The Darkest Surrender (Lords of the Underworld #8) by Gena Showalter Summary: Possessed by the demon of Defeat, Strider cannot lose a challenge without suffering unimaginable pain. For him, nothing stands in the way of victory. Until Kaia, an enchanting Harpy, tempts him to the razor's edge of surrender.Known among her people as The Disappointment, Kaia must bring home the gold in the Harpy Games or die. Strider is a distraction she can't afford because he has an agenda of his own-steal first prize, an ancient godly artifact, before the winner can be named. But as the competition heats up, only one prize will matter-the love neither had thought possible...Source: I purchased a paperback
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Review:
The Darkest Surrender was great! I loved the chemistry between Strider and Kaia. As much as I’m enjoying the series, I will admit that the author creates some pretty unlikeable women and I truly like very few of the wives in the series. Kaia, however, was awesome. She was feisty, fierce, and unrelenting. Yet, she had her moments of weakness, often felt like she wasn’t good enough because of the way her race and mother treated her. As a Harpy, she possessed the violent and crazy tendencies (unlike Gwen, the freaking lamest Harpy ever), but I like that she also had her flaws and weaknesses, too. She chased after Strider with a purpose and determination like no other and I loved how they came together.
Strider was a mess. He was all torn apart about Haidee getting together with Amun, but we all knew that it was just because of Defeat and had little do with him actually liking Haidee. He knew he was being a bitch and needed to get away. He liked Kaia, but she already slept with Paris, making her completely off limits in his book. He was the demon who always had to win and he made it a point to never compete with the Lord of Sex. I understood where he was coming from. But we also got a glimpse of Kaia’s feelings, and she already viewed Strider as being stronger, better looking, and all around more amazing than Paris. It was really kind of cute, but the two of them were so freaking stubborn that it was just a giant clashing of wills.
There was so much tension in the book and I feel like it took the longest of all the relationships for the two of them to finally admit that they were made for each other. Kaia basically forced him to be her consort at the Harpy games and Strider pretended to hate it. I loved getting more of a in depth view of Harpies in general (especially since Gwen barely counts as a Harpy and Bianka and Lysander are annoying weird, too). I know Kaia will probably rub some people the wrong way, but she was one of the most level headed heroines in the series so far. I mean, we’ve seen crazy Anya the goddess, naïve and annoying Olivia the angel, Gwen the lamest harpy ever, Scarlet the crazy bitch who literally blamed Gideon for not remembering shit that actually never even happened… Kaia was such a refreshing character to me.
I highly recommend the series and I am definitely continuing. I can’t wait to find out what happens next. Paris will get his story next and I’m excited to see what happens to him.
