Passion Unleashed

by Larissa Ione

Book Overview

FORBIDDEN TEMPTATIONS Serena Kelley is an archaeologist and treasure hunter-and a woman with a secret. Since she was seven, she's been the keeper of a powerful charm that grants her health and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446401056
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Forever
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 1.0" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

Paranormal romance readers will enjoy this one!!!

Passion Unleashed by Larissa Ione is a great story. It is action, adventure, danger, romance, hot chemistry between hero and heroine, and an alpha male hero who comes across with such devotion and tenderness for the heroine. I would suggest, since this story is the third in a series, that you read at least one of the other two first. I didn't read them in order myself, I went to the second story first, and I wasn't too confused. Archeologist Serena Kelley is a human protected by a powerful charm that she wears around her neck. No one can hurt her unless they take her virginity. And the hero, Wraith, needs to take her virginity away from her, or else he dies, along with both of his brothers. Wraith is a Seminus demon who was poisoned, and there is only one cure, and that is Serena. But there is a condition. If he takes her virginity, he might live, but she will die. When he meets Serena, he is thrown for a loop because he has feelings for her that only intensify the longer that they are in each others company. He wants to protect her, but he doesn't want to die, he doesn't want his brothers to die, and he has just found out that if he doesn't take her virginity and her charm, Armageddon among his people might start. This is a terrific story, and the best one of the three, although the second one runs a close runner-up for me. 5 stars!!

5+ stars. Best of the demon brothers, passion sneaks its way past Wraith's wrath

I've mentally called half vampire/half demon brother Wraith 'Wrath' in the past two Demonica books, because that just seemed to fit with his aura of darkness, anger and death, but amazingly that all changes here. Oh *fans self* when bad boys go good, yum! On a mission to gain a reprieve from his impending death from a deadly poison for which there is no antedote, Wrath starts out pretending to be human and decent in order to facillitate the seduction that will save his life. But in acting that role - and for the first time in his life letting someone get close to him - Wraith is blindsided by the discovery that he actually does have a heart and a conscience. And by making Wraith's mate Serena the one woman he can't have without killing, Ione builds the tension between the pair to an incredible level. The result is smoking hot and poignant both. The the Demonica series starter, Pleasure Unbound (Demonica, Book 1), was my favorite new series release of last year and Passion Unleashed book 3 in the series is even better. I loved incubus demon Wraith's transition, from the bad boy of the first books who used sex and violence to help him hide from the torture of his past. In fact unlike his brother Eiodolan who feared the final incubus maturation, Wraith not only embraced it hoping for the mindlessness of the incubus extreme sexual need, but actually hastened it. And I loved the way that author Ione takes Wraith through his transition. Along with Wraith's story, Passion Unleashed finishes up the thread between former leader of the demon-hunter's, the 'heavenly' Kynan, and demoness Gem which has run through all the books in the series. I have to admit that after the first book I was really looking forward to this pairing, after the second book I was not too happy - Kynan's treatment of Gem didn't fit with his character in the first book and it was not pretty - and I was perhaps even a bit more disappointed with their story here when I read the book the first time. On the second read though it didn't strike me the same, their reunion was rough but they end up in the right place at the end with a painfully earned happily ever after. And on to the future... Ione introduces an intriguing new character, assassin Lore who able to kill with a touch - which is death to his bed partners. Lore will be the star of Demonica book 4 (not 'til 2010 though) and there is also a 5th book planned, possibly Gem and Kynan's spawn? Can't wait. If you don't mind a touch of darkness in your PNR I highly recommend Ione's Demonica series - Pleasure Unbound (#1) and Passion Unleashed are 5 star reads and Desire Unchained(#2) a respectable 4 stars. Oh, as P.S. - don't miss the bonus the short story The Reckoning - where Eiodolan and Shade find and save Wraith- it's hidden behind the Demonica Compendium at the end of the book.

Passion Unleashed by Larissa Ione

YES! YES! YES! Excuse me, I'm having a private moment ;) I finished "Passion Unleashed" by Larissa Ione and I must say that this is one series I'm so very glad I'm hooked on. Her Demonica novels take place in an intricately built world, with enough differences from the raft of paranormals available to distinguish themselves. The characters are NOT one-dimensional caricatures of one creature or another...oh no, Ione has a vast selection of characters with multi-layered personalities on top of the traits attributable to their species and these differences from the average urban fantasy or paranormal romance today are just a couple of the things that make her novels stand-outs, IMHO :) In "Passion Unleashed" we finally get the story of Wraith, a sex demon who's 'gotta have it'! So 'have it' he does...often and with vigor. He's the 'bad boy' of the three brothers we've read about so far and Ione certainly puts him to the test in his love story. Wraith has been infected with a poison that has no antidote. He's only got one chance to save his life...find the 'Chosen' virgin and 'deflower' her. Hey! He's a sex demon--no problem. Serena is one of the 'Chosen'--she holds a relic that would be pivotal in the event of Armageddon. This same relic is all that protects her from an incurable disease she contracted at a young age. So holding on to her virginity isn't really a choice...it's the only thing keeping her alive. Good thing Armageddon isn't on the calendar, huh? Ummm, hold that thought. There's a fallen Angel turned renegade and he's after Serena's relic. So the chase...I mean race, is on. Oh, just one more thing. The fallen Angel can TAKE the relic from Serena, but Wraith will have to seduce it from her. But really, sex demon, no problem, right? I don't mean to make this book sound like a light-heated paranormal romance, because it's not. Although there is much more humor in this story than the previous two, it's still a nail-biter of a suspense/action novel. And Ione doesn't let the action/suspense overcome the love aspect either. Both Wraith and Serena face life and death decisions that will affect not just themselves, but their friends, loved ones, and heck...the whole world! No pressure. Others have reviewed "Passion Unleashed" and gone into more detail so I won't take up your time with more words. What I will say is that if you like urban fantasy, spicy paranormal romance, action and suspense, drama, and hot supernatural creatures...RUN, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore and pick up this whole series.

Dark, Emotional and Thrilling

I experienced every emotion possible while reading Wraith's story. The writing flows beautifully, the plot and sub-plots are thrilling, heartwarming, frightening and suspenseful, and the dialogue is witty as well as brilliant. With each page I turned and read, I was kept on a razor's edge, not knowing how the intricate storyline was going to be resolved, let alone how Wraith and Serena Kelly were going to achieve their HEA. Passion Unleashed Wraith has been poisoned and is dying, slowly. Underworld General is literally crumbling and falling apart bit by bit. Staff is deserting the hospital. And, as war between human and demonkind looms, the apocalypse seems a tangible reality. Eidolon and Shade try to find an antidote for Wraith and discover the only cure is for him to procure a charm from Serena, a beautiful, sweet archaeologist who has a zest for life. I loved this heroine, while she has lead a "charmed life" as it were, and you will understand my meaning if you read the book, she is independent and curious about all things historical. She goes to almost any lengths to recover a relic, almost like a Lara Croft type of character, except Serena is a virgin and must remain so or lose her health. There is extraordinary irony in the love story between Wraith and Serena because he, as you know if you have read the series thus far, has always done what he wants, uncaring about the consequences of his actions on others. Wraith is a selfish, hedonist demon with a death wish, however I've always liked him. Why? He is funny, cocky, brutally honest (most of the time - lol), he is an amazing warrior and he does have a certain code that he lives by with respect to satisfying his sexual needs. Wraith never has sex with human or vampire women because of a horrific past that is really fleshed out in this story. So, the irony you see is that the woman who holds the cure for Wraith's affliction is human and a virgin, and he must seduce her to take the charm that will save his life. Their romance is one of the more bittersweet stories I've read and while rest assured they do have their HEA, I wept for them on more than one occasion. As is the way with the seminus demons in Larissa's novels, Wraith falls hard and for the first time in his life he is forced to come to terms with deep feelings for another. The erotic scenes penned between Serena and Wraith are boiling hot, but also tender and sensuous, ladies, get ready! The backdrop to their love story, as I mentioned above is complex, but the metamorphosis of Wraith's character is deeply embedded into an absolutely riveting story that will leave readers hyperventilating until the closing pages. If you thought the antagonist of Shade's story was a malevolent scary creature, wait until you read the one written for Wraith's. This creature is an unequivocal hells spawn whose goal is the total destruction of earth. The graphic imagery and prose written surrounding the final battle between the Aegis army an

Wraith - Beautiful disaster

In most paranormal series nowadays, there seems to be one character, usually one of a group of brothers, who is messed up. He's the one who doesn't care if he lives or dies because he was horribly abused. He can't feel love, only loyalty. And he gets the best lines, because he's usually a smart aleck. Enter Wraith. From the moment he appeared in Pleasure Unbound, he was my favorite and I couldn't wait for his book. The book has finally arrived and it is awesome. Wraith was everything I hoped for; witty, tough, determined, vulnerable when recalling his past, and a total goober in love when he found his lady. What I liked about that was the way they fell in love. He didn't meet Serena, growl "mine" and let fate roll right over him. No, he met her to take something from her, namely her life in exchange for his, and against his will, started liking her. As the stakes grew higher and things got more serious in regard to what he needed to do, he began to be unwilling to be as selfish as he'd always been. He began to put her needs first. And they started to fall in love. This series is a winner. It is complex and interesting, with little in-jokes and characters that leap off the page. At several points through the book I found myself smiling. Who knew Shade would turn out to be the most whipped of the brothers? That Gem would grow a nice strong spine? But there was a great deal of sad stuff too, and moments where it just didn't seem things could possibly work out. But they do, of course, which is why I love this series. It's a romance. A lot goes on, but things work out. And smoking hot love scenes don't hurt, either, and there were plenty of those, and not just Wraith and Serena. In the end, Wraith got his happy ending, and I was extremely satisfied with that. It's always great when the extra-damaged ones find love, and Serena is worthy of him. They accept each other at a fundamental level, and to me you can't get more romantic than that.