Heart of Darkness: The Darkest Angel\Love Me to Death\Lady of the Nile [Mass Market Paperback]

I loved Gena Showalter's The Darkest Angel. Lysander and Bianka fight so hard against their mutual attraction that their inevitable climax is mind-blowing. Harpies and angels are two creatures I never knew I would enjoy so thoroughly. I really have to start reading the Lords of the Underworld series.

Love Me to Death by Maggie Shayne was also very good and an extremely powerful story. Part murder mystery, part love story that overcomes impossible obstacles, and completely enthralling.

Susan Krinard's Lady of the Nile didn't really work for me. From what I could understand, a man occasionally possessed by a man possessed by an Egyptian god (yeah, that's not a typo) must have sex with a woman occasionally possessed by an Egyptian goddess to defeat evil. I think that was the main gist, but I can't be sure. It was confusing and by far my least favorite of the three stories that make up this collection.

The first two stories are so amazing, they more than make up for the shortcomings of the third and I would definitely recommend this book to others.

The Darkest Angel by Gena Showalter:

Lysander, is a very serious, down to business demon slaying angel. He has never experienced desire or lust and that's just fine with him. Things like that are messy, and distracting according to the warrior angel. Until the day he discovered Bianka, his true temptation.

Bianka is a spunky little Harpy who is unknowingly driving Lysander crazy. Naughty by nature she's lusty, likes to get drunk, and has a mischievous personality.

Lysander decides he cannot allow this gorgeous little Harpy to continue to tempt him. The solution? Kill her. Ok, so that's a little harsh, so he decides that abducting her and teaching her to be a good girl is far more reasonable. Too bad Bianka doesn't see it that way.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novella from beginning to end. Who knew angles could be such passionate sexy lovers? I loved the constant power play between Lysander and Bianka never knowing who would be "on top" next. Gena Showalter's blends a witty sense of humor with steamy sensuality like only she can.

If you've never read the Lords Of The Underworld series, don't worry, this novella works well as a stand alone read. It's a perfect chance to sample a bit of the Lords Of The Underworld appeal. For you die hard LOTU fans, our Lord of Promiscuity, Paris makes a nice little cameo in this one. Nothing too risqué, but I will say there's oil and loin cloths involved. *grin*

Love Me to Death by Maggie Shayne:

Twenty-two years ago, in a small town in Maine, 5 teenage boys shared a drunken evening commiserating over the sad state of their love lives. David, was especially distraught because Sierra, the girl he had finally worked up enough nerve to ask out had recently gone missing. Being a small town there were no shortage of rumors of where she was, but no one really knew for sure.

A mix of alcohol, and teenage heartbreak leads the boys to inevitable trouble and they decide to burn down an old abandoned house outside of town. What they didn't know was someone was in the house. They are eventually caught, and tried and convicted for murder.

Sixteen years later, Sara, an art teacher from New Hampshire, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl who was killed in the house fire, begins to have nightmares of being trapped in a burning house. The nightmares haunt her and she begins to depict images from her dreams in her paintings. Her concerned roommate who happens to be from a small town in Maine recognizes the house in Sara's paintings as the house where a young girl died after being trapped in a fire. Thinking this is more than coincidence Sara travels to Maine to investigate and hopefully put an end to her nightmares.

Meanwhile, the original friends who were convicted of murder are all back in the small town in Maine to see their friend who has been in a terrible accident. The friend warns them that the ghost of the girl they killed is back and wants revenge. Thinking this can't be possible they dismiss it until they start seeing Sierra around town. All are consumed with fear and guilt as they start to come undone.

David and Sara eventually meet and realize that they have been sharing the same dreams. They also realize there may be more that binds them than just circumstances of what brought Sara to Maine in the first place.

While the romantic connection between Sara and David seemed a bit rushed and not totally convincing, I did enjoy their story a great deal. I was left wishing that this was a full length novel so that they author would have had more time to develop these characters, and others more fully.

Love Me To Death is a fantastic romantic suspense with a great paranormal twist that kept me guessing right up until the end. Maggie Shayne is a "new to me" author and I will be looking for more from her in the very near future.

Lady of the Nile by Susan Krinard:

Lady Tameri, a widowed Duchess in 1890 England, has memories and flashbacks to ancient Egypt and believes she is the reincarnation of an Egyptian princess.

Leo Erskine finds himself drawn to Lady Tameri, fascinated by her claim of reincarnation. However he is skeptical of her claim and intends to prove her wrong.

When Leo witnesses Lady Tameri during one of her flashbacks he begins to wonder if there may be some truth to her claim. When he eventually experiences a flashback himself and realizes that both he and Lady Tameri experienced it at the same time, he is shaken and thinks her claim deserves investigating.

Through a sequence of events the two discover they are connected in ancient history and must fulfill a prophecy, so that the realm of mortals would be safe for all time.

I struggled a bit with this story in that I found the dream sequences and flash backs confusing and the story a bit difficult to follow. I had to reread passages and page back at times to keep up with whose dream or flash back I was reading. The subject matter was quite interesting for me but the story just did not flow and that kept me from enjoying this novella as much as I'd hoped I would.

The first story is Gena Showalter's and I'm pretty biased here bc I pretty much love anything of Gena's but it was hott! Lysander is an angel and Bianka is a harpy. Apart from the ending(which I thought was a little dull) it was funny, sexy, and most def. a page turner. ***Spoiler*** if you've ever fantasized about two men oil wrestling over you, this is your story!!!

As for what I said about the ending (and this goes for all the stories in this book) they're novellas so the writers have such a short amount of words to write in. Of course some things might get left out or brought to light only for a second. Don't expect an entire 100,000 word book in the space of only 20,000 words.

The second, Love Me to Death, by Maggie Shayne wasn't bad either. It's sort of a mystery,thriller, paranormal all rolled in to one. It touches base on reincarnation and unfinished business? I guess is the right way to say that without giving too much away. IMO, the sex could have been hotter, more emphasized on perhaps? Also the heroine is 22 and the hero is 38. While I don't see anything wrong with a 16 year age difference, I might have made the heroine just a tid bit older so she could relate better to her man. All in all it gets a thumbs up! If you like thriller and suspense, then this is your book!

Lady of the Nile by Susan Krinard is a diff. sort of book. It's a historical (sort of) but also a paranormal because the hero and heroine are both (at times) possessed by Egyptian gods who need a sacrifice so they can finally be together. They are pulled apart by an evil god who has possessed someone in their ranks as well. Ok, here's my opinion. The writing was fantastic! however the story was tedious in some places. When there was passion, it was hot! but IMO there wasn't as much passion as there could have been. The whole situation where the hero is knocked unconcious and then goes on a however long train ride across Europe to get to Egypt to reclaim his woman, I would have prefered a shorter version. But with that said, in reality he wouldn't have known where to look so of course it would have been a tiresome journey looking for clues..etc..So I'm torn. I've never been much of a historical kind of reader so it just wasn't my usual cup o'tea but if you do like historicals, and you do like Egyptian mythology then this is your book!

Happy reading!

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