Spotlight & Giveaway: The Darkest King by Gena Showalter

Posted March 2nd, 2020 by in Blog, Spotlight / 34 comments

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Gena Showalter to HJ!
Spotlight&Giveaway

Hi Gena and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Darkest King!

 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

A savage, irreverent son of Hades has a million little secrets and one ginormous obsession with becoming a King of the Underworld. When he meets the only woman in all the world who’s worse than he is…a savage, irreverent beauty with secrets of her own and a penchant for dishing punishments ah la The Good Place, well, things get complicated…and fun…and sizzling hot.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

Eyes glittering with menace, expression raw and brutal, he was the incarnation of war, the epitome of sex and the king of violence, savagery and cruelty.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

While writing The Darkest King, I went through a painful week-long medical procedure, with residual effects that lasted months. The characters and the world became my escape.

 

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Hero: At their first meeting, she shoots him in his beautiful face. He’s hooked from that moment on.

Heroine: She knows he’s a son of Hell—men she dislikes for crimes they committed against her people. She’s determined to punish the hero her way – ah la The Good Place – but his wry sense of humor is so at odds with his savagery, especially when paired with his unrelenting sensuality, and he proves irresistible.

 

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I had a lot of fun letting my heroine shoot my immortal hero in the face. He’s always been so smug and self-assured, it was nice to pair him with a woman immune to his charms.

“I will do it. Don’t think I won’t.” The evil smile returned, and she lowered the gun to his shaft. “Still eager to be shot?”
He rolled his eyes while secretly applauding her spirit. “Like I haven’t been shot in my man-junk before.” Hoping to fluster her, he said, “Ah. I understand the switch. You’re a bad shot, so you need a bigger target.”
“Good point,” she said, returning the barrel to his face. “There’s nothing bigger than your ego.”
“Sunny,” he began.
“Goodbye, William.” Boom!
Pain exploded in his beautiful face and quickly spread through the rest of him. His world went black. His knees buckled, and he collapsed, crash-landing with a heavy thud. As he lay there, shock reverberated inside his bones. She’d done it; the sexy little bitch had actually pulled the trigger.

 

Readers should read this book….

Readers should read this book if they like sexy hot paranormal romances featuring irreverent bad boys and women who torture them mercilessly.

 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

Currently I’m working on book 2 in my Forest of Good and Evil series, The Glass Queen. This is a dark and edgy Cinderella retelling…where Cinderella is possessed by an evil witch, and Prince Charming is a reincarnate of the most savage king ever to rule, and he wants the witch dead, like, yesterday.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

 

Giveaway: One print copy of THE DARKEST KING. Open to US only.

 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Who is your favorite romance novel hero of all time and why?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from The Darkest King:

A laugh slipped from her. What the hellebore! A prince of darkness would not amuse her. “Sorry not sorry I sent your companions away. When I want something, I go for it.” Truth!
He moved his gaze over her once again. “And you decided you want me?”
His tone…she thought she detected a hint of certainty and uncertainty. How odd. “I spent a whole five minutes planning your seduction. That’s six minutes longer than usual.”
“That means you’re only twenty-four hours behind me,” he replied, ignoring her screwed-up math.
Did he make a joke…or a statement of fact? Did he just admit to attending the conference to find her?
So. There’s a chance I was wrong. A chance he knew or suspected who she was, and he’d come to stop her—forever.
Rage flared anew. Soon, it would be appeased…
For now, she forced another smile. The jerk had yet to invite her to join him, or express a desire to leave with her. Playing hard to get? Time to take their banter to the next level to give him an excuse to act. “If you were a pizza topping, you’d be hamburger and jalapeno, because you’re grade-A beef and hot. I’d be ham and pineapple because I’m salty and sweet.” No. No way I just openly compared us to pizza toppings, as if we’re taking a Facebook quiz.
Okay, so she didn’t just suck at flirting. She sucked, period.
But wait! He smiled a genuine smile, not one of those smirking grins, as if she’d truly amused him. The sight made her belly quiver.
Only a second later, he jerked as if she’d punched him, his smile vanishing. He tossed back the remains of his drink, his movements powerful, aggressive and seductive. The quivering worsened. What is he doing to me?
As he slammed down the glass, a blank mask covered his fea¬tures. “You may go.” He’d blanked his tone, too. “We’ll chat later, when it’s your turn.”
Her turn for what? Interrogation? Maybe he suspected every female codebreaker of being the one hunting his family. And leave him? Hardly. Now that she’d breathed in his magnificent scent, experienced the caress of his voice and the lethal seduc¬tion of his gaze, she wanted him dead sooner rather than later.
More dangerous than I realized.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

To become a king of the underworld at long last, William must resist an irresistible beauty—or a curse will ensure his end…

A merciless prince feared by all…

Cursed by a vengeful witch, William of the Dark will die if he ever falls in love—murdered by the woman who steals his heart. His lone shot at redemption is a book filled with indecipherable code. Break the code, break the curse. Now, centuries later, he’s condemned to a string of one-night stands…until he finds the only woman in the worlds able to set him free.

A rare creature of myth and power…

One of the last living unicorn shifters, Sunday “Sunny” Lane works from the shadows as a cryptanalyst, on the run from assassins and poachers. Then the darkly seductive William abducts her, holding her captive in Hell. The closer they get, the more she hungers for his touch…and the stronger a mystical desire to kill him becomes…

But which desire will prove stronger—lust or death? And who will give in first?
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Gena Showalter is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of over seventy books, including the acclaimed Lords of the Underworld series, the Gods of War series, the White Rabbit Chronicles, and the Forest of Good and Evil series. She writes sizzling paranormal romance, heartwarming contemporary romance, and unputdownable young adult novels, and lives in Oklahoma City with her family and menagerie of dogs. Visit her at GenaShowalter.com.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads |
 
 
 

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34 Responses to “Spotlight & Giveaway: The Darkest King by Gena Showalter”

  1. erahime

    That’s tough. Not a single one encompass the ideal romance novel hero for me. So, future hero, where are you?

  2. carol L

    It took me five years to actually read Outlander and when I finally did , that was it top of me. Jamie Fraser. There are also a lot of seconds though .
    Carol Luciano
    Lucky4750 at aol dot com

    • Lynne Brigman

      I don’t have a favorite because I love all my romance hero’s. My favorite will always be whatever book that I happen to be reading at that time.

  6. Afroza Anni

    I would say that Thronos from the IAD series by Kresley Cole is my favorite romance novel hero of all time because no matter how much of a pain his mate may be and no matter how much she may hate him, he’ll still protect her, love her, and wants to be close to her as much as possible to touch her at all times. He’s a prince that’ll protect and love his queen no matter what.

  7. Lilah Chavez

    I’m a huge fan of Kristen Ashley ‘s books and her anti hero type of men! Yum!
    Knight Sebring from “Knight” by Kristen Ashley!

  8. lorih824

    I don’t have a favorite of all time however I first fell in love with Rhett Butler’s character when I was in junior high.

  9. mathlady68

    Jericho Barrons by Karen Marie Moning…..he’s big, bad, strong, protective, loving in his own insane way, intense, alpha, nurturing in his own insane way….

    • Shannon Capelle

      Roarke in the In Death series by JD Robb. Hes irish sexy alpha male but accepts his woman for how she is and lets her be herself but is there no matter what.

  12. Charlotte Litton

    My favorite is usually the one I’m reading about. I don’t have an all time favorite.

  14. jovialvampyre

    Larissa Ione’s Wraith. He just got me from the get go. He was such a tortured hero.

  15. Jana Leah

    I don’t know that I have a favorite. There are so many that I love.

  16. Anna Nguyen

    colton donovan from driven by kristy bromberg because he is an imperfect hero who makes you root for him to survive his struggles and be there for the woman and people he loves

  19. Glenda M

    No all time favorite. My fav is usually the one I’m reading or just read.

  20. Patricia B.

    Brodick Buchanan of Julie Garwood’s RANSOM. He is honorable, fearless, and would face any danger for those he cares for. Typical of what most medieval Highlanders likely were, strength and bravery in a woman is what he admires.

  21. Janie McGaugh

    Jamie Fraser is probably my favorite. He’s sweet, honorable, and a sexy kilted Highlander.

  22. Diana Hardt

    I’m not sure. Maybe Jamie Fraser from Outlander. He’s loyal and honorable.

  23. Katrina Dehart

    Dimitri from vampire academy even though it’s not technically romance.

  27. Texas Book Lover (@TexasBookLover)

    There is no way I can pick just one but…here are a few off the top of my head Roark from JD Robb’s In Death series, Curran from Kate Daniels, John Matthew and Zadist from the BDB, Bones from Night Huntress and I could go on and on….

  32. BookLady

    Impossible to pick just one! Some of my favorites are Bones from the Night Huntress series, Zsadist from the Black Dagger Brotherhood, and Matthew Clairmont from A Discovery of Witches.