THE DARKEST WHISPER

Author: Gena Showalter ISBN: 9780373773923 9/2009 PARANORMAL Publisher: HQN

Bound by the demon of Doubt, Sabin unintentionally destroys even the most confident of lovers. So the immortal warrior spends his time on the battlefield instead of the bedroom, victory his only concern... until he meets Gwendolyn the Timid. One taste of the beautiful redhead, and he craves more. Gwen, an immortal herself, always thought she'd fall for a kind human who wouldn't rouse her darker side. But when Sabin frees her from prison, battling their enemies for the claim to Pandora's box turns out to be nothing compared to the battle Sabin and Gwen will wage against love...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Gena Showalter sets her paranormal romance THE DARKEST WHISPER (Fourth in the Lords of the Underworld series) in present day Budapest, where lords of the underworld live in a fortress and are regarded as angels by the community because they protect the citizens and donate lavishly to local charities. Unfortunately, there are hunters in the world seeking to destroy these immortal lords. The leader of the hunters is a former compatriot, Galen (holding the demon of hope inside him) who is attempting to find Pandora’s Box so he can capture the demons from within each of the other lords, thereby rendering them powerless and himself able to wrest power from the Titans who just kicked the Greek gods from power. Sabin is the leader of one of the groups of lords and has the demon Doubt within him. The demon caused the last woman he loved to doubt herself so much that she committed suicide, and so Sabin has kept himself away from women and romance. That is, until he rescues a beautiful harpy from a pyramid in Egypt where the hunters were using immortal women as incubators to produce children who are half human/half immortal.

Gwen is known as Gwendolyn the Timid in her family, and her mother ascribes her lack of power to having an angel for a father—a father who has been missing in action all Gwen’s life. Has Sabin finally met his match? Will Gwen finally accept the harpy within her and embrace a life of power? What will happen when she finds out her father isn’t nearly as angelic as she thought?

Showalter creates such tortured characters! Both Sabin and Gwen feel unlovable, afflicted, and are afraid to put themselves out there because they have lost loves before because of their demons. Since they are so sensitive to the needs of the people around them, they make assumptions about each other’s feelings, which leads to hurt and misunderstanding. These are such universal themes in love and romance. Of course, the action in this series is extraordinary, and the twists and turns as the Lords fight the Hunters never fail to surprise. The story isn’t all about Sabin and Gwen. Showalter excels in giving each of the characters enough to do that their nature is three dimensional. We get hints of future alliances, as well as updates on past-featured couples.

Books in series so often get caught up in retelling previous stories, being very dependent on the previous stories or both. I felt none of that with THE DARKEST WHISPER. She brought in enough details of the past to move the story forward, and this book can definitely stand on its own (I have read the previous three books and feel this is the most complete). That’s not to say that if a reader started with this book that they wouldn’t want to go back and read the others to catch up, but the story arc is truly complete unto itself.

THE DARKEST WHISPER is an exceptional paranormal romance, with demons and hunters and harpies... Oh, my! It moves quickly, Sabin and Gwen love roughly both indoors and out, and the overarching theme of the series is well served. The plot is intricately woven with threads of each of the characters and colored by each couple. I have become a Showalter fan after reading about these lovable lords of the underworld, and it is perfect for paranormal readers of all stripes.

Susan Barton