As someone who’s read Gena’s entire backlist, it’s safe for me to say that this woman can write the alphabet on a sheet of toilet paper and I’d read it. So while I’ve been ravenous for Hades’s book and more of her LoTu, I will still jump at everything else she writes. And a brand new series that’s titled Immortal Enemies? Yeah you bet your patootie I’ll be all over it. No one writes enemies to lovers banter quite like Showalter. Then you add into it her sassy, sharp tongued, and bad@ss heroines meet tortured and uber protective heroes and I’m putty. PUTTY I TELLS YA.
Maybe you should let me go now?” she said. She needed a moment to think without him nearby.
Another chuckle. “Does my proximity bother you, sweetling?”
“Yes,” she burst out. “And I’d prefer an endearment like Machete or Chops. Now be a good boy, and let me go.”
The one thing I’ve come to appreciate about Gena’s stories, is the world building. We get a new world with fae, goblins, centaurs, and seers and I was so here for it. None of it felt like a data dump. All of it felt incredibly vivid, enchanting, and completely addictive.
Kaysar the Unhinged One is certainly appropriately known through the kingdom. The man is practically deranged in his need for revenge. The only thing that drives him is bringing all of the pain and suffering to his enemies who stole everything precious from him when he was just a small boy.
Chantel “Cookie” Bardot is a quirky gamer with a best friend who’s in her 60s and a cat to keep her company. She also has a bad heart and is looking at certain death unless she gets a heart transplant. Now I won’t give you a summary here because you can get everything you need from the blurb. But the second Cookie gets thrust into the world of Kaysar, I was totally and completely invested.
The tension and the relationship building between these two was utterly delicious. Their banter is hilarious and with a vein of sexual tension that’s so good, that by the time they finally give into you, you feel like you may go into flames yourself. There’s nothing better than that build up and man, I loved it so much here. Cookie is a bit of a nut herself. A gamer, she’s a bloodthirsty little thing herself. And when she gets a taste for battle in her new world, she finds she rather likes it. I couldn’t picture a better half for Kaysar’s particular brand of crazy. I loved watching him falling for her in spite of himself and I loved watching Cookie come into her own. I was afraid that having Lulundria’s heart and some of her memories may eventually morph her into someone else, but really it just gave her a boost.
There’s so much build up here that I can’t wait to read next with some secondary characters. Like a certain Frostline prince that lost his loved bride only to lose her all over again when her heart goes into the body of a woman that falls for his mortal enemy. GAH. How epic does that sound? Because NEED.
I will never complain about a new series from the queen of PNR. So even though I’m pretty sure I would go crazy until I get Hades’s book soon, this new series certainly helps. An entire series based on the enemies to lovers vibes? YES MA’AM! BRING IT I say.

Won't be posting our review for this one. While this new series by Gena Showalter had a lot of potential and an interesting concept, I find that the humor in Ms. Showalter's books gets repetitive after a while.

As a reader of most of her books, I am really looking for a different feel once in a while and for me this book fit too closely with the mold she's been using in her latest books and just fell flat for me.

Heartless is the first book in the Immortal Enemies series by Gena Showalter. Kaysar the Unhinged One, fae King of Midnight, can drive anyone to madness with his song. A ruthless warrior forged in hate, he lives to force his enemies to their knees. He will stop at nothing to succeed—even abducting and seducing his foe’s beloved bride to ensure his own child one day sits on the male’s throne. Except, his prize escapes to the mortal realm before the first kiss, her heart transplanted into a human beauty with dangerous secrets. Chantel “Cookie” Bardot is a professional gamer girl great at trash-talking, bad at peopling. After a long-awaited surgery, she begins to morph into a powerful fae princess. Catapulted into a strange land ruled by a cruel but seductive villain, she must battle flesh-and-blood monsters and navigate royal intrigues. But the true danger is Kaysar, whose every wicked touch tempts her beyond reason. Should she run or descend into the darkness with him?

Heartless is a solid start to another series from Showalter, but I will admit that I still rather expected it to connect with other series that I have read and if it does I missed those connections. I really liked Cookie's character and thought her sass and independence were great. Kaysar is a wounded character, and even when he is being a jerk I did not hate him like I would other characters doing the same things. I did think some of the mayhem and killing was a bit too easily accepted by Cookie, however the flow of the book and give and take between her and Kaysar was great.I also liked the world building and secondary characters. I want more of all the secondary characters, and what happens next in this world. I also want some answer on little bits of information dropped in this book that have my imagination spinning to fill in the gaps. Thankfully, having read a great many of Showalter's books, I have faith that future books will fill in those gaps and entertain quite nicely.

Heartless is a good start to another series from Showalter.

DNF @ 45%

I chose to pick this one up this because I love fae books. I've enjoyed Gena Showalter's work in the past and I do enjoy paranormal romances here and there. However, this was intolerable. There is essentially no plot in this story except for the characters thinking about sex and talking about sex. I'm not a prude or anything, but I really need more depth to characters and a story for it to work for me.

This is a bummer, because I absolutely loved this author's Lords of the Underworld series. Sadly this one just wasn't a fun read and I found myself dreading reading. So it's a DNF for me.

Thank you to HQN Books and NetGalley for sending me a copy in exchange for a review.

I don't know if maybe just starting another never-ending series weighed heavily in my not liking this book very much, or maybe at almost 50 years old, paranormal romance has had its day. I've read a lot of this author, although in this series she seems to have turned into Kresley Cole (and while she was at it, she could have finished IAD instead of starting another series). The two main characters seemed to me so excessive that even the little bit of credibility that this type of book needs, was completely missing. I think I'll live without continuing this series, but maybe I'll read the reviews of other readers to see how the secondary characters end up.

Non so se magari solo il fatto di cominciare un'altra serie infinita ha pesato molto nel mio non apprezzare poco questo libro o se magari a quasi 50 anni i paranormal romance hanno fatto il loro tempo. Per quanto poi io questa autrice l'ho letta parecchio, anche se in questa serie sembra si sia trasformata in Krlesley Cole (e giá che c'éra avrebbe potuto finire IAD invece di cominciare un'altra serie). I due protagonisti mi sono sembrati talmente tanto eccessivi, che anche quel poco di credibilitá che necessitá questo tipo di libro, mancava completamente. Penso che continueró a vivere senza proseguire questa serie, ma magari leggeró le recensioni delle altre lettrici per vedere come vanno a finire i personaggi secondari in questo libro, che sicuramente avranno il loro proprio romanzo assicurato.

I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

✦Review: HEARTLESS by Gena Showalter https://wp.me/p3d0RZ-bQl
Publication Date: June 29, 2021
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Reviewed by: Reading in Pajamas/ Cori
Rated: 5 Stars

HEARTLESS is my favorite book of the 2021 so far! I absolutely loved this new paranormal world Gena Showalter created! I’m so excited about this new series and all the possible storylines for the characters introduced. I fell in love with Kaysar, the villain/ hero and cheered for Cookie, the heroine. I couldn’t put this book down and can’t wait to see who the next couple is in the series. I highly recommend this series for paranormal romance lovers. Gena Showalter always delivers a great love story!

*Review copy provided by Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.

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Kindle https://amzn.to/2MOhSjt

Such a fantastic read. I just couldn’t put this one down.
It is one I will be buying and rereading in the near future.
I do highly recommend .

There is a reason why Kaysar is called the "Unhinged One". He truly is unhinged. There is a growing popularity of creating anti-heroes as the main love interest. I like this because I am get older and more jaded, I tend to like the more complex male who isn't all good or all bad. I am a bit hesitant to label Kaysar as anti-hero. He is more like a trauma patient that is heavily experiencing PTSD and hasn't recovered in thousands of years and doesn't seem to want to either.

When Kaysar was young, he lost not only his parents, but his younger sister he needed to protect. The horrors visited upon him during his time of captivate is heinous. What makes it worse is that the two adults to abuse him are two-faced and society has no idea just how terrible these "Royals" are behind closed doors. When Kaysar finally escapes, he decides it is his mission in life to make the entire family line completely miserable. They must suffer for eternity. But at what cost? My biggest issue with this story is the amount of collateral damage perpetrated by Kaysar. He is just as terrible in many ways as the ones he reviles. Some people when experiencing abuse will become just like their abuser or worse. Others will break that cycle and protect the innocent. Kaysar's actions are all the former. Whilst I felt sorrow for his earlier captivity, his continued destructive behaviour and intimidation of all truly demonstrates how unhinged he can be. I don't really have much sympathy for him and I didn't really root for him to end up with Cookie.

Cookie is an interesting character. She's a gamer girl from the mortal world. Some of the threats she receives for doing well as a female gamer are unfortunately all too real. Threats of death, rape, violence... etc, are pretty common for women to experience. I could go on and on about it, but no one wants to hear it. Cookie's accidental entry into the fae world brings her into a LARP that is not what she was expecting. Her gaming skills totally prepare her for this fae world. Her favourite game to compete in right now is all to similar to this magical place she's been transported into.

I felt for Cookie because she's the odd duck that is left out too often. Her family situation is heartbreaking. Her inability to commit or stay in a relationship is completely understandable. All her fears in a relationship are magnified with Kaysar. He treats her... abominably.

This first book in the series is a good start and sets up for what I think will happen when we finally find Kaysar's missing sister. I am pretty sure I not only know where she is but what she is doing. Ms. Showalter painted a clear picture of it. I want to see what happens next. This new series is a recommended to paranormal readers who like jealous unreasonable males and the females who love them unconditionally.