The Darkest Kiss by Gena Showalter

The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld, 2) by Gena Showalter

The second installation of Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld Series was much better than the first of the series (in my humble opinion). It could have to do with the fact that the characters were a tad more believable or it could have been the fact that all the backstory setup was already accomplished.

I had a problem with Violence (Maddox) becoming anwhere reasonably tempered in the first book but found Death (Lucien) to be spot-on what I was expecting. Lucien is cold, shut-off from emotion and others in an effort to keep his own demon perfectly under his iron control.

And then there's Anya, minor goddess of Anarchy and a more perfect foil for Lucien's staidness couldn't be found. She is snarky and silly and goes after what she wants without regard to anyone. In their first meeting she tempts him in front of his brothers to lose control and almost suceeds. She lies and thieves to keep her more violent side at bay and just can't seem to get enough of Lucien.

It really does work out perfectly since as a goddess Anya is immortal like the rest of the Lords of the Underworld and Anya is perfectly capable of defending herself against Death. Cronus, the king of the Titans, has set a task to Lucien; to kill Anya or else he will make the other Lords suffer. Initially Lucien tries to take Anya out but his attempts are half-hearted at best. Little by little they learn about each other and why the Titans are toying with them.

Anya is the daughter of Lawlessness and Tartarus. Tartarus' wife is Justice and when she found out about Anya, Justice cursed her so that Anya would never be able to complete the sex act. Penetration would bind her to the man for forever, even if he were to love another. To further complicate matters Anya carries within her the All-Key which allows her to escape from any prison and guarantees her freedom. The person that kills her to take the All-Key becomes powerless himself (something that Cronus didn't exactly tell Lucien) and if Anya were to freely give up the All-Key she would lose all memory of her life while she had the All-Key. This renders both Lucien and Anya helpless to save each other on more than one occasion. To up the ante (again) the Lords of the Underworld must search out Pandora's box before the Hunters find it and to find it they must find four powerful objects first.

This book is action packed and easy to read. Lucien and Anya are a much better couple than Maddox and Ashlyn were in the first book and there is so much else going on that even if you don't like them as characters there is backup and the third book is poised to start with Reyes and Danika. I can't wait to see how THAT turns out...