Passion Unleashed by Larissa Ione

Passion Unleashed is another entertaining, exciting installment to the Demonica series, and while I did liked it, I didn’t love it.

I thought the story itself was great. Wraith has been poisoned and to save himself, he has to find a special charm, an amulet whose keeper is a human. He not only has to take the item from her, but he also has to take her virginity. Slight Spoiler - Now, if left at that, it sounds like a cheesy way to toss sex into the story, but it really worked for me because the real edginess and emotional angst of the story comes in because Wraith’s brothers, Shade and Eidolin, are also affected, as well as UGH – Underground General Hospital – which is literally falling apart. The three of them are closely tied to the hospital, their combined powers protecting the building and those within, but the closer Wraith come to dying, the more unstable the building itself is making it nearly impossible to treat patients and save lives. And if that’s not bad enough, if the keeper loses the amulet, she’ll die a slow, painful death. End Spoiler

 So how can Wraith possibly reconcile himself with what he has to do to stay alive and what will happen to the woman he’s fallen in love with if he does? I really enjoyed the dilemma, the drama, and the angst of the situation and thought the way it was all resolved was great!

Throughout the first two books, Pleasure Unbound and Desire Unchained, I saw Wraith as this incredibly tortured soul who was so far gone he was nearly beyond redemption. Unfortunately, I didn’t get that same feeling in his book. Even though he was still rough and edgy, he seemed almost to be a watered down version of his earlier self. I kept waiting for the WOW to kick in, but it didn’t happen for me.

The heroine, Serena Kelley, wasn’t someone I became totally invested in. Don’t get me wrong, I felt bad for what her life had become and was destined to remain, but for a character as a whole, I just didn’t connect on a truly deep level with her and I can’t put my finger on why.

I was expecting this to be a five star read, but unfortunately it didn’t reach that level for me. I’m giving three stars because while I loved the storyline itself, I feel like almost anyone could have stepped into the role of hero and heroine.

I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series!