Tuesday, April 6, 2010

To Paranormal or Not To Paranormal

Favorite things. Everyone has them. Given the option people will always choose the familiar, safe path 9 out of 10 times whether it's a decision between Chocolate or Vanilla ice cream; M&M's or Smarties; Tea or Coffee; Pop or Rock-n-Roll; there's always a clear-cut favorite.

Readers are no different. We all have our guilty pleasure whether it's paranormal, contemporary, historical or romantic suspense. Sometimes, if you step outside your comfort zone and try a "new flavor" - you might be pleasantly surprised.

To clarify I am not a fan of the paranormal romance. That’s not to say that I don’t read any books included in this genre. Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changling and Lora Leigh’s breeds are two paranormal series I do read. Maybe I just enjoy animal shape shifters rather than demons and angels?

So why then did I choose to read Passion Unleashed when:
1. I don’t normally do paranormal
2. This is the third book in a series
3. I’ve never read or heard of Larissa Ione before

When I was just new to Twitter and following a lot of authors and fellow book junkies, Twitter was quite abuzz with talk about Larissa Ione’s Demonica books. Always on the lookout for a new author to add to my ever growing pile of favorites, I ventured out to the bookstore and Passion Unleashed was the only Ione book in stock – so I bought it.

My Thoughts – from a non-paranormal perspective

♥♥♥♥
Passion Unleashed is youngest brother Wraith’s story who is a half vampire/half demon. He’s a total bad-ass and he’s been infected with a deadly poison that is slowly killing him and to which there is no cure in the conventional sense. Now if he can find the human virgin Serena who holds the magic charm, seduce her into having sex with him and take the charm then he’s golden. No problem right? Oops slight hitch in that plan; Wraith may be cured but unfortunately for Serena once she has sex with him she dies. What’s a demon to do?

I won’t claim that I totally understood 100% what was going on in this demonic underworld because there was a lot going on; brothers Eidolon and Shade and their wives, sex demons, half vampires, fallen angels and heavenly angels, nasty, vile creatures and of course a virgin. It’s a very intricately constructed otherworld.

The bottom line is this book contains all the elements of any contemporary/romantic suspense novel I might normally choose to read. Messed up family dynamics (including a biotch of a mother and a long lost brother); mega-hot sex scenes; funny, witty dialogue; great action and adventure; bad guys (granted they are a little more “monstrous” creatures in this world) and at the heart of it all a true love story between a hero and heroine who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the ones they love. Good does triumph over evil and the guy gets the girl at the end of it all.

It may have taken me a while to read my way through Passion Unleashed, but I am glad I finished the journey.

Here's your chance to weigh in. What's your favorite genre and why?

3 comments:

Larissa Ione said...

I'm so glad you liked the book! And it's funny...if people can't start at the beginning of the series, this is the one I suggest they start with. Book 2 is extremely dark, and book 4 is potentially confusing, so books 1 or 3 are the best starters, I think.

Which sounds weird, I know. :)

Anyway, great review, and again, so glad you liked Wraith!

Cecile Smutty Hussy said...

This is priceless... Paranormal is my comfy read, lol! As twisted as that sounds.. give me my vamps, weres, demons, shifters, dragons... whatever you got.. and I will read! LOL!!
I do have this series and I am glad to see that you just picked it up and read. First, that is brave to do.. hee hee.. Secondly, I have ocd which does not allow me to read out of order.. yea I am just wired wrong, lol!
Great review of the book!
I hope all is well!

WEIGHT LESS NOT MORE said...

Larissa thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy day to visit and comment on the blog post. That was very nice of you.

Cecile: We are all creatures of habit with our "favorite things" and I can see why this series is such a draw and lots of people love it. I did purchase the next book in the series (Lore's story) - now I just need to find time to read it!