A review by moirwyn
The Darkest Promise by Gena Showalter
4.0
This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures:
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2018/04/11/blog-tour-the-darkest-promise-by-gena-showalter/
The Darkest Promise is the latest book in Gena Showalter’s paranormal romance series Lords of the Underworld. Each book in Lords of the Underworld is a standalone romance, but together they form a larger story. The general premise of Lords of the Underworld is this: Pandora’s box was opened, and the demons that it contained were cast into certain people to reign them in. Those people have to deal with the curse of whatever demon possesses them. And there’s a war in the underworld between Hades and Lucifer, and the immortals are choosing sides in the battle.
The Darkest Promise‘s protagonist is Cameo. She’s the host to the demon Misery. Every time she speaks, people begin to cry as they are filled with unbearable sadness. Every time Cameo feels the slightest bit of happiness, Misery wipes away all memory of it. Cameo think’s she’s doomed to never find romance, at least, not while she contains Misery. And there isn’t an easy solution to rid herself of the demon that won’t also bring about her own death. But…
Then Cameo meets Lazarus, known by the moniker of Lazarus the Cruel and Unusual. He’s spent most of his life dedicated to revenge against those who have wronged him. But Lazarus also has a deep dark secret–he’s slowly turning into crystal, and he has a limited amount of time left before it consumes him completely.
When Cameo is with Lazarus, Misery doesn’t feel like quite as much as a burden. She allows herself to dream of what happiness might be. And when Lazarus is with Cameo, all he thinks of is her, and she’s more important to him than even his grudges. But can the two of them stay together amidst the supernatural forces that threaten to tear them apart?
The tone of the story is both modern and a bit snarky, even though it has tie-ins to elements of Greek mythology. I did find that some of the more modern references and jokes had the effect of pulling me out of the story more than pulling the story into modernity. But that’s also a stylistic choice, and I’m sure that it’ll really work for some readers.
The Darkest Promise is the second book that I’ve read in the Lords of the Underworld series, and overall, I enjoyed them both. I often like the idea of romance novels more than the execution, because I like romances where the characters treat each other well. That means that there needs to be some outside forces (e.g. a demon of sadness and a crystal curse) to keep it interesting, and to keep it from going from boy-meets-girl to happily-ever-after with the span of ten pages. This is one thing that the Lords of the Underworld series does well. Each character in this book had their own issues (Cameo and her demon, Lazarus and his crystals), and those issues were obstacles to their relationship. They each had to make the choice to leave the relative comfort and safety of the lives they had become accustomed to and to actively take the risk of loving each other and letting the other one in, even knowing that their relationship was likely doomed. That leap of trust was wonderful, and as in most good romances, it paid off with a happy ending.
http://bookswithoutanypictures.com/2018/04/11/blog-tour-the-darkest-promise-by-gena-showalter/
The Darkest Promise is the latest book in Gena Showalter’s paranormal romance series Lords of the Underworld. Each book in Lords of the Underworld is a standalone romance, but together they form a larger story. The general premise of Lords of the Underworld is this: Pandora’s box was opened, and the demons that it contained were cast into certain people to reign them in. Those people have to deal with the curse of whatever demon possesses them. And there’s a war in the underworld between Hades and Lucifer, and the immortals are choosing sides in the battle.
The Darkest Promise‘s protagonist is Cameo. She’s the host to the demon Misery. Every time she speaks, people begin to cry as they are filled with unbearable sadness. Every time Cameo feels the slightest bit of happiness, Misery wipes away all memory of it. Cameo think’s she’s doomed to never find romance, at least, not while she contains Misery. And there isn’t an easy solution to rid herself of the demon that won’t also bring about her own death. But…
Then Cameo meets Lazarus, known by the moniker of Lazarus the Cruel and Unusual. He’s spent most of his life dedicated to revenge against those who have wronged him. But Lazarus also has a deep dark secret–he’s slowly turning into crystal, and he has a limited amount of time left before it consumes him completely.
When Cameo is with Lazarus, Misery doesn’t feel like quite as much as a burden. She allows herself to dream of what happiness might be. And when Lazarus is with Cameo, all he thinks of is her, and she’s more important to him than even his grudges. But can the two of them stay together amidst the supernatural forces that threaten to tear them apart?
The tone of the story is both modern and a bit snarky, even though it has tie-ins to elements of Greek mythology. I did find that some of the more modern references and jokes had the effect of pulling me out of the story more than pulling the story into modernity. But that’s also a stylistic choice, and I’m sure that it’ll really work for some readers.
The Darkest Promise is the second book that I’ve read in the Lords of the Underworld series, and overall, I enjoyed them both. I often like the idea of romance novels more than the execution, because I like romances where the characters treat each other well. That means that there needs to be some outside forces (e.g. a demon of sadness and a crystal curse) to keep it interesting, and to keep it from going from boy-meets-girl to happily-ever-after with the span of ten pages. This is one thing that the Lords of the Underworld series does well. Each character in this book had their own issues (Cameo and her demon, Lazarus and his crystals), and those issues were obstacles to their relationship. They each had to make the choice to leave the relative comfort and safety of the lives they had become accustomed to and to actively take the risk of loving each other and letting the other one in, even knowing that their relationship was likely doomed. That leap of trust was wonderful, and as in most good romances, it paid off with a happy ending.