Review - 'The Darkest Craving' by Gena Showalter

Blurb 

Having endured weeks of torture in the bowels of hell, Kane wants nothing to do with his beautiful rescuer, Josephina Aisling. The half-Fae female threatens to awaken the demon of Disaster inside him—a beast he’s determined to kill, no matter the price.

Josephina is hunted by a brutal enemy—her royal family—and Kane is her only source of protection. He’s also the only male to ever set her aflame, and even he succumbs to the heat. But as they navigate the treacherous world of the Fae, they are forced to make a choice: live apart…or die together. 

Review 

Kane, keeper of Disaster, survived weeks in Hell after brutal torture and rape by demon minions and even more torture from two of the Horseman of the Apocalypse who rescued him from the minions. His real rescue came in the form of a half-fae/half-human blood slave named Josephina.

Both Kane and Josephina are in very dark places in their lives and they’re ready to die. Literally, die. Kane wants to kill Disaster, the horrible demon who lives inside his body, but to do that, Kane must die, too, which he’s fine with. Josephina has been tortured for centuries by her royal Fae family because her eldest sister, Princess Synda, is a beloved spoiled brat who is never held accountable for her actions and crimes. Josephina is always punished in Synda’s place.

Kane and Josephina’s love story blooms gradually and I really enjoyed watching both of them grow out of their dark shells. Josephina has a hard time trusting people and that’s completely understandable after what’s she’s suffered. The Fates, aka the Moirai, prophesized Kane would marry the demon keeper of Irresponsibility, Synda, or the only female Horseman, White (William’s daughter), but he can’t stand either of those two women. He’s drawn to Josephina.

My main problem with this story is that Kane constantly calls Josephina ‘Tink’ or ‘Tinker Bell.’ I absolutely love with guys give their women cutesy pet names but he called her Tink as her regular name, not a pet name, as though the name Josephina wasn’t good enough for him. This is very insulting. Even Josephina told Kane to stop calling her that, but he wouldn’t and she started to like the name Tink after a while and started to call herself that.

Of all the demon-possessed warriors, Kane seems to have it the hardest with Disaster. With the other guys, their demons loved their women and it’s like a threesome-type relationship. Not in this book. Disaster hates Josephina and will do anything to kill her.

I soooooo love the scenes with Cameo and Lazarus stuck in the Paring Rod. Strider beheaded Lazarus two books ago, but Lazarus is alive and well in spirit-form inside the Rod. He teams up with Cameo to escape and sparks ignite between them.

Torin meets Mari, the one human in the world who is supposedly immune to Torin’s disease, but she’s also Cronus’s prisoner. Turns out she might not be immune, after all, and Mari has a very powerful friend who will punish Torin if Mari dies.

I’m anxious for William and Gilly’s story, but I’m frustrated he’s acting as her protector while tomcatting around and trying to keep it from her. Granted, they aren’t lovers yet and he’s free to sleep with whomever he wants (he usually does), but he shouldn’t hide his whorish ways from the girl he’s crushing on. She deserves to know the truth about his real character and not what he wants her to know. Gilly is a smart young woman, but she’s blind when it comes to William and he’s taking advantage of that. At the end of the book, however, I think her eyes are finally open but I doubt it will stay that way.

To fully understand this book, unfortunately, you should read the first two books in the spinoff series, Angels of the Dark: Wicked Nights and Beauty Awakened. While a few events in those books are recapped in The Darkest Craving, there are unanswered questions for readers (like me) who hadn’t read the spinoff books.

This is the last book I have so far in the LOTU series. Since the spinoff series is intermingled with the main series, Burning Dawn (the third Angel book) comes after this one, followed by The Darkest Touch (Torin’s book), and then Baden’s book that came out in the summer of 2016. Will I continue collecting the LOTU books and now the Angel books, as well? I don’t know. I’m invested in the characters but I’ll probably wait to buy the books when I find them on a big sale.

4 Stars

Disclaimer – I bought this book for my own enjoyment. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.