Welcome to the life of the sexy Lord of the Underworld, where demons reside in ancient warriors ruled by Gods and Hunters stalk the night. Once you enter their world it will prove hard to leave. This is the first book in they Lords of the Underworld series. We are introduced to warriors who have immortality and carry some of the greatest evil within them. They are cursed and will live forever, set apart from the human world. We meet Maddox a warrior quick to anger because he carries the demon violence. Cursed more than his brothers because he is to blame for the fate they have to suffer. Labeled on of the best if not the best soldier by the Gods he was shocked when he was not asked to protect Pandora’s Box, they asked a female instead and fueled with jealousy he accidentally kills Pandora. Stabbing her numerous of times in the stomach. His fault that the box was opened, the Gods cursed him with the same fate that Pandora suffered. He is to die every night at midnight, with wounds to his stomach and burn in hell till morning. Sounds like a very bad deal. He has to relive this every night for eternity. Ashlyn Darrow is searching for these strange men that the people of Budapest call angels. She is hoping they can help her, because Ashlyn is no ordinary woman. She can hear voices and conservations both past and present. She is hoping these men could help. So she begins the journey to their fortress. Her first meeting with Maddox is explosive, plus the voices disappear completely with his nearness. Can this scary sexy man be her savior and to makes matter worse she wants like she has wanted no another. She knows underneath that calm facade lurks a violence so powerful it will destroy. Will she be able to understand what he is and remain with him due to what he faces every night? I really enjoyed this book. I love the characters of Maddox and Ashlyn. Someone sweet he needed to dilute the hate living in him. She also brought a peace to him that he could find nowhere. The other men were hott hott. So nice the fighting and arguing that went down between them. I am definitely a fan now and will be continuing this series. I am excited to see how the other demons find love. Promiscuity, Wrath, Death, Pain and Disease, will these demons find peace. An original series filled with action and explosive heat. I rate this a 4 on my PL scale. As this very moment I still can’t find my pants. Enjoy.

2.5 stars. I really like Gena's books, so I bought this right off, since it sounded really promising. Sadly enough it was a major disappointment and I had a lot of trouble even getting through it. Much like many authors lately, Gena has fallen into "Quantity over Quality." The story had such promise, but it was ruined by confusing info, cliched characters/writing to the point where I was constantly rolling my eyes and I wanted more demon action! I mean really if you had a demon as a part of you I think you'd be able to communicate with it better and it would have a stronger personality. Overall I'd say to pick it up at the library, not worth a buy.

As a fan of paranormal romance and in particular JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood my searches for what to read next kept taking me to this series. That’s not to say the two are comparable, because they aren’t. But if you like continuing story arcs with multiple character POV’s, sexy, sexy love scenes, the occasional bloody fight and tortured yet strong alpha males who become kittens once they meet their prospective mates then you might like this too. The premise for Gena Showalter’s world is quite elaborate. Centuries ago a group of immortal warriors released the demons from Pandora’s Box. (Yes the Pandora’s Box) As punishment the Greek gods cursed the warriors, forcing each to act as host to one of the demons, sort of like a duo personality. Maddox, this books hero is the keeper of violence and because he was unable to control his demon in the beginning and killed Pandora. (Yes the Pandora) Maddox was additionally cursed to die each night at the hands of his fellow warriors, burning in the pits of hell until morning (which can‘t be fun) The Lords of the underworld now live in a secluded castle in Budapest, each struggling to coexist with their own personal demon. The other warriors possess things like disease, wrath, death, pain, doubt, promiscuity, lies, and disaster, all of whom getting their own book as the series progresses. Our heroine here is Ashlyn Darrow. She works for the World institute of Parapsychology and has come to Budapest with her team to investigate the warriors. Poor Ashlyn has a curse of her, born with the ability to hear any conversation that has ever taken place in the location where she is standing. These voices in her head have ruined her life and she’d do anything for a moment’s silence. Maddox finds Ashlyn in the woods outside the castle and even though he thinks she’s ‘bait’ sent by the ‘hunters’ (bad guys) he is instantly drawn to her. For Ashlyn it’s a miracle, because even though she finds this violent and bloody (he’s just killed some hunters) man terrifying the voices have stopped. Now she can’t bear to be separated from him and Maddox can’t help himself either (they never can) carrying her back to the castle and into his chambers. Of course he’s going to have to explain himself to the other men, if he can leave Ashlyn’s side long enough that is and what happens at midnight when his friends have to kill him? That’s sure to put a damper on the ole love life. This is an original and exciting series that I will definitely be continuing on with. Despite the fact that at times I was overwhelmed by Greek Mythology and couldn’t ever keep track of who was who and cursed with which demon. I also had trouble with Ashlyn and found her to be written too young and virginal to ever handle a man like Maddox (maybe I was just jealous though?)

This is a good read. The warriors each have a different demon inside them as punishment for opening Pandora's box, they have learned to co-exist with the demon inside them. Maddox has the demon Violence, and has a deadly punishment every night at midnight. Ashlyn has always heard voices, from all different time periods, in her head and is in search of the ones who may be able to help her control them. When she meets Maddox, there is silence for her, she is determined to stay with him, and he is not wanting her around. What happens when both Maddox and his demon Violence start liking Ashlyn and want nothing but her.

This is the first book in a series that was recommended to me by several people and by the looks of things has had generally quite favourable reviews. Just goes to show, you can't please all of the people, all of the time because it just didn't do it for me, in fact I thought it was just plain bad. The series revolves around a group of warriors who, offended that their gods chose to entrust the guarding of a demon-filled box to a woman, decided to steal the box and release its contents into the world. Their plan was then to gather up the freed demons and put them back inside the box, thus showing their prowess to the gods while proving the female warrior, Pandora, incompetent. Sounds like something a bunch of guys would do alright. Unfortunately, the warriors were unable to recapture the demons. Needless to say, the gods were furious. To punish them, they granted the warriors’ wish to guard the demons. But instead of using Pandora’s Box, they charged each warrior with the task of guarding a specific demon — by placing that demon inside the warrior, thereby letting it possess and corrupt its host. Maddox is the keeper of Violence. Each day, he fights the desires of the demon inside him. He also suffers from extra divine punishment. When Violence originally possessed him, he fell prey to its wishes and killed everyone in his immediate vicinity. One of them was the female warrior, Pandora. Angered that their chosen warrior died by his hand, the gods cursed Maddox to experience her painful death each and every night. Ashlyn Darrow works for an international organization interested in finding and studying supernatural phenomenon. Gifted, or perhaps cursed, with the ability of clairaudience - she can hear voices, the conversations of the past. Constantly bombarded by voices, Ashlynn's only wish is to learn to control her power or get rid of it. So when she learns of a group of men living in Budapest who might be angels, or demons, and are said to have mysterious powers, Ashlyn journeys to their mountain fortress to seek their help. The premise for this series is original and had lots of potential. It's too bad it really didn't live up to it (for me anyway). One of the main things that really bothered me is the men themselves. Beside being flat and unidimensional characters, they seem resigned to their punishment and have made no effort to try and redeem themselves and end their possession. They don't even know what happened to Pandora's box after the demons were set loose. You'd think that a bunch of guys cursed to be tormented by demons might actually try and find a way to rid themselves of their tormentors. Logically, you would think that having the original container to put them back into would be a good place to start. But, no, not these guys. They just live in seclusion on their little mountain top passing the time. Another problem is that I kept waiting for the story to actually start. Ashlyn's and Maddox's first meeting is rather odd. They meet on the mountain where Maddox kills several people. Ashlyn's reaction to this knowledge is that she wants to wrap her arms around him and tuck her head under his chin. Say what? I mean, yes, the voices are quiet when you are around him, but he's a killer covered with blood and you know nothing about him. Seems like a rather idiotic reaction if you ask me. The first half of the book is practically devoted to Ashlyn and Maddox dancing around each other and fighting their mutual attraction, although there is really no romance or sexual tension to speak of. The story ramps up in second half of the book, but it seems to be just a jumble of scenes and I had a hard time connecting them to an overall plot. A bunch of new characters are introduced, including some mysterious voice that is supposedly trying to help the warriors, but it is never clear who or what the voice is or why she is trying to help. This book was a major disappointment.

These two didn't push each other away, but connected instantly and equally. It was a good PNR with action, suspence, an interesting world, love, romance and some heat. I'll be continuing with this series!

It's been awhile since I picked up a series that punched me in the face with originality like the Lords of the Underworld series by Gena Showalter. The first book in the series kicks off with Maddox, an ancient warrior cursed to house the demon of Violence within himself. His struggle is palpable on my tongue everytime he strives to keep a leash on such a turbulent force as violence. He was hot and delicious with just those edges of dominance and a bit of roughness around a core of determination and possessiveness that made him undeniably and immediately one of my favourite fantasy romance men of all time. On the opposite side of such an imposing and strong male lead is Ashlyn, possessed of an uncanny ability to hear every conversation that has ever taken place in every step she takes. She wasn't the strongest female character I've ever come across, but her perseverance was endearing to me and matched with Maddox's overwhelming presence made a good combo. The idea behind the series, Pandora's box having been lost in time and all those icky wicked evil demon's being forced into the bodies of ancient warriors to punish them for unleashing the beasts in the first place is simply inspired. I'm a huge fan of greek myth and I was pleasantly surprised and delighted to read this one. I read the book in one sitting and started Darkest Kiss (book 2) the very next day. GREAT GREAT GREAT! Thanks to Lady Eternal Butterfly for her review of this book, it made me pick it up and I'm very thankful.

A group of immortal warriors were created to guard dimOuniak (aka Pandora’s box), but instead of guarding it, they opened it and released horrible demons into the world. The Greek Gods and Goddesses punished the warriors by making them each house a demon inside their body. Some of the warriors left Greece centuries ago and took up residence in Budapest to escape a war between themselves and those who want to kill them, the Hunters. Maddox, keeper of Violence, not only houses a demon, but is cursed with dying at midnight and spending every night in Hell. He refrains from getting close to any mortals, especially women, because he struggles to control his demon and does not wish to hurt anyone. Ashlyn, a mortal, has spent her life being researched and studied. She’s got a special ability, which she thinks of more as a curse, that forces her to hear every conversation that has ever taken place in the spot she is currently in. When she learns of the immortals in Budapest, she seeks them out hoping they can help her learn to control or get rid of her ability. When Ashlyn meets Maddox, she is amazed that the conversations and voices stop. She’s also filled with desire for him. The concept of immortals housing demons and the Greek mythology is a refreshing change from all the vampire novels that paranormal romance fans tend to read. The Darkest Night is an intense and sensual feast! The immortal warriors all struggle with their demons, making control and freedom major themes in the novel. Maddox is an ardent and fierce character that borders on scary at times. Gena Showalter did a great job creating Maddox as a well rounded character because underneath his brutal exterior is kindness and tenderness. Ashlyn is sweet and the reader will genuinely feel for her in her struggle to find silence from her ability and also affection from someone who can understand. The Darkest Night introduced some of the other warriors who are the focus of other novels in the series. I enjoyed getting to know a little about the others because it makes me eager to read the rest of the novels. The ending was surprisingly touching with many moments of sadness. I would absolutely recommend The Darkest Night to readers of paranormal romance because it’s sensual, steamy, and exciting with great characters and a mesmerizing plot.

The cast of characters are very well written and the story is pumped with action. The romance is sensual, hot, and darkly beautiful. Maddox and Ashlyn's passion for each other can't be denied. I'd bite my own lip while reading. I also have to admit that the way Maddox speaks in English is entertaining -- only because I'm imagining his speech to be accented. Despite their own hells, love does conquer all in this story. I don't have any negative critiques for this book. Showalter's Darkest Night is highly recommended. Darkest Kiss and Darkest Pleasure are next in my to-be-read list. Visit my book blog at bambireads.blogspot.com for more reviews.

This is the first novel of Gena Showalter that I have read and I am totally hooked on this series now. Gena took such a different angle towards the story of Pandora's box it sucked me in from the beginning page! The characters were irresistible and I strongly recommend this novel to anyone who needs something different in romance novels and doesn't mind the paranormal.