Heart of Darkness (Includes: Lords of the Underworld, #4.5)

Heart of Darkness (Lords of the Underworld #4.5)

by
4.12 of 5 stars 4.12  ·  rating details  ·  4,910 ratings  ·  257 reviews
From the masters of paranormal romance, three brand-new tales of seduction…The Darkest Angel by Gena Showalter

A Lords of the Underworld tale

An iron-willed demon assassin, the angel Lysander has never known lust—until he meets Bianka. Spawned from the bloodline of Lucifer, the beautiful but deadly Harpy is determined to lead the pure-hearted Lysander into temptation….

Love M...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published December 22nd 2009 by HQN Books (first published December 15th 2009)
more details... edit details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
Mockingjay by Suzanne CollinsSpirit Bound by Richelle MeadDead in the Family by Charlaine HarrisLinger by Maggie StiefvaterClockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Can't Wait Books of 2010
88th out of 1,297 books — 10,683 voters
Lover Mine by J.R. WardSpirit Bound by Richelle MeadDead in the Family by Charlaine HarrisSilver Borne by Patricia BriggsMockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Eagerly Anticipated Books Remainder of 2009 and 2010
67th out of 426 books — 1,470 voters


More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
filter  |  sort: default (?)  |  rating details
Debbie
Darkest Angel by Gena Showalter
Part of the elite seven (Angels that destroy all those who break heavenly laws), Lysander was watching the Lords of the Underworld when he saw her. As Harpies went, Bianka Skyhawk was fascinating, feeling the need to keep her safe, keep her from doing anything that might make him have to destroy her, he whisked her to his home in heaven. Being trapped in a cloud was a new on Bianka, never been to heaven, but she had to get back to her sisters and being trapped was...more
Shawna
4 stars – Paranormal Romance Anthology

The Darkest Angel by Gena Showalter is Lords of the Underworld story #4.5 that takes place between The Darkest Whisper and The Darkest Passion and tells the tale of innocent, pure-hearted warrior angel Lysander, a demon assassin, who finds himself led into temptation by naughty, fun-loving, bad girl Harpy Bianka. It’s only a 140 pages, but it’s a smokin’ HOT story with lots of laughs and a sweet HEA. It’s worth reading for the hilarious and sexy Lysander ve...more
Wendy (V-Lishous)
I'm only giving this a 3 because it is an anthology.

Gena's story was very good. An Angel and a Harpy, how could it not be, but entirely too short.

Maggie Shayne's story was very good. I'd never read anything by her and I did enjoy her way of writing. The story pulled me in.

Susan Krinard's story just didn't do it for me at all. I understood where she was going with it but the way it was written was confusing. She had many characters that she would go back and forth with. Some of the people that...more
Carrie Olguin
This book contains three stories by three different authors.

The first "The Darkest Angel" i give a full five stars. It's part of the Lord of the Underworld series but not because it's between Lysander the angel and Bianca the harpy. As with most (If not all) of her books, I loved the humor, the strangeness, the ireverance, the continuing story. Really loved the scene with Lysander and Paris wrestling in cherry flavored oil. Five Stars.

The second story is "Love Me to Death" by Margeret Benson. It...more
Becs - Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews
My review is just for the Gena Showalter story - The Darkest Angel.

This is the story of Bianka, a harpy and sister to Gwen from The Darkest Whisper, and Lysander, an angel of the Elite Seven. I still have a hard time with a harpy being a heroine, seeings as my boss is the High Priestess of the Harpies, but I am definitely getting over it.

This is a lovely story - 2 kinds of immortals that should never be together but their love transcends their differences like Romeo and Juliet. Bianka is all har...more
Jessi
I'll read anything in the Lords of the Underworld Universe (Gena Showalter), and the LOTUW short in this anthology didn't disappoint. Lysander was wonderful, and Bianka was mischievous yet vulnerable. I really enjoyed the theme of sin versus virtue and good versus evil. I read on in the series and then came back to this story. It was fine reading it our of order. I highly recommend The Darkest Angel.

But for me, the star of the Heart of Darkness anthology was Love me to Death. This short story wa...more
Jilly
The Darkest Angel was the reason I read this book but actually my least favorite of all the stories in this anthology. This story is about Gwen's (from The Darkest Whisper) sister Bianka and Lysander the Angel. Lysander finds himself fascinated by Bianka and can't resist stanching her. He hopes a little time with her will cure him of his fascination but we all know that isn't going to happen.

The best part of this story is the introduction of Olivia who is the Angel that seem enthralled by Aeron....more
Monica Vidal
I effing loved this book. Bianka is fun from the first page to the last. She is like a role model to follow: confident, sexy, beautiful, funny, confortable in her own skin and that kind of girl who knows who she is and embraces it. I LOOOOOOOVED her. Her romance with Lysander is so funny to watch, cause the angel struggles and try so hard to resist her, but ultimates cave in, cause, duh...who could resist Bianka?

And what to say about Lysander and Paris oil-wrestling dressed in loincloth?! I alm...more
Monica
The Darkest Angel
I have been feinding for a 'Lords' story for awhile now, and I definitely was not disappointed. Gena Showalter has a very specific writing style, I could recognize it even without knowing she wrote it, and that's an awesome thing, in my opinion. I loved this story, it was sweet, sizzling hot and just cute. I am glad Gena Showalter is expanding her characters as well...we now have sexy angels, and probably more demons to play with. Great story, loved the entire thing. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Lo...more
Mιss •kαthєяίиє•  Τhε Emεrαℓd Pяίиcεss®
It is not fair that in the book were included others apart from the darkest Angel by Gena Showalter, because my rating is far too much for them.

The Darkest Angel --> This book definately earns its place at the Lords of the Underworld series. The Story is about Bianka, Gwen's sister, and Lysander, an angel.
For Lysander, Bianka is his one temptetion, something that can lead him to his fall. So he thinks about the perfect plan to prevent his fall. To make Bianka fro a sinful creature to an obe...more
Emily
Ooooookay. Let me start off with a little more information that will be helpful in deciding whether or not to read this or not. First, Gena Showalter's story in this book, titled The Darkest Angel, is a part of her Lords of the Underworld series and I'll admit was the big attraction to this book for me. The Darkest Angel was by far the strongest story in the book, so that's a good thing.

The Darkest Angel is the story of Lysander, an angel, and Bianka, a Harpy, who we met in the last book. The st...more
Elyzia
This was a great book, the three stories in it were really good.

The Showalter story, The Darkest Angel, was amazing. Lysander, an angel, a very powerful angel at that meets Bianka, which fans of Lords of the Underworld will remember from Sabin's book, she is Gwen's sister. Both of these characters were perfect for each other. They are both strong and very determined. The story is hot and non stop.... Even Paris, whom I love, makes an appearance, and there is a oil wrestling scene, yummy!!!!!

The...more
Cindy
Good anthology - I really liked the Gena Showalter story and the Susan Krinard story was a good read-once - but the Maggie Shayne story [although well written:] was not one I enjoyed.

The Darkest Angel is the story of the harpy Bianka [sister of the heroine in the last book:] who finds her consort, Lysander, who is a warrior angel. He sees Bianka as 'evil' since she does bad things - without realizing that she ONLY does them to bad people. Bianka sees him [correctly:] as a sanctimonious prig. The...more
Deanna
**ONLY REVIEWED THE DARKEST ANGEL BY GENA SHOWALTER, I WILL COME BACK LATER AND READ THE OTHER TWO STORIES**

Fast approaching the wedding of Gwen and Sabin (our lovers from The Darkest Whisper), Gwen’s twin sisters, Bianka and Kaia, are at home doing some of their favorite things, getting drunk and throwing themselves off icy cliffs. Little do either of them know they are being watched by the angel Lysander who’s mainly focused on Bianka. You see, Lysander has figured out that Bianka is his one t...more
Vanessa theJeepDiva
The Darkest Angel gets 5 stars. Bridesmaids dressed as Southern Belles on crack, a demon with a tiara glued to her scaly scalp & Paris in a loin cloth oil wrestling need I say more. The story of Bianka & Lysander was sweet. I loves it when complete opposites get their HEA.

Love Me to Death gets 5 stars. A murdered teen gets her justice through another while bringing her into her soul mates life through dreams. The 5 teens who thought they were responsible find out after 22 years are reles...more
Kaseyalyssa
This review is for The Darkest Angel. It was a change of pace from the LOTU books. And I have to say, I loved it. There was no bad guys, just their relationship. It was lovely...On to the review!!

The Good:
Lysander & Bianka- I loved them individually and together. She was feisty, sexy, and so open to being with an angel. He was clueless, sexy, and strong. Together they were sexy, funny, and oh so entertaining. Yes, lots of sexy!!
The Cloud- How cool would it be to live in a cloud that gave you...more
Jen (That's What I'm Talking About)
3 story anthology
"The Darkest Angel" by Gena Showalter - 4 stars - This was a fabulous tale set in Gena's Lords of the Underworld series. The primary characters are Lysander, a heavenly angel, and Bianka, a wicked Harpy. We met Bianka in a previous novel. Their story is fun! The romance is wonderful and the novella sets up some of the story line for her next novel. This is a must read for any Lord fans.
"Love Me to Death" by Maggie Shayne - 3.5 stars - This is the tale of a teenage girl killed to...more
Sarah
I originally only bought this because it contained a short novella by Gena Showalter and I was curious to read Bianka and Lysander's story. And, it really didn't disappoint. I don't really like short stories since I like reading things in which the plot and characters really develop which is hard to do in a short story, but I think Showalter did an excellent job in overcoming that problem.

Maggie Shayne's story Love Me to Death was good too, but not as good as Showalter's story (though, I might...more
JenJenBoBin
"4 Stars for Bianka and Lysander!"

"Temptation seeped past your defenses, changed you, made you long for things you shouldn’t."

What a sweet little Novella I really liked this one... wished it was loooonger!! :)

Bianka the beautiful, fun, free spirited, seriously naughty little Harpy (sister to Sabin's woman Gwen) is spirited away to Heaven by Lysander the very straight faced, honest and majorly uptight Angel. He found Bianka to be his greatest temptation (which is a sin... yikes!) so he takes he...more
Kelly
Anthologies are always hit or miss with me and yet I keep reading them. In this case, I had to read the Lords of the Underworld story. HAD TO. It's like an addiction. A dirty, shameful "have to read all the stories in a series" addiction. I'm actually okay with it. *nods*

So... The Darkest Angel. Quite frankly, I loved it. Bianka was fleshed out from the previous book and, lo and behold, she's not as terrible as you might have been led to believe. Yeah, she's feisty. Yeah, she's naughty. Yeah, sh...more
Samantha
This is a collection of three short stories. Overall, the only really good one was Gena Showalter’s.

The Darkest Angel by Gena Showalter is up first. This story takes place in her Lords of the Underworld series. It doesn’t have much to do with the Lords though. They mostly just had some cameos with a bit of explanation of what has happened to them in previous books. In fact, eliminating their presence in the story probably would have made it flow together better.

The actual plot follows an angel...more
Sophia (FV)
The Darkest Angel by Gena Showalter

Lysander, is a very serious, down to business demon slaying angel. He has never experienced desire or lust and that’s just fine with him. Things like that are messy, and distracting according to the warrior angel. Until the day he discovered Bianka, his true temptation.

Bianka is a spunky little Harpy who is unknowingly driving Lysander crazy. Naughty by nature she’s lusty, likes to get drunk, and has a mischievous personality.

Lysander decides he cannot allow t...more
Saly
Darkest Angel by Gena Showalter

I only read the Gena Showalter & loved it, an Angel and Harpy pairing awesome. Bianca is Gwen's sister and a true Harpy. Lysander is an Angel who finds out she is his temptation so thinks he will make her into him so takes her to his cloud where she drives him batty, until he sees he was wrong to take away free will from her. I loved it that the hero was a virgin, a stranger to desire and even kissing. Both of them try to reform the other. Bianca realizes he is...more
Leah
Let me start out saying that all three of the stories in this anthology are incredible. I honestly didn't think I was going to like the Maggie Shayne and Susan Krinard stories as much as I did, but I knew that I was going to love Gena Showalter's story. All of the stories appealed to me in different ways, but in saying that, I have to say that Gena's story, "The Darkest Angel," was still my favorite. I love the relationship between Lysander and Bianka and loved watching it develop. The presence...more
Rachel
Jun 12, 2010 Rachel added it
True, by this time it was not a blank space any more. It had got filled
since my boyhood with rivers and lakes and names. It had ceased to be
a blank space of delightful mystery--a white patch for a boy to dream
gloriously over. It had become a place of darkness. But there was in it
one river especially, a mighty big river, that you could see on the map,
resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its
body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the
depths of...more
marjorie
wow i loved this story of lysander and bianka so much it made me want to go back through the LOU series. i would give this story alone 5 stars unfortunately it was paired with two other stories that didn't come close to being as good as gena's story. i do wish she would not put her stories in with other authors works that are so dissimilar to her own. i'm not saying the other two books weren't any good they were just so different that they were hard to swallow. they weren't the paranormal kind o...more
Elena *Phade* G.
so this is based on the darkest angel. i didnt think i was gonna give it 5 stars at 1st but once i finished it, i couldnt give it any less than 5. bianca is hilarious as hell, and indeed very naughty. total role model material. well at least for me. and lysander, he is just hubba hubba yum. a lil uptight, but no worries. bianca fixes that. and lord have mercy, him and paris, draped on only loin clothes, covered in oil and wrestling?? *falls over dead* yeah, that was beyond hot. major props to bi...more
Sarah
Disclaimer: I only read "The Darkest Angel." loved it though- finally get to see Lysander away from his "job." We've had a chance to meet the Skyhawk sisters and learn their quirks and personalities but Lysander was largely an unknown until this. I love the way the short was written: battle of the wills leading to the inevitable realization of love between two vastly different people. Fun, quick read that helps supplement the Lords of the Underworld series.

Unless you buy it used or like the oth...more
Alisha (Underworld Book Chick)
OMG, I really love this book, and it was really good.. I think Bianka was a little brat, about men that is for sure. Anyhow Lysander is a really good person and I think they can work there relantionship work out.. They are so good together, and they love each other.. I think it is funny that Paris and Lysander was oil wrestling it was really funny, that was really good part, I never in my life cryed and laugh at the same time.. really good book and I can't wait to get the others when they come o...more
Lucy
Darkest Angel, LOTU 4.5, is the reason I read this anthology. The other two stories didn't work for me, but I truly enjoyed this one. Lysander is an angel, and he is so stuffy and goody-goody that I wanted something to happen to him. Bianka, a harpy descended from Lucifer, is his temptation, and she is what happened to him. She is a wonderful character, lying, cheating, stealing, yes, but only from the "bad guys". He is so straightforward, and she thinks in curves. They balance each other perfec...more
« previous 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 99 100 next »
topics  posts  views  last activity   
Gena Showalter Fans: The Darkest Angel (LOTU #4.5) 2 13 Jul 23, 2012 11:48am  
Heart of Darkness (Includes: Lords of the Underworld, #4.5)
Heart of Darkness (Includes: Lords of the Underworld, #4.5)
Heart of Darkness: The Darkest Angel\Love Me to Death\Lady of the Nile (ebook)
48192
Gena Showalter is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty books in paranormal and contemporary romances, as well as young adult novels. Her series include White Rabbit Chronicles, Angels of the Dark, Otherworld Assassins, Lords of the Underworld, Alien Huntress and Intertwined.

Her novels have appeared in Cosmopolitan Magazine, and Seventeen Magazine, and have been transl...more
More about Gena Showalter...
The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld, #1) The Darkest Kiss (Lords of the Underworld, #2) The Darkest Pleasure (Lords of the Underworld,  #3) The Darkest Whisper (Lords of the Underworld, #4) The Darkest Passion (Lords of the Underworld, #5)

Share This Book

Your website
“To answer your question, you want me because I'm made of awesome.” 452 people liked it
More quotes…