Tagged: day walkers
Reborn in Shadow by Cynthia Luhrs
(Cover picture courtesy of Cynthia Luhrs’ site.)
A GHOST GIVEN A SECOND CHANCE…
Hamish Campbell committed so many sins he’d lost track of them all. The worst? Murdering his brother in a fit of rage. Granted another chance by the god of Shadow, Lord Campbell joins the Shadow Walker brotherhood.A WOMAN FULL OF LIGHT…
Anna Duncan is goodness personified, casting warmth on everyone she encounters. A chance encounter throws everything she knows upside down when she meets a man with haunted eyes. When a murderer sets his sights on Anna, she realizes the line between good and evil isn’t black and white but made up of varying shades of gray.OUT OF DARKNESS, HOPE RISES
Though death draws them together, Hamish has too many secrets. If he’s not careful those secrets may spell the ruin of humanity and cost him the only woman he’s ever truly loved.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.]
I honestly didn’t expect to like Hamish. His actions make him an evil, cheating, lying, brother-killing traitor so why on earth would he be brought back from the dead 400 years later to be one of the good guys? And yet Hamish seems to have changed. He really does regret all the actions and events leading up to his murder of Colin. His horrible childhood really doesn’t excuse his actions toward his own brother, but I am definitely more sympathetic toward him than I was before. I feel like I can understand what led to his jealousy of Colin and his affair with Abigail.
The characters in this one were wonderful. Hamish goes through a very powerful personal journey of forgiveness, proving that with a little help no one is beyond redemption. Anna is a little naive and sweet but her refusal to see the bad things in the world reminds me of a friend of mine. Yes, she’s rather naive, but it’s realistically so and her views on humanity do change slightly the more she’s with Hamish. Even if the rest of the novel was awful, Cynthia Luhrs’ characters would be enough reason to read it.
The rest of the novel is not awful, thankfully. I found the plot was much more fast-paced than the previous books in part because of the rising tensions between Shadow Walkers and Day Walkers are reaching the boiling point. Dayne and Thorne are at each others’ throats and we really learn the importance of Draken being introduced in Desired by Shadow. There’s actually a greater, overarching plan for the series rather than just a bunch of vaguely connected romances that end with each book. Cynthia Luhrs ends this one on such a cliffhanger that I can’t wait for Embraced by Shadow.
I love how she also expanded on the world of Shadow Walkers and Day Walkers. We learn a little more about Draken and Fury as well as the fae. It was interesting to see things from Thorne’s point of view as he’s tormented by the apparition he believes is the long-lost love he killed in a jealous rage. I don’t fully understand his reasons for bringing Hamish back but it seems they’ll be fully revealed in the next novel. For now the explanation presented in Reborn in Shadow is satisfying.
If you’ve loved the series so far, you’ll love Reborn in Shadow as well. Hamish will surprise you, I guarantee!
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Lost in Shadow by Cynthia Luhrs
(Cover picture courtesy of Nomi’s Paranormal Palace.)
A relaxing vacation to Scotland turns deadly when a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger leads to murder. Shocked when she witnesses a man commit murder before disappearing in front of her eyes, Emily learns she possesses an extraordinary ability allowing her to interact with ghosts.
Unwittingly drawn into shadow when she intervenes to help Colin, igniting the ancient warrior’s long-buried desires, she unleashes a terrible curse. Now with only a week to break the curse, time is running out as they are locked in a deadly fight with forces that will stop at nothing to destroy them before they succeed. Intensely romantic and thrilling, Lost in Shadow portrays the struggle between redemption, retribution and the desire to find a love that transcends time.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
The whole unavenged ghost thing was really starting to wear on me before I read Lost in Shadow. Not because I had read many books about it, but because it seemed in pop culture there were no really new, unique takes on it. Pretty much every story sounded the same. That was until I read Lost in Shadow, of course.
Colin is now one of my new favourite love interests, not only because of that Scottish accent I seem so attracted to, but because he actually has a believable backstory for becoming a Shadow Walker. Despite his terrible past he’s also never that typical bad boy who needs to be shown the fun side of life by the heroine. It’s actually quite a refreshing change, especially when you consider how easily Cynthia Luhrs could have fallen into the cliché trap with the whole Scottish warrior/modern American girl dynamic.
At first Emily seems like a typical romance heroine in that she’s gone to Scotland to recover from a failed relationship and stumbles onto a great guy with a mysterious past. But what I loved about Lost in Shadow is that Emily is allowed to grow out of this two dimensional role and becomes a strong heroine in her own right. She doesn’t always just stand by waiting to be saved but at the same time she’s not one of these instant action girls that kicks butt constantly. Her past combined with Colin’s makes for an interesting relationship dynamic to be sure, but that added layer of the Shadow Walker curse makes it even more interesting.
I love how Cynthia Luhrs could have written a typical romance novel with very little world-building but didn’t. The Shadow Walker and Day Walker conflict is fascinating and we even get to see how the two types of ‘ghosts’ came into being. Throw in a mysterious way for Shadow Walkers to break their curse/gift and you’ve got the makings of a great fantasy novel as well. The romance between Colin and Emily is obviously still the main focus but despite my general distaste for romance novels, it didn’t bother me at all. In fact, the romance in this novel actually contributed to both the plot and the character development. It was a refreshing change.
I saw the ending coming a mile away, but I guess every once in a while you have to have endings like the one in Lost in Shadow, right?
I give this book 5/5 stars.
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