Before I begin, let me just say that I bought this book and its predecessor, Mona Lisa Awakening, back in the summer. They were being sold at Barnes and Noble online for $1.99 each, so I figured “Hey, why not buy this. I have no idea what its about, but that’s okay.” Oops, probably shouldn’t do that again. Let’s just say I was pretty suprised when I actually started reading the first book a few months ago. This is most definitely under the erotica category. Expect in-depth sex scenes every thirty pages or so. There's also quite a lot of violence.Oh yeah, I guess I should actually start talking about this particular book now:I basically started reading this because I remembered it was on my book shelf and I hadn't read it yet. I read the first one back in the summer, and it was so forgettable that I didn't even remember owning this. I suppose I'm happy I did give this book a chance, since it's a slight step up from the first one. This book still has its major annoyances, but it was a slight step up nonetheless.Let's start out with the cons.1. The striking similarities between the Anita Blake novels and this series. There were times when I was expecting Jean-Claude or Richard to fly into the pages for a quick hello. The writing styles in particular is the main thing I noticed. This has been addressed by many other reviewers before, however, so I won't dwell on it.2. The really awkward and unecessary similies. It's almost as if the author threw them in there to say "Hey! Look! I know how to use figurative language! Hehe!" Things like "I blinked my eyes and it was if I suddenly saw clearly what was before me, like a blind man regaining his vision" (34). Was that really necessary? I don't think so.3. The tedious, long descriptions of eyes and facial movements are in plenty. These things worked well in the Anita Blake books, simply because Laurell K. Hamilton has been doing it all along. In this book, not so much. Expect things like "his eyes blazed like liquid fire as his beast swam through his pupils, leaving soft, rolling ripples." For the record, I did make that up, but that isn't too far off from what you'll read. 4. The whole "embracing the beast" concept. Again, worked well in the Anita Blake series, simply looks like plagarizing here. The parts of the story when Mona Lisa is trying to fight off and welcome her beast at the same time reads as if the author copied and pasted paragraphs of Hamilton's book into her own.5. Mona Lisa's and Gryphon's love affair. Or should I say lust affair. Is there really any love there at all? Mona Lisa goes on and on about how much she loves Gryphon, but when they're actually together they just seem to fight. She just seems to want him for his, well, you know. Even when Gryphon comes in and is like "Uh, hun, you seem to hate me except for my body, so I think I'll just leave," she responds, "Oh no! I love you so much! Your body and soul! ...but let's have some mind-blowing sex anyway."Okay, and now on to the pros.1. Mona Lisa's speaking abilities. I know that sounds really stupid, but I'll continue. In the first book, she spiraled in and out of "Monere talk" (really long, fancy-sounding words peppered into regular sentences) and talking with an overwhelming amount of slang words. In this book, the author throws out both and just lets her talk like a human being. With some F-bombs thrown in as well.2. The storyline. While it was not that strong, it seemed a little more put-together than the previous one. Mona Lisa Awakening just kind of threw in random things as it went along, such as having the Prince of Hell show up. This one seemed to have a little more flow. The actual conflict (Mona Lisa vs. Mona Louisa) was a little more pronounced. While there's some loose ends (Wild Boy? Was he just there to fill pages?) it's still not that bad.3. The end of chapter seventeen. Enough said.Overall, I give this book a low three stars. And now that I've written a review that is probably longer than the book itself, I'll end this here.