High Spice Paranormal Romance Review: Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione

🔥Expandable Spice & Violence Level Key⚔️

🔥 Spice Level

Innocent — Closed-door or fade-to-black romance; kisses and longing only.

Tempted — On-page intimacy with moderate detail; spice supports the story.

Wicked — Explicit, open-door sex scenes with sustained sexual tension.

Unholy — Graphic, kink-forward, or taboo sexual content.

⚔️ Violence Level

Tame — Minimal peril; violence occurs off-page or is lightly referenced.

Savage — On-page fights and injuries; some blood.

Brutal — Graphic violence, gore, torture, or war.

Relentless — Sustained cruelty, extreme trauma, or prolonged suffering.

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High Spice Paranormal Romance Book Review: Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione

Summary of Pleasure Unbound, a high spice paranormal romance review:

Beneath New York City lies a hospital where demons patch up their enemies, and one incubus makes a fatal exception.

Pleasure Unbound launches Larissa Ione’s Demonica paranormal romance series with a bold premise and a morally complex hero.

When a dying demon slayer is rushed into the ER of an immortal hospital, the incubus doctor, sworn never to heal humans, must choose between letting her die and his own curiosity. What unfolds is an enemies-to-lovers paranormal romance with plenty of violence, sex, and ethical gray areas.

What Worked

The fresh take. A hospital run by a demon who attended human medical school and decided to open a sanctuary for wounded immortals with his morally gray brothers? Yes, please.

You might ask, Why would he do that? Immortals heal instantly, right?

Well, not always.

Immortals may regenerate, but they still feel every wound, and healing is rarely clean or painless. Silver poisoning spreads through veins. Supernatural viruses threaten entire species. And enemies don’t stop hunting just because you’re injured.

Underworld General Hospital (UGH) exists because immortals still bleed, and sometimes, they still die. That tension gives the setting real stakes.

Why Pleasure Unbound Is Compelling

Eidolon, the MMC, is an incubus raised by justice demons. His benevolent and malevolent instincts are constantly at war. He’ll save a life because it’s part of Underworld General’s oath. But once a patient walks outside the hospital’s wards? All bets are off.

An anti-violence spell written on the hospital walls forces ancient enemies to coexist, creating a pressure-cooker environment that crackles with threat and dark humor.

And Eidolon refuses to treat humans. Until Tayla, a human demon slayer, is brought in on her literal deathbed. He only agrees to save her because he’s a researcher at heart… and there’s something wrong, yet very fascinating about her anatomy.

This is true enemies-to-lovers, and the tension earns its payoff.

Character & Series Setup

As the first installment in the Demonica series, this book does exactly what it should. The secondary characters aren’t filler. They’re compelling, and you’ll want to follow them into their own stories. Ione’s worldbuilding is consistent without being overwhelming, and her pacing keeps the plot moving even when the stakes turn personal.

Picking a single favorite scene is impossible, so I’ll just say that I loved Eidolon.

He’s calm, logical, and controlled, despite being a demon who needs sex to survive. Fighting his nature is half the appeal.

And I’m a sucker for nicknames. Hellboy and Slayer are perfect.

2019 Hellboy action figure

Spice & Violence

The sex scenes are explicit, vivid, and frequent. Ione started in erotica before transitioning into high-spice paranormal romance, and it shows. These are open-door scenes with purpose. They have dialogue, internal conflict, and emotional progression woven into the heat.

The violence is equally graphic. Ione’s background as a former paramedic lends brutal authenticity to her fight scenes. Bones break. Blood spills. You’ll cringe, which is the point.

Some readers may want trigger warnings. There are some here, including implied SA and bondage, but this is not a true dark romance.

Eidolon isn’t degrading or cruel. He’s a cinnamon roll with claws. He’s dangerous, conflicted, but protective, even when he’s lying to himself about what he wants.

What Didn’t Work

The final fight scene could have been a bit stronger. That said, Ione’s endings grow stronger and more in-depth as the series continues. As an author myself, I recognize early-series growing pains. It's not a dealbreaker at all.

Some readers struggled with Tayla, but she didn’t bother me. She’s young, yes, but not immature in the way so many romantasy heroines are written. She holds her own, even when the world around her is trying to kill her.

Who Should Read This?

Recommended for readers who:

Love high-spice paranormal romance with plot

Enjoy morally gray demonic heroes

Want graphic action alongside emotional stakes

Appreciate found families and series-long arcs

Not recommended for readers who:

Prefer closed-door romance

Avoid graphic violence

Want soft, cozy paranormal vibes

Dislike medical or body-horror elements

Comparable Reads

J.R. Ward

Kresley Cole

Fans of J.R. Ward and Kresley Cole will feel right at home here. If you’re craving a fresh angle in paranormal romance, with every species under the sun, start with Pleasure Unbound. And then be prepared to lose the next month to the rest of the series and its spin-offs. 

POV: Deep third-person, Multiple POV.

😈 Final Verdict

Sin Index: 🔥 Wicked | ⚔️ Brutal

• Explicit spice

• Graphic violence

• Reader discretion advised

• High heat. High danger.