Reviewed by Kati Dancy
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
4.25 stars out of 5 stars

Larissa Ione continues her track record of smoking hot, exciting paranormal romances with compelling heroes and entertaining heroines with the publication of Passion Unleashed. Serena Kelly is an archeologist, and a Marked Sentinel, on who possesses an amulet which contains a tiny piece of Heaven. The supernatural charm makes her impervious to injury or illness and can only be bestowed by the angels to one who is worthy of the gift. She wears the charm around her neck, and has done so since her mother gifted it to her in order to save her life when she was seven. The catch to the charm’s continued effectiveness is that the charm only works if Serena remains a virgin. And Serena is a virgin…technically. She’s definitely not an innocent, but she is a virgin.

Wraith is a Seminus demon who has managed to contract a fast acting illness that is jeopardizing his life. He and his brothers founded, built and nurtured Underworld General Hospital, the only hospital of its kind, which services the entire demon population. The value of the hospital can’t be overstated within the demon world, and Wraith’s illness not only endangers his life, but the very survival of the hospital and his brothers. This because he and his brothers literally built the hospital with their own blood, sweat and tears, which means, as Wraith sickens, the hospital goes to ruin and his brothers, who are tied to him not just emotionally, but physically begin to lose their powers as well. Wraith’s brother, Eidolon, determines that the only hope that Wraith has of survival is to steal Serena’s amulet and use it to heal himself – which will involve Wraith not just taking the charm, but seducing Serena at the same time. Wraith is decidedly unexcited about the prospect, as he once seduced a human woman to disastrous results. While Wraith doesn’t care that much whether he lives or dies, he cares very much about his brothers and their mates and families and about Underworld General, so he agrees to steal the charm and seduce Serena.

Wraith travels to Alexandria in Egypt, where Serena has been dispatched to obtain an ancient coin for her boss, who is also like a father to her. He elects to impersonate a member of the Aegis (human warriors dedicated to fighting evil), Josh, whom Serena’s boss has arranged to have escort Serena to retrieve the coin. Wraith finds Josh and steals enough of his memories to impersonate him, and goes to meet Serena. What he doesn’t count on is his immediate attraction to Serena. She’s smart, a fearless and feisty. He begins to realize that stealing this charm from her is going to make her sick again, something he can’t bear. But as they interact, Wraith gets sicker and sicker, and he realizes that he is not the only person interested in stealing the charm, since its powers are not just those of healing, but also of opening a portal between Heaven and Hell.

There was a ton to love about this book. Wraith is one of my favorite hero archetypes, the reluctant hero. He doesn’t particularly care whether he lives or dies, but he finds that he cares deeply whether Serena survives. He’s not an honorable guy, but he has many doubts about how he needs to treat Serena in order to get the charm away from her. Serena is a smart if slightly naïve heroine. She’s been impervious to pain most of her life because of the charm. But after she realizes the charm isn’t working anymore, she doesn’t really alter her mindset, which I found aggravating. I felt that she was supposed to be this really smart woman, but she occasionally took risks that I found to be questionable.  And I have issues with the “love by deceit” trope, which Wraith uses to impersonate Josh. It took a little too long for my tastes for Wraith to come clean to Serena, but those are just quibbles, really. The chemistry between Wraith and Serena was incendiary, with lots of sexual tension and attraction on both sides. The action goes a mile a minute almost from the very beginning and brings to a close one of the chapters in the Demonica tales. Ione manages to introduce us to a couple of fascinating new characters whom I desperately hope to get stories for. Passion Unleashed is a highly entertaining and satisfying paranormal romance that I enjoyed thoroughly. This book does stand alone, although many past characters are revisited in this book, so I’d suggest starting with Passion Unbound, the first in the series, to fully realize the wonder of the world Ms. Ione has built. In the meantime, I’ll wait impatiently for the next book in the series, which I can only hope will follow quickly.