The warlord

With characteristic sass and sensuality, Showalter launches her Rise of the Warlords fantasy romance series, a loose spin-off to her Lords of the Underworld novels. Roc Phaethon, Commander of the Astra Planeta, a group devoted to creating, destroying, and conquering worlds in the name of their god, Chaos, has a ritual to perform every 500 years: he must wed an immortal bride and sacrifice her after 30 days of marriage to secure victory for his soldiers. If his bride is still a virgin upon her death, he and his men receive an additional weapon to use against Chaos's son, Erebus. He undertakes this task with an unflinching sense of duty--but he gets more than he bargained for when he weds Taliyah Skyhawk, a highly self-assured harpy bent on becoming General. Taliyah is determined to save her people from the Astra invasion, and nothing will stop her--not even the secrets she carries or her scorching chemistry with Roc. The stakes are high as Taliyah and Roc fight for what they want, but the plot occasionally feels like filler between sex scenes. Liberal doses of humor help to balance the page-scorching heat as Showalter sets the stage for what promises to be a thrilling new series. Agent: Deidre Knight, the Knight Agency (Apr.)