I love a good paranormal romance and the latest book to fit that description definitely did not disappoint. DARK HUNGER by Rita Herron was a wonderfully passionate story full of suspense and quite a bit of tasty action. Although this is the second in The Demonborn series, I believe that it could do quite well as a stand-alone novel. Rita Herron is the latest on my list of authors to keep an eye on and I can’t wait for the next The Demonborn to be released.Quinton Valtrez has been battling his darker side for all of his life. Coming from a past full of pain and suffering with small spots of light and hope thrown in, he learned quickly to detach himself from emotion and feed his dark side without letting it consume him. Quinton is Demonborn, although he doesn’t yet know the specifics of it. He lives his life as a trained assassin, picking off the people at the heart of the chaos and destruction in the world. He has nobody to care for and nobody cares for him. That’s just the way he likes it.Annabelle Armstrong is a beautiful blonde haired reporter. She has a tendency to catch men’s eye but most recently it’s Quinton eye that spots her. Led by tips from a mysterious person, Annabelle is on a mission to discover exactly who Quinton is. Based on her information, she views Quinton as a murderer and will do anything she can to expose his vicious man. All her plans change, however, when Quinton turns out to be anything but human and his darker side fades to allow her to see a bit of the goodness underneath. Now she’s faced with a choice, expose him and risk his life and hers or follow her heart and her body by giving herself to him.Not every Romance out there does a great job of integrating the romantic element into a captivating storyline. Herron did just this in DARK HUNGER. Throughout the story we were led on a search to figure out which city the Underworld was targeting next, how to stop them, who these mysterious people are that are popping up in Quinton’s life, and who Quinton will decide to be when the time comes to make a choice. The story was complex with many different aspects to keep the mind occupied while the romance flowed freely throughout. The passionate scenes, when they did happen, were quite steamy. Herron has a wonderful way of creating beautifully written love scenes and yet still encompassing this hot spark between our two main characters throughout other parts of the book. Even something as simple as a glance between Quinton and Annabelle became full of desire.As I mentioned earlier, DARK HUNGER is the second in The Demonborn series; however, I wouldn’t let this deter you from picking up the book. I always recommend reading a series in order and would recommend that again here, but if for some reason you wanted to jump ahead and just start with DARK HUNGER, I think that Herron’s backstory is suitable to understanding DARK HUNGER without having read Insatiable Desire. Even a fantastic romance with beautiful scenes and a tension filled plot wouldn’t be terrific if the characters were duds. I’m happy to say that Herron created depth and complexity in Quinton and Annabelle. Both characters have history that we slowly get to discover, complex feelings and emotions that play out in their actions, and of course, an unexplainable hunger for each other. Sometimes we’ll see one great character and the other, either the male or female, doesn’t live up to that complexity. In the case of DARK HUNGER it seems that Herron was fairly equitable with Herron, creating strong characters in both her male and female leads. It’s no secret that more women read Romances than men, but I think in DARK HUNGER, Herron has created a book that can appeal to both sexes.Fair warning time: This book most definitely has adult themes and adult scenes. I would give this a sensuality rating of 4 and recommend it for adults due to the language and graphic content. Also, some of the scenes might seem a little gruesome. These are few and far between, but they are there. I also wouldn’t say that they are gross, by any means, but on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being some Resident Evil fun, I would put DARK HUNGER at a 3.DARK HUNGER was an entertaining book that occasionally had my heart pounding in anticipation and other times had my heart pounding as steam fogged up the windows. Seriously, I think steam may have actually come off of the pages. The action was intense; the plot full of tension, and Herron ensured that the characters really came to life. If there are lovers of passionate Paranormal Romance out there, this is the book for you. ( )

Book three comes out April 2010. Even knowing this I started the book, and loved it. You do not need to go in order to understand the book and enjoy it. I am going to go back and read book one though, I loved the series and everyone in it that I want more of them. I can not wait for book three to come out next year.
I loved how this book was a romance, and paranormal suspense all in one book. It kept you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what would happen next. Annabelle and Quinton are the perfect couple if you ask me, if you can get past the fact that he has special powers and is a demonborn. I was surprised on how sexual this book was, after reading the description I was looking for just a suspense paranormal, I have to say I was shocked at first at how much raw sex was in this book, but I think that it totally fit into this book and made it even better. ( )

ark Hunger is the second in Rita Herron’s Demonborn Trilogy. In it we meet Quinton Valtrez. Quinton is not your average man - he’s half human / half demon - and can hear your thoughts. He was orphaned as a child and was raised by monks who helped train him in controlling his powers in order for him to battle the demons that would eventually taunt him into turning evil and returning to the underworld. He presently works for Homeland Security as a deadly assassin, part of an unacknowledged division in the government. He is able to balance his darker needs by killing bad guys - he does this without any remorse and is happy with his life.

Annabelle Armstrong is a reporter for CNN and she has one mission - to expose Quinton Valtrez for the killer that she knows he is. She has received various mysterious tips and they all lead to the same thing - Quinton is a bad guy and a murderer and she will do anything to get the scoop even if it means getting closer to him in order to achieve her goal. But as bombs start going off in Savannah, Charleston and New Orleans - it is up to Quinton to discover who the culprits are behind these evil acts. As Annabelle starts questioning his motives and his humanity - she is put in a position where she’ll have to choose between exposing Vincent or following her heart.

Quinton and Annabelle were both very strong and very likeable characters. I loved how they both did everything in their powers to fight the attraction that they feel for one another but in the end they could not stop the inevitable. Although Quinton is described as a half-demon, for some reason he did not come off as a dark character - on the other hand, I found it endearing that he had such soft spot for Annabelle. As for it being part of a series, I can definitely say that you do not need to read the first book Insatiable Desire (although these characters do have cameo appearances). It was very easy to read and just as easy to understand this demon infested world they were living in. Ms. Herron does a fantastic job in keeping the reader anxious to see just what will happen next. She intertwines all the action with just enough romance to keep you satisfied. I loved the scene with the surveillance camera =P Very sexy!

It was intense, action-packed and full of steamy scenes that will have you turning the pages quicker just to get to those juicy moments. All in all, this is fantastic reading for you paranormal romance lovers. ( )

On some levels it's quite predictable, he's a part-demon, she's a reporter, sparks fly when they get together, but he's got issues about his demonic urges and she doesn't know if she can trust him.

It's interesting, I didn't really connect with her but he was quite an interesting character. Very readable though, it kept me up for a while last night. ( )

Dark Hunger is the second book in a trilogy by Rita Herron, set in a modern-day world with a backdrop of demons pulling the strings. Three brothers are demon-born but redeemable, and each book tells a different sibling’s tale.

Quinton, trained by monks and the army, uses his demonic skills to fight terrorism and save lives. But there’s a dark hunger for violence and death hiding under his cool efficiency. And when reporter, Annabelle Armstrong, gets too close, all hell, or at least, Quinton’s evil father, breaks loose.

There are some really amusing scenes as the protagonists try to deny their attraction to each other. But true love, and physical love, are very determined players in this tale, and both will be needed to keep Quinton from the dark side.

I skipped the odd scene here and there, where the romantic details grew too clinical for me, but that’s my loss. Dark Hunger’s certainly an intriguing tale, and I’m sure Insatiable Desire and Forbidden Passion will be just as good. ( )