Audio Review: Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione

Title: Pleasure Unbound Series: Demonica #1 Author: Larissa Ione Publisher: Hachette Audio Format: MP3, 11hrs 54mins Published: February 1, 2011 My Copy: Audible.com Rating: Buy: Someone has been cutting up demons and removing their body parts, and this doesn’t make sense to doctors Eidolon and Shade, the only surgeons in the world who care exclusively for demons. One patient after another has been arriving at the “demon ER” with missing internal organs, and Eidolon vows to find who has been targeting his race and for what purpose. To make matters worse for Eidolon’s demon-kind, he’s just gone and treated a female demon-slayer who heats his blood as no other has. Tayla is a sexy, lustful, demon-slaying warrior who works for The Aegis, a council of humans who have vowed to rid the world of demons. Eidolon knows Tayla’s deepest secret: that she is actually half demon herself. She is, in fact, the only being Eidolon has ever seen who has half-demon, half-human blood. And she’s the only woman who has ever captivated him so. But is this woman, who is trained to eradicate Eidolon’s species, the person responsible for the rash of demon mutilations that are turning his hospital upside down?

I decided to start reading the Demonica series based solely on its hotness factor and Pleasure Unbound definitely delivers a stellar performance on that front. I was also curious to see how Larissa Ione was going to work the seminust demon story line. And, I must say, I really really enjoyed learning about their natures. She took a completely different approach than what I’d expected; one that’s similar in some respects to the werewolf life mates one that I so adore. Score! The chemistry between Eidolon and Tayla is scorching and the added bonus of experiencing their tale via an audio book will leave you feeling hot and bothered in the nicest possible way.

Ione does an amazing job of developing her characters and their background stories in this novel. Her demons aren’t all lumped into one category. There’s a multitude of different breeds with various traits, personalities, strengths and weaknesses. Some are good and some are bad but the brothers seem to fall into a gray area. I loved how much thought and time was put into defining Eidolon and his seminust brethren. At first I was expecting sex crazed incubi and I was okay with that, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. These demons NEED sex like they need air otherwise things can get horribly painful and even death can occur. Sounds crazy, right? I don’t want to go into too much detail because Larissa does a far better job than I ever could and you really do need to experience this series for yourself to understand what I’m talking about.

This story isn’t just about Eidolon though it’s also about Tayla. These two couldn’t be more opposite but then again, you know the saying… Anyway, they go at it like a demon and a slayer should. Their encounters are violent, intense and raw; and I’m not just talking about their fights either. I enjoyed watching the unlikely relationship develop between this duo. Tayla fights Eidolon’s pull tooth and nail but as things progress, their chance meeting ends up looking more and more like fate.

The side characters are also incredibly noteworthy. I’m holding out hope that a few of them will get books of their own in the Demonica series or in a spin-off. Maybe they already have, I have some research to do!

Pleasure Unbound is high on action and romance which can be a difficult combo to pull off. Many paranormal romances seem to get sidetracked once the lovin’ kicks in and never quite make it back full circle. My blood was bubbling as much from the toe curling nookie as from the ass whooping thanks to this book. Cassandra Campbell does a fab job of narrating this novel too which also helped amp up the wow factor. I’m committed to this series for the long haul and can’t wait to check out Shade’s story in Desire Unchained. I’m looking forward to Wraith’s even more but, one step at a time!

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