"Seduce the Darkness" by Gena Showalter

I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of Seduce the Darkness by Gena Showalter from Pocket Books, and what’s more, I was even invited to participate in a Blog Tour promoting the book. From first glance, it was clear that the book was right up my alley. You know, fantasy, intrigue, mystery, steamy romance. All the good stuff that we look for in a great escapist novel. Not only were the internal ingredients all there, but the book has a great cover. (As you can see in the pic of the cover art that I posted, the cover flaunts a flexed, tatted bicep and rippling back muscles. Sure, you can’t see the fella’s face, but is that really even necessary??)

Seduce the Darkness is Book 6 of Gena Showalter’s critically acclaimed Alien Huntress series, and it is the story of Bride McKellis and Devyn, the unwilling king of the Targon race. She is a vampire, and despite is sexual prowess (ahem…promiscuity), she is not his cup of tea. You see, while Devyn is a great lover of women of all shapes and sizes, colors and species, he is afflicted with a peculiar form of ADD. He cannot seem to get pleasure from bedding the same woman (or women of the same race) more than once or twice. As he so eloquently infers, he would rather do the job himself than go back for seconds.

At their first meeting, the two do nothing for each other. While he is clearly attracted to Bride, when Devyn identifies her as a vamp, his interest wanes. And things are far worse from Bride’s perspective. She sees Devyn as not just insufferable, rude and arrogant; she finds that she cannot manipulate him with her voice as she can everyone else. That coupled with Devyn’s physical attractiveness and bluntly voiced attraction to her is enough to send Bride in the opposite direction as fast as she can go.

Unfortunately, the two are destined to cross paths again. Devyn is hunting an alien fugitive who is carrying a terrible virus. (Think Dawn of the Dead or I am Legend and you’ll get the idea.) And, come to find out, Bride’s blood holds the key to the terrible diseases cure. This truth binds the two together tighter than anything else could possibly have done, and their fates are irrevocably intertwined.

I fell in love with the characters in this one. Despite Devyn’s infallible knowledge of his own beauty and superiority he is charming, and he quickly grows on you. And Bride, she is his perfect counterbalance. Unbending and unwilling to be walked on and/or used like all of the women who came before her, she is clearly his destiny. I really enjoyed Seduce the Darkness, from the beginning (a sad scene from Devyn’s childhood that lays the groundwork for his adult persona) to the climax (which I will not spoil). All in all, I have to give this one four solid stars. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I haven’t even read the first books in the series. That is saying a lot