't wait for his book, hoping she does him justice. I liked the side stories for Cameo and Torin, and I'm sure I know who his HEA will be!

Overall am I impressed with this latest installment? No. I do think Showalter has taken steps to move forward in her writing though and get back to the style that made her so successful before. Let's hope the trend will continue at a quick pace.

Kane has long been a formidable warrior, but since being saddled with the demon of Disaster, he has felt like an outsider. He can't really blame his friends for leaving him behind when going to battle - the last thing they need is to worry about what curveballs Disaster will throw their way while fighting for their lives. His time in Hell further broke him, leaving him intolerant of simple touch - until he meets the confusing and irresistible half-Fae, Josephina. She saved his life in exchange for a promise from him - one that he has no intention of keeping now that he is in full possession of his faculties.

Josephina knows exactly what it is to be an outsider and she longs for an end to the never-ending torment her very existence has become. The only one who can help her is Kane, but he refuses to honor his vow to her. Instead, he seems bent on giving her his version of `help' which is bound to make her situation far worse than ever before. It doesn't help matters that she is hopelessly attracted to him, but she knows a warrior of Kane's renown could never want a half-Fae nobody like her.

`The Darkest Craving' is the second Gena Showalter book I've read and I am definitely hooked! This story is the fourteenth entry in her `Lords of the Underworld' series and is a delight for any reader who loves paranormal romance as much as I do.

Ms. Showalter's characters are compelling from the first chapter and the world they live in is just as easy to believe, despite the paranormal theme. I'm very impressed with this author's talent in weaving a tale that keeps the reader spellbound from cover to cover. Although this is the first `Lords of the Underworld' story I've read, I had no trouble understanding this world and keeping up with what was going on. There is definitely some back story that intrigued me and I could tell that there is an ongoing storyline that obviously unravels a little in each book, but I never felt lost at all.

Kane and Josephina are a couple you root for from the start. Both are so broken in their own ways, and neither of them think they have any chance for happiness, much less love. Finding that love in each other helps them heal - with some help from a few interested friends, of course. No matter what these two went through, neither of them lost that core goodness that made them characters the reader can love nearly as much as they do each other.

I thoroughly enjoyed `The Darkest Craving' and am eager to devour the other thirteen books in this gripping saga!

You can find this review at My Favorite Things (heffroberts.blogspot.com)

The Darkest Craving by Gena Showalter was not my favorite of the Lords of the Underworld books. I probably should have taken the time to do a re-read on the series before jumping directly into Kane's story.

The Lord Kane, keeper of Disaster is a gentle, kind male. Or at least he was until he was captured in Hell and tortured non-stop for weeks on end. His saviour, Josephine (AKA Tink) thinks that he will finally be the one to give her what she needs. A good 'ol deathblow. She's tired of being a blood slave and is unable to do away with herself and made Kane promise to kill her in return before she freed him from Hell.

Kane refuses, he's falling for Tink, quite literally. We follow their story as they get to know each other better, battle her horrible family, their mutual enemies, and Kane's very own demon.

We also get to see some side stories with Torin, keeper of Disease and Cameo, keeper of Misery. Torin's book is up next, The Darkest Touch.

My two favorite pop culture moments...
"The atmosphere was very...Victorian era meets The Hunger Games in Wonderland, with an R rating."

"The things he'll do to her when he finds her...it's going to be legend--wait for it--dary."

This book was kinda weird for me to read- it's the first I've read by this author. At first I was just totally lost, but I kept going because I liked the two main characters so much. I enjoyed their interplay and the action sequences a lot, and I really wanted to see them together and happy. The romance in this book was great - it wasn't too hot, there were no detailed sex sequences at all. I was a bit confused by the main character always pulling out a condom, because he was immortal, and she was half fey, but hey, whatever, safe sex isn't offensive. It was just a bit confusing after it continued when their union was sealed.

I couldn't keep track of a lot of the side characters though - perhaps because so many of them were 2 in one. I totally gave up figuring out who "WILLIAM" was. I knew I'd read it at some point but couldn't remember at all. Then there was Red, Green, White and of course they all come in a black mist. Often I was like "Who are these people????" It didn't matter, I kept reading.

I could put this book down. It took me several sittings to get through it, though I did connect with Tink (Josephina) and Kane (with Disaster inside him). Finally, as the book came to a close, with a very satisfying ending, I found a list of keywords and characters in the back. I really wish I'd known that was there. I looked up William. Read who he was. Still didn't understand the significance of panty melter, though I recalled reading that somewhere, lost in all that mystery meat filler that the book had.

It might have just been me. The book takes place in several realms and hell and maybe even some dimensions too, plus this world. There was a bit of time travel with one character from the past and then so many people were 'containers' for forces or demons; it was just a bit much for me. The romance was good though, and I liked the magic and abilities of the characters.

Normally at the end of book I know with certainty how I'm going to rate it. Sometimes I go back and forth between a half star point (ex: a 3 star or a 3.5 star) but with The Darkest Craving there is the side of me that says I really enjoyed this, if this was labeled a young adult novel it'd be a no brainer an easy 4 or 4.5 stars. However since this is supposed to be an adult romance and from previous books in the series there is a certain feel, tone, flavor, etc. that just wasn't there in The Darkest Craving so how can I give this a high star rating.

Let's start out with the things I enjoyed:

~Josephina's/Tink's personality in the first 2-4 chapters. She was spunky, had some interesting quirks, had a personality that I was excited to read about and looked forward to reading more.
~Kane, didn't expect to like him as much as I ended up liking him. In previous books he was ok, I felt sympathy for him but I wasn't desperate for his story like I was/am with Lucien, Sabin, Gideon, Paris, William, and Torin. But I loved how protective he was of Tink and it just melted my heart.
~William
~Tink's power, I thought that was cool, kind of like Rogue from the X-Men (who is my favorite character in the whole X-Men universe), but less severe, it only comes from her hands and Tink is able to control it about half way through the book.
~Tink's "family" although I hated them with a passion and wanted to inflict a whole bunch violence on them, they were an entertaining part of the book.
~Disaster, love that the demon wanted Tink to go away, it made sense, if Tink brought peace to Kane, then Disaster wouldn't/couldn't be fed.

Meh/Didn't Like:

~William's children were demoted, in my memory (which granted isn't very good with these kinds of details) I thought they were The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, not mere shadows of the FHotA.
~There was no cussing, none. Now I'm not a fan of constant f-bombs, s-dumps, a-holes and every other word being an explitive but come on, not a one? Words that normally would have been a swear word previously in the series became 'Boning' and 'Jackhole'. It watered down the world, helped tame it, and didn't make it seem real. Funny how censoring things can make a book seem unreal to me but not demons, fae, and other supernatural things.
~Lack of sensualality/sexiness. I will admit that although this was better than Showalter's last two books I read (Wicked Nights and Beauty Awakened) it still wasn't up to par with the previous installments of the series.
~Tink's personality from chapter 5 till the end of the book. The personality which was so interesting in the beginning became so boring very early on. I can understand her not showing that side of herself when she's in front of the king, queen, and her sister since that would only get her more punishment but it wasn't there with Kane, the other Lords, or the women of the Lords. Tink became bland.
~The lack of complete sentences. So many times Tink or Kane couldn't think of a word or a phrase it came out like: "I'm going to...something's happening..." or "That was...that was..." or "He wanted...he needed..." I felt like these two took a William Shatner's guide to acting class. It started to drive me nuts. I was almost yelling at the book 'finish a freaking thought/sentence'.
~50-100 pages longer than it should have been. I kept thinking that would be a good place to end, this would be a good place to stop too, but it kept going.

So this has been my experience was it better than what I thought it would be, yes. However it still wasn't where I hoped this book would be.

I will still read William's book and Torin's book but I'll get them from the library. Hopefully Showalter will get closer to what I loved about her previous books in this series in those two. I honestly don't know how she's going to write William's book and I'm personally scared because William is, obviously a very randy character, and it's clear that Showalter doesn't do great with writing those kinds of scenes anymore in a vivid way, plus with all the watered down dialogue. So I'm worried.

Anyway, it would have been great if this was a YA novel but it wasn't supposed to be and in the end I'm giving this 3 stars.

I love Gena Showalter's world that includes the Lords of the Underworld, the Sent Ones, and everyone in between. Going back to paranormal romance after the many contemporaries I have read was more of a challenge than I thought, but of course Showalter delivered. THE DARKEST CRAVING is Kane's story and it was about time. I felt so bad for him always being left behind and always being the one to endure torture. Disaster seemed to be one of the worst of Pandora's demons and this book showed Kane's journey in freeing himself.

The only thing I found problematic about this book was Kane's departure from character. I understand he was a changed man from all of his time in hell, but it felt like I was reading about someone else. And the lovey dovey bits were a bit over the top towards the end; the love pledging and "you're my everything" were a little less believable with this couple. However as a character, I really enjoyed Josephina "Tink's" voice. She was smart and sassy and funny in the beginning and I felt like that faded. And the fae were not my favorite part. I think I am just nostalgic for the times where the main love story happened surrounding the fortress and the Hunters as the threat. I miss Buda.

But like all complicated series worlds Showalter gave us glimpses of the other warriors. We got to see our favorites (whomever they may be...Maddox, Ashlyn, Lucien, Anya, Reyes, Danika, Strider, Kaie, Sabin, Gwen, etc.) We even got a little more insight into Malcolm (the half-Asian Sent One you would know from Gena's Angels of the Dark series). And we laid the ground for some interesting developments for Torin and Cameo. William is still an enigma and I feel like Showalter is going to do to us fans what she did with Paris...wait until the last possible moment to write his story (hopefully because we are waiting for Gilly to grow up a bit). As ever he is an enigma and one of the most well-written of the characters. He is hilarious and his twisted humor is one of the strongest elements of this series.

Overall, good addition to the series and I can't wait for Torin's book next.

Every time I think I know who my favorite hero is in this series, this woman goes and makes me fall for another one. Kane never seemed like much to me until this book. He was awesome, and Josephina "Tinkerbell" was a great heroine. I love the strong, selfless characters that Showalter creates. I think this may be the longest book in the series and somehow even with all those pages, the pace never slowed. There were twists and turns galore. I did kind of figure out how it would end ahead of time, but the ending was still delivered in such a skillful way that it did not seem like a letdown at all to know what would happen.
Another little kudo to the author: No matter how long it has been since you've read the previous books, no matter if you accidentally picked up the latest and started there, she manages to write in a way where you still know what's going on without a whole bunch of dull, pace-killing backstory. I have no idea why there are so many negative comments. I've read the series from the beginning and the only direction it is going in is UP.

As I began reading The Darkest Craving I realized that Kane has never really had that much page time in the previous book of the Lords of the Underworld series. Some of the secondary characters have had major roles in the story prior to receiving their own book. Reading Kane was intriguing. He was mostly a blank slate for me. I knew of Disaster and the hell he raises, but that was mostly it. Oh, and he had recently taken a vile trip to hell. Although just how vile is it if he meets his girl there?

Josephina was beyond easy to love. She is trapped in her own personal Cinderella story hell-book, complete with evil step-monster, and step-siblings. There is just a fae twist. She even gets a prince charming that is not going to save her, but see that she saves herself. Kane saw something in Josephina that no one else ever saw. He saw her for the amazing person that she is. Once he discovers just how strong she is and that she is truly a diamond in the rough he spends much time giving her the encouragement she never had.

I know the Angels of the Dark series originally spun off of Gena's Lords of the Underworld series. I've read the first book in that series and like most angel books, they just aren't my thing. I was hoping the two series would not continue to overlap. Sadly that is my biggest disappointment. Something happened in the most recent angel book and the Sent Ones now need the Lords help. I'm at a total loss with this. I was truly hoping they would remain two separate series.

The remaining single Lords are fewer in number by comparison to the ones who have gotten their happily ever after. I am still looking so forward to Torin's book. The Lords pursuit of their end game with the box did not have that much page time in this installment. It seems like since they acquired their artifacts that things related to the box have just been simmering on the back burner.

As always William provided some comic relief. His Rainbow Rejects have me wondering what we readers should expect from them. They definitely play by their own rules. The fact that they have popped up in more than one book makes me wonder just how much more we will be seeing of them. I thoroughly enjoy the questionable aspect they bring to the pages. I just have absolutely no idea what to expect from them. All I know is that I hope to see more of them.

Favorite quote: Kane to Josephina. "I want you with me for all the days of my life. I'm not complete without you."

book provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review

Gena Showalter's lastest installment in her LOTU was good but not my favorite. I just finished reading the book last week and I can’t remember most of it. (I had to go back to the summary to jog my memory.) I liked that the hero and heroine seemed well matched. Sometimes the heroine has no powers and while I appreciate being human. These mythical men need a women that can beat them sometimes or at least be on par with them However, sometime the heroine in this book annoyed me a bit. Why does Josephina have to take punishment from her father? It seemed a little trumped up to make her more tragic. Kane does the dark brooding thing well but he and the heroine seem slow to start especially since she keeps stating he is her third fav among the Lords. I did like how the story wrapped up but it took a long while to get there. I really felt the best parts of the story are the repartee between all of the members. I liked reading about them and what they had been doing. However, since the author includes a lot of the prior characters new readers will find this book somewhat confusing -I would recommend reading the first or second book in the series first since they tend to build on each other.

I had liked Kane previously because he was a sort of fun, carefree type of guy despite the stupid "disaster" stuff that would happen around him. That all changed after his sojourn in hell. From his first-person point-of-view he became markedly more bad@$$ which would have been fine except that it seemed so jarringly different from his previous attitude. It also became more of an overcoming rape emotional turmoil which is not my favorite problem to read about.

The heroine was the saving grace in my opinion. She was a flippantly funny Cinderella. Excellent. She took the abuse of her family and was still, well, not happy, but not shut down either. She could still formulate a plan and get stuff done. I did also like how the two were set up to be so different but actually had a lot in common too. My favorite bit was about how she was part Fae and the Fae had been spying on the Lords of the Underworld so she already knew pretty much everything about Kane, Lucien, Aeron, Reyes, Torin, Paris etc. And she was STARSTRUCK.

You had to suspend belief for a bit too. If you took as canon that Kane could 'starve' his demon why hadn't that happened to Torin? He'd only had two (maybe three) cases where he had touched someone and a disease had broken out. Why hadn't Torin's demon starved?

Too many plot holes and up and down mood swings to be really good.

The Darkest Craving by Gena Showalter

The 10th book in The Lord of the Underworld series. (Although technically the Angels series started after book 9 and is a different series, and while it's understandable, you should read the two Angel books before this one just to keep the continuity going).
This is Kane's story. The keeper of disaster. I enjoyed the heroine's sass. And the whole hero worship thing because the Fae have read about the Lords for centuries is hilarious. When she finally meets all the other Lords and their ladies, she "only asked for three autographs".

Kane went through considerable trauma at the beginning here and it's not ignored. He tries to just get over it but continues to "vomit" in the process. He gets counseling from Josephine by talking. His friend William takes action. Kane cries and is told it's okay to cry. And he offers to talk with Legion on her similar experience. On the whole I cringe at the topic of rape, and I definitely don't wish it on anyone, but he coped, survived and got help in the healing from friends. This isn't a huge part of the book and in fact is only paragraphs here and there, but I wanted to comment that I'm glad the effort was made and the healing process wasn't missed or ignored.

I won a copy of this book from Goodreads FirstBooks contest.

The Lords of the Underworld never disappoints. No matter which one of the incredible sexy warriors I read about I seem to fall in love all over again and Kane was no different. Out of all the Lords, he was my least favorite. Kane housed the demon of disaster and believe me he was a walking disaster. He was always tripping or things were always flying at his head. How aggravating is that? He is in the other books but I never really gave him much thought. In The Darkest Craving I really got to know Kane and unlike the demons the other Lords house, Kane's demon actually hates him & goes out of his way to hurt and ridicule him. My heart broke for Kane but at the same time, I loved how the tables were turned. Pitting Lord against their own demon was one hell of a showdown and who better to assist Kane with his troubles than the dandy William. Um, Um, Um......Mix William and Josephine aka Tink (Kane's new lady), who by the way is Fae and worships the Lords, and I could not stop laughing. This one was a great addition to an already awesome series. Now, I am dying to know what happens next with Torin.........

I wasn't all that thrilled with Ms. Showalter's latest book. I didn't hate it, but I didn't really like it either. It started out promising, with Josephina seeming like a spunky, strong and capable heroine. That quickly changed when she got a personality transplant and became this weak willed, crying, self-pitying character. I was left wondering what happened to the strong women Ms. Showalter has written in her earlier books. And Kane... well, I didn't feel much for him in general after awhile. His recovery from his time spent in hell seemed to primarily be him latching onto Josephina for some reason. There were some questions I felt never got answered with their relationship and they were missing the heat and build up that Ms. Showalter's previous books have. The antagonists of their story weren't all that threatening and the hurdles Kane and Josephina went through felt forced.

The side stories actually held my attention much more than the main one. I missed all the Lords being together in this book. Since Kane and Josephina spend so much time in the Fae Realm I felt disconnected from the rest of the series. It could've probably passed for a spin off novel. I liked Torin and Cameo's story lines a lot and it seemed like that's where she'll be able to pick these books back up again. There are promising ways to go now that the war is over and I really hope she returns to her previous writing style for the rest of the series. I will give her props for one of the characters in Cameo's story line - excited to see where that goes.

Oh! Can't forget William and Gilly - I disliked how Gilly is this love-struck, kind of pouty girl who checks up on William like she has a right to him now. She's still so young for him and from what we've seen in previous books their relationship hasn't progressed to that point yet. I really am looking forward to their story, but am nervous that it's going to be another 'meh' book if she continues this way.

I'll still read the next books in her series; Ms. Showalter is one of the first authors who made me fall in love with paranormal romance and I give her the benefit of the doubt based on her previous writings - not every book can be amazing.

I enjoyed reading this book. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I was not at all put off by the fact that Ms. Showalter has toned down some of the salaciousness. I applaud her, if indeed this is a result of her renewed faith in Christ. I read her books (and others like them) as a means of pure escape into another world, a kind of (for me) guilty pleasure, and on that front the book did not disappoint. The main story of Kane and Josephina was as good as any other in the LotU series. This isn't my favorite paranormal romance series, as I prefer J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Darynda Jones' Charley Davidson series, and virtually anything by Kresley Cole, especially her Immortals After Dark series. Still, I do read lots of Ms Showalter's books, and have read all in her LotU series. I normally read them as I'm waiting for new material from my other favorite authors. I can always count on her to help me pass the seemingly endless wait happily, and The Darkest Craving was no exception. As usual in the LotU series, she also did a good job of setting up one or two other main characters for their future HEA's. I'll look forward to reading about them, as soon as I have more time to kill between books!

It feels like forever since I have visited the Lords of the Underworld and the tone of this story suited my reading mood perfectly.

Kane is the keeper of the Demon of Disaster. All the Lords of the Underworld carry their Demons but Kane has really been kind kept on the outside of things do to the nature of his beast. His Demon acts up and causes more damage during situations the others are trying to clean up. He has spent the last several weeks being tortured and raped in hell. He gets rescued by Josephina, a Fae, who extracts a promise from him that he finds impossible to keep.

If this is your first look into the Underworld, you really do need to start at book one, The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld). So much happens in each story and in this series that I feel if anyone started out of order they'd be lost. I loved Kane and Josephina, or Tink as he affectionately calls her. I loved their friendship and uncovering the layers to Tink's crazy life. But what I really enjoyed about this book was the glimpses of stories to come and the way everything melded together. There are a lot of surprises and a few twists, too.

I adore the Lords of the Underworld and their women... and this book was an excellent contribution to a favorite series!

Cherise Everhard, October 2013

I have had mixed feelings about Gena's books ever since I read the second LOTU book. While I loved The Darkest Night, every book after that has started to lose interest. I love all the Lords, but every book after Aeron's just felt like the same. There weren't many surprises and I would become disinterested as a character's internal monologue would run on for several pages and the same subject matter repeated throughout the book. Because I love the characters, I keep coming back to find out what happens.

We hardly see Kane in previous books so I was really looking forward to learning more about him in this book. To me, he really wasn't much of a mystery. I couldn't relate to his character at all. Josephina was likeable but I didn't like the Fae world aspect of the book. The language and the sex scenes seemed tamer than in previous books. I mean come on; these are sexy Lords with demons inside them. Let's see a little bad boy action.

I did enjoy the side stories of Cameo, Torin, and William; he always makes me laugh. They kept me grounded in the story. Torin's book is next and of course I will be checking it out because I've been rooting for him since book one. I hate to say this but the book was just...okay.

Reviewed by Elizabeth for Cocktails and Books

I love the LOTU books and I was anxious for Kane's story - but it just fell flat. I enjoyed parts of it, but it was just lacking something... I kind of liked Josephina (Tinker Bell - horrible nickname by the way) and she's a good match for Kane. Here's what I liked - William and any scenes with him in them. I wish his book was coming out next because I can't wait to hear what happens between him and Gilly. He's a tough nut to crack, but has the best one-liners! Love it. I liked the story line with Torin. He is such a tortured soul. There were a few other decent parts, but not many.

Speaking of Torin, let me point out an inconsistency that bugged the crap out of me. Torin is visited by Mari, a prisoner sent by the deceased Cronus. Anyway, she is described at first with blonde hair and brown eyes. Then a few pages later she has blue eyes! I hate that because I'm picturing one thing and then it's turned upside down.

I've enjoyed so many of Showalter's books, I know I'll be back. If you love LOTU, you'll enjoy this. Our favorite cast of characters make some appearances.

This is a well-established series, and I think coming into it several volumes down the line makes it more difficult to appreciate. Because it's a series, the cast of characters is already developed, including history, relationships, character, etc. Therefore starting in the middle the reader doesn't have the knowledge of the ins and outs of the people (does "people" adequately describe non-humans?) involved.

Still in all, Ms. Showalter is a great writer. It seems to me the great writers make it look effortless, almost automatic. There isn't any apparent effort to impress in the writing, it's just there. That isn't very coherent; obviously I'm not a great writer.

To write a single book, much less a series, where the author invents a whole new world with all the attendant requirements is astounding. I am impressed.

For this book in particular, I didn't love the main characters. Maybe had I read the previous books I'd have a greater appreciation for Kane. Nonetheless I think I'll pick up the previous books and start with no. 1.

Good read, very good writing.

Except for a story in an anthology, I've never read a Gena Showalter book so this was my first.

It started off with Josephina Aisling, who we learn quickly is of the Fae, checking out the hot guy she's just rescued. It seemed a bit fast to be describing Kane. I'm used to physical descriptions coming later in books and not on the first page but Josephina's sassy wit made up for it.

She'd rescued Kane from Hell and while he is rescued, he has a souvenir inside him... the demon lord of Disaster. He wants to kill and be free of the demon and Josephina poses a big problem in that she's making the demon show signs of awakening (that's some heavy handed subtext but again, Josephina made up for it to me).

Josephina has issues of her own. Her family is out to kill her and in return for rescuing him, Josephina wants him to protect her.

I enjoyed the first half of the book a lot but it lost my interest in the second half. It is a paranormal so there are lots of supernatural creatures but it got a little cluttered in the second half.

At the outset I must confess this is the first book I've read in the Lords of the Underworld series, so it was a bit confusing to me at first because of my lack of knowledge about the characters and background from Book Nos. 1-9. However, that being said, after the first two segments in the story I got the gist of the prior background and characters just fine...no problem. The author described the backgrounds of the characters in such a way that the prior histories were very understandable. I like the way the author blended Kane's dark history and resident demon with Josephina's dark history, paranormal abilities and sarcastic humor to the point where I had to guffaw quite a few times during their story...and I do so love humor in my romances (paranormal or not)! How the author kept all of these fae, demon and other worldly creatures and their abilities straight while writing is actually nothing short of amazing to me! I also did not detect a single grammatical or spelling error throughout (I tend to be irritated by such things in Kindle translations). So I say "thumbs up" to this Book No. 10 in Lords of the Underworld series!

While Kane has been built up to be a strong character that I was waiting to see in the spotlight, I was utterly disappointed with this failure. While I love Showalter, I'm now thinking I'll have to stick with her Young Adult books. She does not have the same spark and feisty characters as she used to. I REALLY disliked Josephina. She had a relatively flat personality. I did not see any of the special umph that Showalter's females usually have. She didn't really have any snarky one liners and there was virtually no chemistry between her and Kane. Unfortunately, that is due to Kane being a lack luster character as well. In previous books, I was looking forward to learning more from him. In this one, he became a flatter character. I have no idea how bringing a secondary character to the forefront and making them feel less important than other books works, but Showalter has managed that. Kane has no sex appeal. There is just nothing between Kane and Josephina. There really aren't sex scenes anymore, so what is the point of reading these stories anymore?

Somewhere between 3 and 3 1/2 stars:

It was an okay read, definitely not as sexy as the author’s other books in this series. There were moments when I really struggled to get through it, but in the end it was a decent read, not my favorite by a long shot.

Kane was rescued from the bowels of hell by the beautiful, Josephina, who is half fae. At first, he wants nothing to do with her but she is desperate and wants him to keep a promise he made to her. When it’s clear to her that he is not going to help her, she takes off. He is drawn to her and wants to find the little fairy he has nicknamed Tinker Bell. He embarks on his quest to find her and keep her safe. When he locates her, he makes a deal with the King and agrees to marry another in order to protect her. While buying himself time and doing all he can to keep her safe, they fall in love. He will risk everything to be with her.

Another great installment of the LOTU! The race to find Pandora 's box gets even more twisted and the plot thickens with things between the Sent Ones and the Lords getting more complicated. I love Kane and Tink, and can't wait to hear how things turn out for Torin and Cameo.

I do think this installment was very different from the previous ones with the conflict between Kane and Disaster unlike the other Lords. I also think it was a turning point in the LOTU world. They are on the precipice of either failing or succeeding. Should be interesting finding out which. Also, sometimes there were so many plot points coming and going from all the other LOTU books that it took me a while sometimes to remember them all. The backstory and history is very intricate, but that's one of the things I love about this series. You get so involved in their world. Showalter really knows how to hook you and reel you in. Love this series and highly recommend it.

The Darkest Craving by Gena Showalter is an excellent book, full of thrills, chills, and romance, with a healthy dose of in-your-face action. The story of Josephina, a half-Fae who rescues Kane, the carrier of the demon Disaster, from the bowels of hell is a captivating one, although I would warn the reader that there are some scenes in the book that can get pretty bloody. That aside, I loved the interaction and sexual tension that seems to be crackling between Kane and Josephina all throughout, and the machinations of Josephina's Fae family that eventually result in something that none of them expected or believed would ever happen. I'm always a sucker for a good romance, but when it's a paranormal romance it adds spice to the story, and Ms. Showalter has managed to do that and then some with this book.

I don't normally write bad reviews, but to be honest I'm disappointed :( I was such a Lords of the Underworld fan.. But since Paris Book it has just went down hill. Where is the juicy love scenes we look forward to? I had to literally force my self through it, right from the beginning you can that " spark" that you had for each book was gone, the reading until 2:00 am it's so THAT good was gone. I REALLY hope Torins book will be better, please, please Ms.Gena can you go back when you first started writing your Lords Of the Underworld series? loved how they used to suck you in, and you would still think about the characters even after you finished, now it just feels empty:(

I was so looking forward to this instalment of LOTU, but whilst I couldnt put the other books down, I struggled to finish this one!! Whilst I wasnt particularly attached to Kane through the series, I have thoroughly enjoyed each of the characters stories and expected to get attached as the book went on.... but it never happened!

This book followed the story of Kane who had been tortured in hell before being rescued by his 'Tink' (and whilst the nicknames are normally cute...Tinky Dink is going a little too far!), a half human half Fae who has had a life as a blood slave for her older sister and princess. Whilst the story started off okay, i found it became disjointed and I struggled to become entrenched in the story from about half way in and it did not improve! Unfortunately the romance did not make up for this either! In the other books i was on the edge waiting for the couple to get together and when they finally did, the hot sex scenes always made you convinced that the couple were meant to be together! in this book the sexual tension was limited and when it FINALLY got there.... the hot scene was well... non existent and glazed over! So very disappointing when it was so well done in previous books!

Overall, this book left me wondering whether i should read the rest of the series! I was so looking forward to Torin and Cameo's books and especially William's (and hopefully Gilly!!) and i really hope that GS goes back to her old writing (which was so good in the first books) and does the characters justice!!

Compared with some of the earlier books in the series, The Darkest Craving went off on more tangents that were never resolved. Torin and Mari are imprisoned in Chronos' keeping, although Chronos is dead and Mari has been infected by Torin. Viola disappeared after touching magical artifacts, so Cameo repeated Viola's actions but ended up somewhere else, bumped into Lazarus, and with him is wandering through different dimensions. If you ignore those loose ends, this is the story of Kane (who carries the demon of Disaster) and Josephina, a half-fae tortured by her royal family. Through uncountable twists and turns, they do reach a positive result. I would have liked to edit out the many "loose-ends" tangents, but I'm sure they will be useful to future books in the series!

After reading the reviews with three stars, they confirmed what I feared had happened and that is GS changed her style of writing in the romance scenes. I forgot the last book I had read of hers, as it has been a year or two since I have read anymore of her books due to the last book I had read which was so disappointing. I went on and found the style of books that I love and will continue to read via other authors. But I thought I would give her a chance once again to see if anything has changed in her style of writing. So wisely, I read the reviews starting with three stars, as these reviews would be from people who have read her earlier writings. Apparently nothing has changed, and GS seems to be dumping all her old fans who loved her older style of writing for ones who do not care for more sexual, steamy scenes. Boring. So, GS has lost me forever. There are other good writers out there like Sylvia Day, Ms. Jenner, Cynthia Eden (love her books), just to name a few. Thank you very much GS for dumping your die-hard fans of the past. WE ARE THE ONES WHO GOT YOU THERE!!!!!!!

I really tried to read this book, but I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for Kane, and the cardboard cut out female characters in this book were just so clche'. If you want me to read a paranormal romance, catch my interest. This one failed to do that. If this were the first book of this type that I read, I would have completely given up on the genre.

She's still rolling!!! Number 10 of the book series..

Josephina what a delightful character..with extremely over protective family members.. okay they are royal but still. She rescues Kane who's been tortured in Hell for lord knows how long and they go out to see if love is truly for them. Kane is a dark person.. I mean how could he not with the demon of disaster in him.

I feel the romance was lacking a bit compared to other books in the series.. and not sure something seemed missing.. more elements of his time in hell maybe.. I feel I didn't connect to Kane as I had hoped.
I think what keeps me going in this story was wondering what Kane would do would he leave for good.. hahah GUESS you will have to read to find out.. ;)) I don't do spoilers. :)

Wow! As the story continues, Kane meets his mate. I was swept away into the Dark World of Kane. Kane is one of my top three favorite Lords. It seemed "cute" how things would fall, and buildings would crumble when he was there in previous books. Poor Kane! Kept out of things. The reality? The demons present taunting him. It seems Gena wants to change the dynamic. No longer are they "stuck forever." There is a way. When Ashlyn gave her all for Maddox. It worked. I cried and loved them both! Queen Sienna? A bit over the top. Unfortunately I am not fond of "perfect" endings. Considering the fact that William would have kept the Pheonix forever to torture and torment. This was too perfect as well. Take a chance Gena. Life is not perfect. But the Lords at this point? Living the charmed life. It's there imperfections that make them lovable and admirable. It's that they strived to do the best they could. I expect with the "future" vision of Torin, his will be perfect as well. *sighs* Another queen? Not looking forward to the next installment. That is the saddest part of all. Returning to Maddox.

Most of the time when I read a review book, I don't look at reviews prior to reading or when I'm reading a book. I don't want other people's opinions to cloud my own judgement on an authors style. And just like Last Kiss Goodnight, I come back to review sites to write The Darkest Craving and I'm again shocked at the low reviews.

For me a 1 or 2 star book is an author who has no clue how to blend a story. There are grammar errors, misspellings and generally such horrendous writing that I can't even finish the book. That is NOT the case with Miss Showalter's books. Last Kiss Goodnight and The Darkest Craving kept my attention and quite honestly even when I do like reading really hot erotic scenes, I didn't even notice anything lacking in those scenes with either book. I guess as long as there is some romance going on and a good storyline that keeps my attention is what makes or breaks a book for me.

I LOVED Kane and Josephina aka Tink. The whole situation between them was awesome. I kept wondering who she was, why was she there at this time, why did she go to save him. Then when I found out why she went to save him, I was like Why would she want that?! I wanted to know about this troubled girl and why the Demon Disaster was such a jerk towards her. You sometimes get the Demon's who "want" the girls and sometimes you get the ones that want to hurt them, depending on what Demon each Lord is hosting.

I liked that Josephina was a new character, with a new realm we hadn't heard about. I liked the interaction between the two characters. I liked the side lines and characters. William and his little brood of hellions? Priceless....Tink being brave and waving hello to those little hellions in a bubble was awesome.

I did not find this story lacking and I read a lot of books. Especially paranormal books. I even read a lot of erotic/paranormal books and I still enjoyed this story. My best advice that I can give you is don't read the reviews, don't let other peoples views/judgments affect or sway your own. Ultimately it boils down putting a book in your hand, not expecting anything but a good read, and reading on your own. Any author can create scene after scene of sex, sex, sex. But how many can create and weave worlds together to keep your attention in between? Not. Bloody. Many.And while I do like those too I didn't find the sex lacking between these two ;)

If you love paranormal books and you love Gena, have faith in your author. Have faith that she'll take you for a ride that you haven't been on before. Have faith she'll keep you engrossed in the story. Because she will.

I personally have never had a problem with any of Gena's books. They've all kept my attention and she's on one of my auto buy lists. Lords of the Underworld. Alien Huntress Series. Atlantis Series. Any Sub spin series. They are always amazing reads and I'm really lucky I've found such a talented author with so many books. Granted I've read them all, but thank goodness for new releases every year right?

Kane is holding the demon of disaster, which is possibly the worst demon of all, because disaster.

Josephina is a blood slave, which means it is her job to take the punishment for the princess, whenever the princess screws up, which is always, because the princess is holding the demon of irresponsibility.

Josephina gets punished all the way to hell, where she meets Kane and rescues him. Then he meets her family and straightens them all out, and some other things happen, and there is a happily ever after for at least some of the characters.

It's a page turner. Fun to read.

I am a huge fan of Gena Showalter's books and was really looking forward to this one. This was a pretty good read, but it wasn't a "can't put it down" book for me. Something just fell flat in this one and I can't put my finger on why other than I really couldn't get into any of the characters.

It was very difficult for me to get through because I just couldn't get into it. I will definitely not let this one book sway me as to whether I will purchase her books in the future, though, as I know she is a great writer and story teller.

This is the 10th instalment in the popular Lords of The Underworld and it was another one for the keeper shelf!

Gena has taken a long running successful series and added more layers to it, in this instalment we gained the Fae and while I enjoyed the addition, they brought a whole other level of evil to the plate with their values, traditions and disciplinary styles.

When Josephina helped Kane escape from hell she extracted a promise from him, a promise that he is determined not to keep. Josephina is desperate to escape her life and is actively looking for a solution, can Kane be the saviour she needs? Kane and Josephina together are desperate to escape their fated futures, can they help each other and change their destinies?

Josephina was the highlight of this book for me, she was fun, feisty and reminded me of a slightly tamer Valkyrie. I enjoyed her 'fangirl' moments and her sense of humour. I empathised with her jealousy, I have a similar distaste for sharing. She lost a little of her sassiness as the story went on, but then I think I would have too with everything going on around her.

Kane, I kind of expected to be a little more messed up, especially after his experiences in hell. Although not graphically explained, Gena alludes to what actually happened to him and since I don't see any man being able to comfortably discuss that, his lack of explanation fit well.

The heat level wasn't as high as previous books which was a perfect fit for the characters, given the experiences that brought them together.

William, as always was a bright spot in the book. I did get a little confused at times though as there was a point where it was alluded to that someone knew something & then it was retracted. It didn't take away my enjoyment from the book though. I can't wait to get to William's book and dive into his secrets. The next book should be a good one though!

Darkest Craving is the 10th book in Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series.

As anyone who follows my blog most likely knows, the Lords of the Underworld series is my absolute favorite. I love the way the hero, in this case Kane, has to battle with the demons that have possessed them to try to maintain some shadow of what they used to be. All of the Lords are truly good at heart, contrary to some of their actions, and are always willing to do anything for the women they love.

Kane is no exception. After recently being imprisoned in hell, he is losing the battle with his demon, Disaster. Coupled with the recent prediction that he is destined to end up with someone who... well let's just say is not his first choice, and that he will start an apocalypse, Kane's future isn't looking too optimistic.

As hard as Kane has it, Josephina might even be worse off then him. She has been being treated as a blood slave by her royal family for years, which probably helps them understand a little of what each other is going through. These two had amazing chemistry and friendship. While most heroines tend to drive me a little crazy, it always amazes me how Gena does such an excellent job making me love them almost as much as the hero.
There's also plenty of humor, not only between them but William's there too so need I say more? William and his kids, the Rainbow Rejects, are through out the book and I just can't get enough of him. He has such a snarky sense of humor that always manages to lighten up many of the scenes.

Gena Showalter has once again proven what a master story teller she is. The only way to make a paranormal romance series better... add a dash of Greek mythology. Gena has such an amazing overall story and cast of characters throughout the Lords of the Underworld series that it's no wonder why I recommend it to everyone :)

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The Darkest Craving (Lords of the Underworld) by Gena Showalter
Publication Date: July 30, 2013
Reviewed by: Reading In Pajamas/ Cori
Rated: 4.5 Stars

REVIEW:

I loved Kane’s book! Lords of the Underworld is one of my favorite series and I devoured Darkest Craving as soon as I received my copy. I have always felt for Kane. As the keeper of Disaster he gets left out of missions sometimes because of his demon. While some of the Lords are able to use their demons as a weapon, Disaster harms not only those around him but Kane as well. I didn’t really see Kane as one of the sexy Lords in the group until this book. This book made him one of my favorites. Plenty of action, emotion, humor, passion and steamy love scenes. We also got plenty of William in this book. William is my favorite even though he isn’t an actual Lord of the Underworld. Gena Showalter commented on Twitter today that there will possibly be a free William scene posted on her fan website soon. I am thinking it will be Cameo or Torin’s book next. I’m hoping for Torin’s book, but I think Cameo’s story will be great if the guy she ends up with is who she gets put together with in this book (leaving out his name to prevent spoiler). If you haven’t read this series yet, start at the beginning to understand the characters and plot. If you are a fan of the series, you’ll love Kane’s book. I recommend this book and this series for paranormal romance lovers.

*Review copy provided by Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.

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Twitter: @readingpajamas
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I have read all the books in this series and just love them but recently I have been less impressed. Why? Well the female characters seem just a little too juvenile at times and tend to grate on me. I wasn't really sure which direction the author would take with Kane's book as he's the keeper of disaster and therefore could he be capable of a happy ending? I have always felt for Kane as his life just seems impossible at times. He is constantly under attack and yet is frequently left behind as his demon is so unpredictable.
In this book we are introduced to the Fae and in particular Josephina who is a royal princess .Only problem is her family treat her worse then you could ever imagine. She's at the end of her tether and has decided that death is her only way forward. A Lord of the Underworld would be more then capable of killing her so why is Kane hesitating? To complicate things her sister is also infected by a demon and now she wants Kane. The Fae are a treacherous race and right now Kane is slap bang in the middle and his demon is not happy!
So glad I bought this as it was nice to see Kane finally have some good luck. Josephina was a far more pleasant character then many of the recent ladies in this series and my heart went out to her. So looking forward to Torins story and it's nice to see one of my favourite series back on track.

I have not read previous books in this series so I feel like I did miss out on parts that I needed to know - however it as also nice to be able to judge it by itself without comparing it others. I really loved the characters and they both had some really unique characteristics. There was a lot going on at times, once in awhile a little too much, but it's hard to say if I thought that because of the book or because I didn't have knowledge from past books in the series

I start off by saying I am a Gena fan and love the entire Lords series... until this flop. Seriously, it is like it is written by a different author completely. The character development is non-existent, no chemistry, no nothing. I am baffled by this book! I want to write something witty and intelligent about it, but I am so stunned by the horror that I can't even put coherent thoughts together. Thankfully, I ordered it from the library instead of purchasing it.

The Darkest Craving was a fun book from the Lords of the Underworld in that Kane seemed too have been through his torture throughout previous books. I thought Josephina and him made a good couple and I thought her character was strong. I always enjoy when other characters of the series appear and I’m looking forward to the next book, which I hope is Williams.

This seemed so slow for a paranormal tale that promises lots of action and lots of sex. Personally, I was just as happy that this installment went light on the sex which so often gets in the way of the story itself. But this just plain was not an exciting story. I'm sure reade4rs of the series expected a whole lot more than this offered. One can only hope for better next time.

Gena Showalter can write a great book! She has this way with her words that captivates me and makes me want to read on and on.

This book was a surprise to me, I wasn't a big Kane fan I have to admit but after reading about him and his heroine Gena has changed my mind. The strength he has not only physically but mentally is something in itself.

This book followed the storyline and things are getting even better with the overall story. I look forward to the next book , for me it's always to long to wait.

The romance was just enough not over the top and the exciting news at the end( no spoilers) was a twist for me.

Thank you Gena for yet another great book! ROCK ON !

I have enjoyed this series but somehow the telling of Kane's story just didn't seem as good Not as much sexual tension as the previous books I just did't get into the main characters in this one and it was a quick read because I was never really involved. I do hope that before telling the others story (like Torin)that it will be more like the books that were written in the beginning of the series.

I hate when authors decide to change their characters' modifies or reason for being.

I often found myself scanning pages to move the story along because there was too much whiny repetition. Not enough good steamy sex scenes either.

I was hoping that G's new writing style wouldn't interfere with the "LOTU." What a let down. I am very disapointed to say that I could and did put this book down without finishing it and am unwilling to read any more of her books. The characters lacked just that, character. The last few books I have read of hers have been passionless and very lackluster. I wish her the best with her new style and hope her days are blessed. Signed, disapointed ex-fan

I haven't been a big fan of Gena Showalter. I gave this book a try and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It's a little off the beaten path by not being all sex all the time, but that is what I like about it. I think I will have to add Gena Showalter to my list of authors to keep track of.

Ahhh There's a reason why Showalter is one of my all-time faves! Good grief I love this series.

The Darkest Craving doesn't disappoint! I love this entire series and this novel continued to prove it.

Kane, oh good Lord of the Underworld, Kane. That poor, poor immortal hunk of a man. The torture that he's endured breaks my heart, makes me mad, and makes me want to hug him (and hope Disaster doesn't act up).

I love how he and "Tink" manage to piss each other off and not be able to get enough of each other all at the same time. The fact that she lets him get away with calling her "Tink" or "Tinkerbell" just makes me giggle. Thinking of this huge, hunk of a man calling someone "Tink" makes me smile.

The action in TDC is fabulous and I LOVEEEEEE each and every character. Even the "bad" guys have their moments where I just love how freaking bad they are. Tink's dad...and step mom.... and freaking siblings...grrrrr.... they're great POS's.

Again, this novel rocked my socks off just like every other book in this series has done!

Loved every second of it & can't freaking wait until I see the LotU again! <3

I like other books by this author better, this hero and heroine had no personality and no chemistry.
The writing was dull, the pacing off.
Too many characters for readers not familiar with her universe (like me). Confusing.
An okay read if you're bored.

One of my all time favorite series is LOTU. I've been waiting for Kane's story. He always seemed to me to be softest/sweetest of the warriors even though he has the demon of disaster. Then Josephina aka Tinker Bell comes along and heals his heart even though he had been tormented and tortured in hell. I do agree with the other reviews that this was a toned down romance. But I feel that Kane needed that softer love story. My heart nearly stopped towards the end of the book but I love how Gena always throws in surprises. I am glad there will be another bundle of joy in the house. :-) Can't wait for the next LOTU book!

I think I'm going to stop reading Gena Showalter for a while. Unlike some of her earlier series, her latest endeavors are just kind of lackluster. The tension and the sex appeal feel lacking. This book has been just another forgetful novel that goes straight to the donation bin.

Love the continuation of LOTU, the story just gets better and I just love the suspense but what on earth is happening with Gena and her usual steamy hot love scenes... don't get me wrong but the hot steamy love scenes were right up there with the action and drama, but in this book it was non existent.. a real shame is all I can say. Takes the buzz out of reading the book, and nothing to look forward to after all the action. This has been happening in her other books as well, in particular the angel books, disappointed but I am hoping Gena gets her grove back in the next LOTU book and steam up those angles, geesshhh

*I gave this 3 1/2 but put 3 since you can't break it up. :)

Gena Showalter is hands down, one of the best PNR writers out there today. That being said, was this latest story epic beyond compare? No, but does it really matter in the overall grand scale of this saga? Heck no! If you are looking for some of the best pieces of PNR writing out there you will find it in this series.

For those that have followed the Lords from the start, you may be wanting more of the hard hitting action and snarky characters Gena brings. We are spoiled rotten with this author, she almost did a bad thing by giving us all we could ever hope for so early on. Now, we want that same explosion each and every time. We want more, we want more! Can the craving ever be filled? Hades no, and I would not have it any other way. :)

There's been so much talk about Gena's new writing style and how it has affected this story, I didn't see that all. This latest book is actually much closer to how we've come to crave her hot and steamy romance. What I had issues with, in this installment, was the action adventure portion of the story. In return we get a fairytale feeling which is not typical for the Lords. Some major editing down of the excess plot needed to be done here. Add to that the wishy-washy hot and cold leading man and it became a little hard to muscle at times. But keep in mind, this is small potatoes compared to the overall awesomeness that is this saga.

When you're invested in the characters, you pull for them and ache when they do. These guys and gals are so vividly written it's hard to think of them as fictional. Wacky as that may sound, but in my heart I love them.

Did Josephine and Kane blow me away, no not really. But ask me again if I care? I don't! I'll pick up a Gena book any day of the week and enjoy it regardless. She's a master at her craft and deserves all the credit she gets.

You want a good read that will entertain you, grab this saga and hang on!

My wife loves this author and she loved this book. It's very, um, arousing if you catch my meaning as many of these are. She thought the plot moved quickly and the story was captivating, a great read.

I am such a big fan of this series..though I did enjoy this issue, I was a little disappointed of the lack of steamy sex scenes like the before issues,, I mean what happen? are her books gonna b pg-rated now?.. I really hope Torin's & Thane's book hold more...

I think I'm going to stop reading Gena Showalter for a while. Unlike some of her earlier series, her latest endeavors are just kind of lackluster. The tension and the sex appeal feel lacking. This book has been just another forgetful novel that goes straight to the donation bin.

Love the continuation of LOTU, the story just gets better and I just love the suspense but what on earth is happening with Gena and her usual steamy hot love scenes... don't get me wrong but the hot steamy love scenes were right up there with the action and drama, but in this book it was non existent.. a real shame is all I can say. Takes the buzz out of reading the book, and nothing to look forward to after all the action. This has been happening in her other books as well, in particular the angel books, disappointed but I am hoping Gena gets her grove back in the next LOTU book and steam up those angles, geesshhh

*I gave this 3 1/2 but put 3 since you can't break it up. :)

Gena Showalter is hands down, one of the best PNR writers out there today. That being said, was this latest story epic beyond compare? No, but does it really matter in the overall grand scale of this saga? Heck no! If you are looking for some of the best pieces of PNR writing out there you will find it in this series.

For those that have followed the Lords from the start, you may be wanting more of the hard hitting action and snarky characters Gena brings. We are spoiled rotten with this author, she almost did a bad thing by giving us all we could ever hope for so early on. Now, we want that same explosion each and every time. We want more, we want more! Can the craving ever be filled? Hades no, and I would not have it any other way. :)

There's been so much talk about Gena's new writing style and how it has affected this story, I didn't see that all. This latest book is actually much closer to how we've come to crave her hot and steamy romance. What I had issues with, in this installment, was the action adventure portion of the story. In return we get a fairytale feeling which is not typical for the Lords. Some major editing down of the excess plot needed to be done here. Add to that the wishy-washy hot and cold leading man and it became a little hard to muscle at times. But keep in mind, this is small potatoes compared to the overall awesomeness that is this saga.

When you're invested in the characters, you pull for them and ache when they do. These guys and gals are so vividly written it's hard to think of them as fictional. Wacky as that may sound, but in my heart I love them.

Did Josephine and Kane blow me away, no not really. But ask me again if I care? I don't! I'll pick up a Gena book any day of the week and enjoy it regardless. She's a master at her craft and deserves all the credit she gets.

You want a good read that will entertain you, grab this saga and hang on!

My wife loves this author and she loved this book. It's very, um, arousing if you catch my meaning as many of these are. She thought the plot moved quickly and the story was captivating, a great read.

I am such a big fan of this series..though I did enjoy this issue, I was a little disappointed of the lack of steamy sex scenes like the before issues,, I mean what happen? are her books gonna b pg-rated now?.. I really hope Torin's & Thane's book hold more...

Okay, so my heart is breaking about this whole situation. I absolutely adore this series, and am completely dismayed by the turn Gena's writing has taken. I read romance novels for the romance aspect, and her newer reads just aren't doing it for me. The heat, passion and sexiness that were in her books prior to her illness have just disappeared. Apparently, violence, blood and death are all okay, but hot, steamy sex between soul mates is taboo. Her books have gone from NC-17 to PG-13, and it sucks! I still really enjoy her overall writing style, and I adore these characters, so I will stick it out through the end, to see how it all comes together, but I know when I reread them, I will probably stop with The Darkest Seduction... the last title before the turn of the tides. Too bad!

Another great story in the LOTW! Gena doesn't disappoint! Kane's story keeps you on a reading frenzy, you can't put it down. She shows so much emotion between her characters, all the while, mass chaos is around every turn. The plot thickens with William and company, which adds to the story. The arrival of the other Lords is a plus. A great read! Highly recommend this series.

Gena's books get better and better each time. The Darkest Craving was absolutely amazing just like all the other Lord's books. Kane is absolutely delicious and endures some horrific things in Hell. This story will keep you in suspense and hot and heavy.

I've heard that paranormal is not as popular lately, but I've enjoyed other Gena Showalter books, so I can say that I hope hers keep coming. This one has an interesting take on demon relationships, and the emotion is definitely there. Great title.

Just when I think the Lord of the Underworld series couldn't get any better, Gena surprises me with another great book. This book seem a little different from the rest and it was a nice change. I think Kane cried more than any of the other Lords, which was great to see a warrior show more than just brute strength, but show his inner feelings as well. Loved it!!!

I have been a Gena Showalter fan for years and this book is another quality installment in the Lords of the Underworld series. #10 is just as riveting as #1 is. Kane is definitely craving inducing! Can't wait for Torin and the others! According to Ms. Showalter here [...] Torin is offically next in the line up!

This book was so good that I didn't want to end so I took breaks to prolong it as much as I could. This book went beyond my expectations. You have Kane and Josephina who feel they have no hope left, but these two souls just needed one another. What these two will do for one another because of the love they have is one powerful thing to read. I also liked the build up for the future characters. Only problem now I have to wait impatiently for the next installment in the series.

The Darkest Craving was awesome. I love how Gena writes Kane story. It makes me crave more I finished the story in 3 days. I was nonstop reading. I promise when you read it you'll love it. P.S I cant wait to read Cameo's story. :)