Review: Daughter of Lust

Author: Ann Mayburn 

Release Date: June 27, 2011

Publisher: Decadent Publishing

For The Love Of Evil # 1

ISBN: #978-1613330326

Genre: Erotic Paranormal Romance (M/F, M/M/F, F/F)

Format(s): paperback (272 pgs), e-book

Book Source: Publisher

     Belal, High Prince of Hell and Keeper of the Deadly Sin Sloth, is expanding his power in the world of the 1800s by trafficking opium. He revels in the results, and as sloth begins to overtake the mortal realm, all of Hell suffers. The balance of power in Hell, as well as the fate of the Universe, will be decided by the love of a half-demon peasant girl.     Natalia Shura, the daughter of Asmodeus, High Prince of Hell and Keeper of the Deadly Sin Lust, is unaware of the nature of her birth. When her demonic side begins to awaken, her world becomes dominated by dark passions and deadly craving, and Natalia believes she is losing her mind. But Natalia’s love has been foretold as the only thing that can stop Belal and his allies, and they will do anything to prevent her ascension.

Facing assassins, avenging angels, Hell’s deadly politics—and her real father—Natalia must accept the love of more than one man and embrace her demonic heritage as a Princess of Lust. If she doesn’t, all that she loves will be destroyed, and Heaven and Hell will plunge into Chaos.

     Mayburn proves that she is an ambitious storyteller in this novel about love and lust, which plays out in both Russia and Hell in the year 1870. Not merely an exploration of varying forms of eroticism, Daughter of Lust takes on religion in general, a broad and potentially risky topic to say the least. Beneath Natalia’s sexual awakening is the idea that there is nothing, either on earth, in Heaven, or in Hell, that is either purely good or purely evil, and that love is too powerful a concept to be limited to one particular interpretation.

     Natalia’s story begins as the factions of Hell are in an uproar, Satan’s disinterest in ruling having created a power vacuum that Belal, High Prince and Keeper of Sloth, intends to fill. Asmodeus, Keeper of Lust and his allies are determined to stop him, and the half-demon daughter he’s kept secret from even his most trusted advisors may be the key to saving them all.

Using the opium trade as a backdrop, Mayburn weaves an intricate tale of love and sexuality. Natalia is a beauty, and with her ample curves and brave spirit, she’s wanted desperately by both demons and humans alike. As her inner demon stirs, Natalia must learn to embrace her new hungers or die. Fortunately, as the daughter of Lust, she adapts fairly easily, and once she has a taste of sexual pleasure, her subsequent encounters become increasingly heated and diverse.

     Daughter of Lust tries to be many things as the first story in a new series, and occasionally, it’s a lot to take in. Mayburn rewrites familiar convention in order to cast lust and sexuality as sources of power, rather than shame, but the novel finds its rhythm quickly. Once Natalia accepts her dual nature and begins to experience the pleasures that are hers for the taking, the plot itself becomes more intriguing, giving more substance to the wonderfully naughty imaginings of the author in turn. Despite the occasionally complicated multitasking, I found Daughter of Lust to be an engaging and sensually appealing beginning, and am very much looking forward to seeing what happens to Natalia and her men in the rest of the series.