Desire Unchained: A Demonica Novel

Plot Summary: Shade wakes up chained in a dungeon with an ex-girlfriend who hates his guts. They've been kidnapped by ghouls, the faceless boogeymen who kidnap supernaturals in order to harvest their organs. Runa hasn't seen Shade in almost a year, since he dumped her after a month of incredible sex, but she's hardly forgotten or forgiven him. Their kidnapper has a personal grudge against the Sems brothers, and his punishment for Shade could activate a curse that would literally turn Shade into a living shadow.

I think these books have near perfect pacing, because this is the second Demonica novel that has entertained me beautifully with nary a snooze. I am never tempted to skip, skim, or speed through any of the passages, regardless of which characters are being featured, because they're all interesting. I am more than willing to pony up the dough to keep reading this series, which is definitely one of the highest compliments I can bestow, since I'm a disgustingly frugal book buyer.

While I liked Shade and Runa's story, I have to say that they probably won't be my favorite couple after I've read more of Ione's books. They have unique problems to overcome, but their chemistry never reaches that nuclear hot level I'm constantly hoping to encounter. As with her first novel, Ione blends in saucy sex scenes (including BDSM this time around), with great interpersonal dialog between Shade and Runa.

It's always a pleasure to spend an afternoon at Underworld General, the demon-run hospital serving all non-humans. I commend Ione for dreaming up such a unique setting for her paranormal world, and I love hearing about all the weird and wonderful creatures who get treated there.

I'm thinking that maybe Wraith's book, the next one in the series, will deliver the best romance yet, and the teaser chapter had me itching to buy it immediately. I showed some restraint, but I know that I'm getting it sometime this month.

Introduced in Pleasure Unbound, Shade is the brother with the brooding bad-boy manners and a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas. Branded with a love curse thanks to his Seminus Demon nature he can never fall in love, lest he fade away. When an evil figure from his past comes back to haunt him he winds up imprisoned with former girlfriend Runa Wagner. Once naive and sweet, his betrayal has left her jaded and with more than one bone to pick with her former flame.

Suffering under a curse of her own the last thing Runa wants is to fall in love with the man she blames for her curse. But when Shade's enemy bespells them, forcing the two into a mating that binds them eternally both begin to finds things in one another worthy of love. Shade has to find a way to break his own curse and defeat the enemy or fade away forever.

Oh how I wanted to love this one. The storyline was good. The villain was nicely brought in and made a terrific enemy for the brothers. Runa was a likable heroine, once timid and innocent she's become angry and bitter in a way most women who've been burned by love can relate to.

What didn't work for me and makes me actually feel a little guilty is that I don't like Shade. Didn't like him in Pleasure Unbound and don't like him any more now than I did then. I read somewhere that he is the authors favorite and I think to some extent maybe that is why I kind of felt like she was trying to put too many eggs in one basket with him. Originally I thought he was supposed to be the mysterious, brooding one and Wraith was supposed to be the bad-boy but it came across like she was trying to make Shade brooding, mysterious, charming, snarky, the bad-boy, the rebel, all of these things in one. If you are a Shade fan I think you'll love this one. Unfortunately he just didn't work for me and it's tough to love a romance when you wanna trade the hero for another one.

That said it sets us up nicely for Wraith's story which is the one I have been looking forward to. If you enjoy subcharacters and side stories there's more of Kynan and Gem's back and forth attraction and Luc (I love Luc!!!) pops up a little. If this series continues beyond the books of the three brothers it looks like there is potential for some enjoyable urban fantasy storylines with a romance blended in smoothly. I may not have loved this one but I definitely look forward to seeing where this series goes.

I agree with other reviews that this book is darker than Pleasure Unbound. But to me it was still every bit as good as the first one. Shade is not my favorite brother, Wraith is, so I read this book with a more critical eye, as the first book was all so new, and this book wasn't Wraith's. Yet I still loved it.

As I read I kept thinking, what else can happen to these two? They had practically every calamity thrown at them. But as others have said, the genuine bond between the brothers really carried the book. I also love the growing friendship between Wraith and Kynan. Interesting.

Runa is an awesome heroine, very strong. I didn't connect that much with Shade, but that's not the author's fault, he simply didn't do it for me. But the storytelling is first-rate, the action fast but not over the top, and overall this series is a total auto-buy for me. In the crowded field of paranormal romance, this series is fresh and very, very involving.

I wasn't thrilled. It did not grab me like the first. It was okay. The story line seemed rushed and lack romance. I love this genre, don't get me wrong, but this was just okay. I still plan to read book #3. The first novel "Pleasure Unbound" was fantastic!

What can I say about this book, okay first it was mostly entertaining, second it was a little foolish in parts...It could of been a pretty fun read, but it got 3 stars from me because it was so frustrating i.e. the characters stupidity and lack of just telling it how it is. In order to keep the story going the writer went to great links to prevent the characters from telling each other the truth. This happned so often towards the end that there were times I had to put down the book.

Then there was the strange BMSM chapter between Shade and Runa where he beats her to submission while she confesses her dad was a drunk - weird and pointless. Thats just the truth...any one who thought that had anything to do with the story is crazy. If you read JR Ward you will find that the BMSM was very "Z" with out the skill, but for those who don't read that series no worries...if you like ball gags and whips then this is a good book for you.

What is great about the book and the sub-plots, there are some awesome charaters here. The writer has put together a detialed world that is easy to get lost in.

The 1st and 3rd book in this series where much better all and all.

Wow, talk about a huge change in rating from the first book to the second. This one left a rather foul taste in my mouth.

Shade is an incubus demon who was cursed by an angry warlock when he caught Shade diddling his wife. The curse is set to activate when Shade falls in love. When this happens he is doomed to fade into nothing, becoming a kind of tormented ghost. So, Shade has spent his life avoiding any kind of romantic attachments in fear of activating the curse. Which has apparently given him license to be a complete ass.

The story starts with Shade waking up in dungeon that he shares with an extremely pissed off female werewolf named Runa. Runa, our heroine, reveals that she had dated Shade for a couple of months and it ended badly. This is where my problem started with the book. It's no spoiler to tell you that Shade cheated on Runa since its talked about in the first couple of chapters. Runa came to Shade's apartment one day to find him in the middle of screwing two women. This definitely set the tone of the story for me. I absolutely cannot stand cheating heroes. Its one of my biggest pet peeves. I muscled through the rest of this book mostly because of how much I had enjoyed the first one. The only reason why this book is getting two stars from me is because I enjoyed the subplots going on. Otherwise, Shade and Runa's relationship just pissed me off. I didn't really like Shade. He cheated on Runa and was plotting to kill her through most of the book to save his own hide. And he did nothing to redeem himself. There was barely even an "I'm sorry" involved. Runa spent a very short time hating him and then she suddenly switched to professing her undying love and devotion. Girl needs to grow a stronger backbone and Shade needs a swift kick to the balls.

Anyway, Wraith's story is next in the series. I'll be picking it up mostly because I had it ordered before I read this one. Hopefully, its closer to being like Pleasure Unbound than this one.

A couple of reviews ago I mentioned that I needed to start paying more attention when I pick up books. At that time I was referring to the order of books in a series. With the Demonica series it has more to do with series spin-offs. I started the Lords of Deliverance series before I realized that a lot of the back story, world building and characterization began with the Demonica series. See what I mean about paying attention? *sigh* No worries though. My 2013 Seriously Series goals are helping me to rectify this in a big way.

I started reading Desire Unchained right before Bout-of-Books 6.0. Silly me thought that I could start it and then put it down for a week while I read all the other books on my Goal list. Yep, silly me is right. Once I got into the Demonica world again I couldn't stop. It wasn't just Shade and Runa either, although believe me, they would have been enough. It was Wraith and Kynan and Gem and Arik and Reaver - all of them just sucked me in. Yeah, I think I'm really going to enjoy catching up with these characters and the mythology that surrounds them.

Desire Unchained gave readers more back story and threw in some really crazy surprises that shocked everyone. I loved it! It definitely kept things moving. I love roller coaster rides in books and this one definitely didn't disappoint. Then there was the romance. *swoon* Both Runa and Shade had their reasons for not wanting to fall for each other. BIG reasons. Shade was cursed and Runa was heart broken and seeking revenge. They fought themselves as much as they fought each other and even though their love was inevitable it seemed impossible. Not a new concept in a PNR but like I've said before, it's not necessarily where the characters end up, it's the journey that gets them there and this was quite a journey.

I love the interaction between the characters in both the Demonica series and the Lords of Deliverance series. The dialogue and the dynamics between these flows so well. It's easy to get wrapped up in the story and I love it when readers are treated to different POVs throughout a book. Basically, there's nothing about either one of these series that I don't like.

Even though this was Runa and Shade's book, I think one of my favorite characters is Wraith. That's good because the next book is his. He discovered as much about himself in Desire Unchained as readers did and I can't wait to see what Larissa Ione has in store for him in Passion Unleashed.

I'm starting to wish I'd just waited for this series to come available in my local library rather than rushing out and buying all five books hoping they'd get better in time. It hasn't.

I struggled with this book. The only thing that saved it from less than 3 stars was the caliber of the writing. With that said, the second book in the Demonica series doesn't improve on the first. Although "Desire Unchained" is well written, the book fails with absurd twists, a spoiled plot and too much hair raking.

Admittedly I liked that the wronged girl gets the guy who crapped on her, but the development of the relationship and the characters and their motivations were just downright corny.

The hero has a BDSM chamber, but hates the thought of having to use it but gets off on rough sex?! Kynan, a secondary character, inexplicably ends up working in the demon hospital even though he hates demons, hunted them down and exterminated them, and his wife cheated on him with one. The heroine couldn't just be shy and weak-willed, she had to be a workaholic with a failing business, zero sex life, a sick brother, and tremendous guilt because she feels she caused her parent's divorce. Then pile that on with the fact that she was mauled by a wereworlf after witnessing the hero sleeping with someone else. But she doesn't become an ordinary werewolf, she's a super were manufactured by the U.S. Army! She can not only shift during the full moon, but she can do it at any time she wants and she can turn other supernatural beings, like demons into weres as well.

Can you lay it on any thicker? Oh but the author does with the villain's dialogue. It was so tripe I pictured him as one of those hunched over villains from silent movies who always ties up the girl on the train tracks. All the villain needed was a mustache he could pull on and a "mwah...ha...ha...ha" thrown in every now and then. Character dump as well. He couldn't just be wronged by not one, but two characters. He also had to be deformed, insane, burnt to a crisp without any genetalia to mate with his one true love, who's woefully unfaithful to him.

I also didn't care for the "guilt" scene between Runa and Shade. It just didn't make any sense. One minute her punishment was about her loving a man despite his maltreatment of her, then it suddenly turned into her guilt over her mother's death. Personally, the reasoning was weak and simply a set up to throw some BDSM into the book. YAWN

Finally, the crux of my review. Like in Book one, the author suffers from putting the cart before the horse. She always gives too much away in the beginning. What's the point of reading when all we're doing is turning pages to see how things will be resolved. It's like learning Darth Vader is Luke's father in the beginning of Episode 4. After that you're only turning pages and wondering why he's with Han Solo and Princess Leia as they try to get in each other's pants and not spending his time becoming a Jedi. The same goes with this book, it seemed like the author dumps all the nasty stuff out there first just so the hero and heroine can do the nasty most of the book.

Let me start off by saying that I love the Demonica series. But "Desire Unchained" was my least favorite. This 2nd book in the series features Shade, a paramedic and a Seminus demon. Like all Seminus demons, Shade is a man whore. He can't really help it. For him, frequent sex is a biological imperative.

The book starts off with Shade and his sister kidnapped. He wakes from his attack, chained up in a dungeon. Among the prisoners there, is his ex-girlfriend Runa. Back when they dated, Runa was human, but now she's a warg (werewolf). Their relationship ended badly... Runa had walked in on Shade in bed with two other women. His response was to invite her to join them. It was when she ran out of the apartment in tears, she was attacked by a warg and infected with lycanthropy.

***SPOILERS***
***SPOILERS***

It turns out that the kidnapper is Roag, Shade's brother, who he thought to be dead. Roag's alive, but badly burned and has serious metal problems. He wants revenge against the brothers he blames for his condition. And he wants to harvest body parts to reconstruct himself. (Gross.)

Anyway, Shade has a curse on him that says if he ever falls in love, he'll turn into, well, a shade. He will no longer be corporeal, alive only to feel unrelenting hunger and solitude for the rest of his existence. So clearly, Shade isn't looking for love. But Roag figures if he sets up Shade and Runa as mates, Shade will eventually fall.

All that is pretty interesting and I like Runa. Shade, not so much. It also seems that Shade has a "gift" where he can draw out a woman's deep pain with some BDSM. This is where they lost me. I'm all for people getting their jollies however they like them. Live and let live. But this did not appeal to me. The whole concept was a turnoff and the scene where Shade "helped" Runa made me cringe. I felt like Runa was testing her growing empowerment throughout the whole book. We saw her grow from a weak woman to this strong warg -and then all of a sudden, Shade needs to whip her to help her get over her mommy and daddy issues? Really?

Moving on. It was cool to see Kynan, our former demon-hunter, working with the guys at Underworld General. I want so much for him to return Gem's feelings. And I want to kick him in the man-jewels for how he has treated her. But I am captivated by their scenes and they are a great secondary story.

Roag is a great bad guy. The story is unique and intelligent. And the world building manages to be both clear and complex.

If you like the Demonica books, you can't skip this one. Despite the parts I didn't like, there are plenty of parts that really did work that make it a good read. 3 1/2 stars.

I wasn't as big of a fan of Shade and Runa's story than I was for Eidolen and Tayla's story in book one. Shade is a little darker and more anguished than his brothers because of a curse placed on him that will trigger when he mates.

The heroine Runa also was a little more complicated and conflicted and her relationship with Shade was not particularly smooth or universally happy. They were literally thrown together in a dungeon and tricked into the first stage of mating by the surprising villian that will loom over the whole story. Like Tayla, Runa has a little something extra in her DNA, although hers was the result of an attack.

This entry in the series didn't take place as much in the hospital, it was mostly set in the dungeons and in a house Shade has in Central America. The couple seemed to bicker a lot and Runa's extra special new paranormal side is pivotal to Shade being able to mate with her and the unfortunate side effect he receives as a result of some particularly bite-y sex.

The ending is a bit of a non-surprise and doesn't really set the next book up; the whole series can actually be divided up and each book can be read as a standalone, although it flows much better if you read it in order. After reading this, I think if you're thinking of skipping any one book, it should probably be this one. It's still a very good book and there are elements of it that tie in a moderate loose end from book one. I think my inability to really get into her head and really like Runa prevented me from giving this book five stars.

The books in order:
[[ASIN:044640103X Pleasure Unbound (Demonica, Book 1)]]
[[ASIN:044640098X Desire Unchained: A Demonica Novel (The Demonica Series)]]
[[ASIN:0446401056 Passion Unleashed (The Demonica Series)]]