The Darkest Night
Lords of the Underworld series
Gena Showalter
Synopsis:
Maddox ~ Immortal keeper of Violence
Every night for thousands of years, he has been murdered and sent to the fires of hell...
Cursed by the gods, bound to a rage-filled spirit he can barely control, Maddox has all but forgotten his humanity - until Ashlyn Darrow comes to his prison in Budapest seeking help. Maddox finds his anger is soothed by her presence. but he can't help question why a beautiful innocent has come looking for the Lords of the Underworld.
Ashlyn is tortured by voices from the past - and her knowledge might be enough to free Maddox from his death-curse. When an extreme sacrifice is demanded, will Maddox's superhuman strength be enough to save them both?
About the author:
Gena Showalter is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of
over thirty books in paranormal and contemporary romances, as well as
young adult novels. Her series include White Rabbit Chronicles, Angels
of the Dark, Otherworld Assassins, Lords of the Underworld, Alien
Huntress and Intertwined. Her novels have appeared in Cosmopolitan
Magazine, and Seventeen Magazine, and have been translated in all over
the world. The critics have called her books "sizzling page-turners" and
"utterly spellbinding stories", while Showalter herself has been called
"a star on the rise".
Social links:
Website: http://genashowalter.com/
Other books in the series:
The Darkest Fire ~ 0.5
The Darkest Night ~ Maddox
The Darkest Kiss ~ Lucien
The Darkest Pleasure ~ Reyes
The Darkest Whisper ~ Sabin
The Darkest Passion ~ Aeron
The Darkest Lie ~ Gideon
The Darkest Secret ~ Amun
The Darkest Surrender ~ Strider
The Darkest Seduction ~ Paris
The Darkest Craving ~ Kane
The Darkest Touch ~ Torin (coming November 25th 2014)
*The Darkest Prison and The Darkest Angel (Heart of Darkness) are novellas.*
Review:
*sigh* Can you remember probably your very first BBF? I can. I'm almost 100% sure it was this guy. Maddox. Immortal warrior of Zeus. Cursed to forever be possessed by the demon of Violence.
But I'm 100% sure this guy was the one to make me fall in love with the name Maddox :)
Maddox was created a warrior. He, along with a small group had been Zeus's, the King of the Greek gods', personal army. They were his trusted soldiers but because of envy, they forever doomed themselves when they not only opened Pandora's Box - yes, THE Pandora and THE Box - but killed Pandora too. Maddox was the one to do the latter. Hence his bonus punishment, so to say, of having to die every day at midnight, killed by Reyes with the sword he had killed Pandora with and then to be carted off to hell by Lucien, a.k.a. Death.
So, Maddox isn't a happy camper. Who would be? He's a huge violent guy with long-ish dark hair and violet eyes. In a fit of anger, he could destroy anything and he did do that, a few times. He's not one to think of love, happiness, of having a woman to call his own. He's not like Paris, the keeper of Promiscuity, who's always out, having to sleep with women to keep his strength. And if he does sleep with a woman, it's just sex and nothing more. That is, until he finds Ashlyn in the woods near the castle he and the other Lords live in in Budapest.
His world pretty much changes. And not only his, but basically, everyone's.
Ashlyn is special. She's gifted, one would say but she thinks she's cursed. She doesn't have a family, she doesn't have friends. She always has to be on the outside, looking in. Why? Her gift/curse is to hear every conversation that has taken place wherever she is. Past and present. No matter the language the conversation was in, she understood it.
She's strong for not allowing all the abovementioned things to drive her crazy. But she's lonely and craves to be loved, like in the romance novels she reads.
Having been taken care of since the age of five by the Institute of Parapsychology and its Vice-President, Mr. McIntosh, she's sent to Budapest, where she hears of the infamous Lords. Demons. Bad. Angels. Good. That's what she hears and thinking she can get rid of her curse, she sets off to look for them. She finds way more than she bargained for.
It's the kind of story that sucks you right in. It has everything I love in a book: love, friendship, loyalty, good guys vs. bad guys, swoon-worthy Hero and strong Heroine. Not to mention, the other characters are well-constructed and we get teased by getting only tidbits about them, hence wanting to read their stories, as well.
What I also love is the originality of the story. How modern times, the 21st century is blended with the Ancient Greek Mythology, giving it a twist, sometimes a nasty one.
The Darkest Night is the perfect start to the series. As you read more and more of them, you fall in love, more and more, with each character. I, for one, fell in love with not only Maddox but the heavily tattooed keeper of Wrath, Aeron; along with the keeper of Defeat, the funny and gorgeous, always-in-need-of-an-ego-check Strider; and Kane, keeper of Disaster. There would be William too, who's kind of related to Lucifer and is cursed himself, not by housing a demon, but something other that I am dying to find out.
All in all, this is certainly my cup of tea.
Oh and another great series, a spinoff is Angels of the Dark. Because really, where there are demons, there are bound to be angels too. Especially if they end up related, thanks to a crazy Harpy. But if you want to know more about it, read it. It's one of my favorite paranormal series and I don't want it to end.
Some of my favorite quotes:
Aeron:
“Why? What’s she to you?”
Maddox:
“Mine,” was the only answer he had. “She’s mine.”
Ashlyn:
All in all, this is certainly my cup of tea.
Oh and another great series, a spinoff is Angels of the Dark. Because really, where there are demons, there are bound to be angels too. Especially if they end up related, thanks to a crazy Harpy. But if you want to know more about it, read it. It's one of my favorite paranormal series and I don't want it to end.
Some of my favorite quotes:
Aeron:
“Why? What’s she to you?”
Maddox:
“Mine,” was the only answer he had. “She’s mine.”
“She’d searched her entire life, but it had taken a
possessed immortal to show her this slice of silent, lust-filled heaven on
earth.”
Ashlyn:
“You change moods faster than anyone I’ve ever met,”
she grumbled.
(See? We're perfect for each other :P )
Ashlyn:
“I’ve traveled all over the world for the
Institute, but I never dreamed I’d meet someone like you.”
Maddox:
“Strong?”
Ashlyn:
“Yes.”
Maddox:
“Handsome?”
Ashlyn:
“Of course.”
Maddox:
“Sharp of wit and skilled with a sword?”
Ashlyn:
“Absolutely. But I mean a man… friend… guy. Oh, I
don’t know what to call you!”
Maddox:
“Just call me yours. That is all I want to be.”
I love this review. It made me bump it up my tbr list! <3
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