Ecstasy in Darkness by Gena Showalter

Narrated by Justine Eyre

If you’re in a Paranormal/Urban Fantasy funk, then Ecstasy in Darkness may just be your ticket to get you back in the groove. I used to love books in this sub-genre. In fact, listening to vampire romances is how I first fell in love with audiobooks. In the last year or so, however, with very few exceptions, I have found myself shying away from them. Well, let me tell you, Ecstasy in Darkness grabbed my attention from the start and captivated me until the end, reminding me of what I used to find so special in these stories!

This was my first, but certainly not my last, Gena Showalter title. In particular, I wanted to note that if you have not yet had a chance to read an Alien Huntress book, don’t be hesitant to try this one. Ms. Showalter did a great job of explaining the background such that this book easily stands on its own. Additionally, the love life of the hero and heroine are resolved in this title, so there is no HEA cliffhanger, unlike many other PNR/UF series.

The Alien Huntress series takes place in a future urban world that is full of all types of aliens and paranormal creatures. Heroine Ava Sans is an agent in training with Alien Investigation and Removal (AIR). Ava has had a rough life, growing up with little means in the tough streets of New Chicago, so she learned how to fight to survive early on. Translating those skills to AIR, Ava, along with her best friend Noelle, have achieved rapid success with their ruthless investigation tactics and soon are pegged for a promotion to full agent status provided they can take down McKell, the former leader of the vampire army and one of the most powerful vampires around.

When Ava and Noelle, at first overly confident in their own abilities, greatly underestimate McKell’s, it leads to a rather humorous, albeit sparks-filled, beginning to their relationship. Soon Ava finds that what she feels for McKell is much more than the interest for a subject that could propel her career. McKell, a vampire blessed with just about every power imaginable including the ability to stop time, is, in turn, equally perplexed. He has always viewed humans as an inferior race, whose sole mission is to serve as his food. Soon McKell and Ava strike a bargain – McKell will cooperate with Ava and come in to AIR willingly for questioning (so she can look like a hero and gain her promotion) if Ava will work with him to capture and interrogate vampires who may potentially hold the secret to being able to walk in sunlight unscathed.

As they spend more time together, the attraction becomes even stronger, and soon McKell discovers a secret that ties their future even more tightly than their previous bargain. Add in an evil Schon queen who is targeting AIR agents to infect with all sorts of horribles, and you have a mad dash to save the human race and the world as it’s known in the Alien Huntressseries.

I loved McKell. He is an alpha hero tried and true, and will do anything to protect what he considers his, namely Ava. Some of the best parts of this story involved him defending her and were quite comical in addition to swoonworthy. Moreover, Ava is no wallflower. Quite to the contrary, she has a strong will of her own, and is fiercely loyal, to the point that she will risk all for her loved ones. Ava’s relationship with Noelle also led to some memorable humorous moments, particularly in the beginning when Ava and Noelle try to lure McKell with the innuendo that they are actually best friend lovers.

My first experience with Justine Eyre was earlier this year when I listened to The Unwanted Wife by Natasha Anders. Ms. Eyre has a very unique style which I absolutely adored in that title, so I had huge expectations for this performance. Well, let me tell you that Ms. Eyre does not disappoint! Even though this is a completely different sub-genre (and the characters in that book all had heavy geographic appropriate accents), I was thrilled to find that Ms. Eyre’s characterizations in this book were also well-developed, true to the characters’ book description, and easily distinguishable from one another. Additionally, Ms. Eyre does a marvelous job of communicating the various degrees and multitudes of emotions experienced in this book. From the action scenes to the sexy ones, and even the flawless delivery of the tongue-in-cheek humorous dialogue, Ms. Eyre brings them all to life.

McKell is described as having a deep, raspy voice, and Ms. Eyre expertly recreates this feature. He almost has a breathless quality to him which further gives him an overall badass, sexy appeal. I can still hear his many pleas for “Ava” in my head. You can literally hear his desperation as he eagerly tries to track her down. Moreover, the urgency and total all-consuming need he feels for her Ava when she is around just dripped from Ms. Eyre’s portrayal adding an impactful urgency to his plight when he senses she is in danger. Thus the narration was very instrumental in proving just how deep McKell’s feelings are for Ava.

Ava, in turn, sounds like she was raised in the “hood”. She is not as polished as her rich best friend, Noelle, and this disparity is easily gleaned from Ms. Eyre’s characterizations. In fact, Ava has a very unusual accent, which I can only characterize as sounding somewhat Brooklyn like (think of a very minor, much less irritating, version of Fran Drescher’s voice for the 90’s sitcom The Nanny).  While this is not necessarily one of my favorites, I think in this case, it aptly captured Ava’s specific upbringing and also brought credence to the undertone of insecurity that surrounds her when she frequently feels inferior to the other AIR agents and seems convinced that a powerful man like McKell could never stick around long-term with her.

From laughs to suspense, to steamy love scenes, Ecstasy in Darkness has it all. I highly enjoyed just about everything about this impressive audiobook, and look forward to listening to more of Gena Showalter’s and Justine Eyre’s titles in the future. Gena Showalter and Justine Eyre thank you for reminding why I once fell in love with paranormal and urban fantasy audiobooks!

 

BJ

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Narration:  A-

Book Content:  A-

Steam Factor:  For your burning ears only

Violence:  Escalated Fighting

Genre:  Paranormal Romance

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Audio

 

Ecstasy in Darkness was provided to AudioGals by Simon & Schuster Audio for review.

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