Book Review: Heart Of Dreams

Author: Jeanne Rose
Title: Heart Of Dreams
Publisher: Silhouette Shadows
Publish Date: July 1, 1995
Book Blurb: Mara Fitzgerald couldn't get Luke Naha out of her dreams. Nightly she was haunted by frightening - yet erotic - images of him that left her breathless and wanting. Even more disturbing was the mysterious, brooding Native American's claim that he was having dreams about her. And they were sharing not only dreams, but also memories of the past...

Luke knew the pleasure as well as the pain of entering another person's dreams. But his power had done irreparable damage in the past, and he couldn't let himself lose control again. Yet in his heart he sensed the bliss in his dreams with Mara masked an underlying evil - one that threatened to consume them both.

Review: I don't usually like novels that involve Native Americans, but this one had a plot that really drew me in and kept me reading. I loved the mysticism that involved prophetic dreams and dreaming places.

Luke and Mara really heated up the pages as well. The chemistry between the two was electric, even though Luke was the typical Harlequin Alpha Male jerk throughout most of the story. The secondary characters more than made up for his shortcomings though. It was hard not to love his grandmother and Rebecca, two of the elders of the Kisi tribe.

I really loved the concept of Dreamwalking, and how Luke and Mara shared dreams, and those dreams were pretty spicy!

The fact that Luke and Mara are connected through past lives makes the story doubly great, as well as the evil that is following them and trying to destroy the tribe.

The only thing I wish Jeanne would have developed better was Luke's paintings. I wish something would have been done about the characters in his paintings that collectors felt came to life.

This was really a great read from the old Shadows line and one worth reading if you can find it.

Rating 5 flowers

Book Review: The Abandoned Bride

Author: Jane Toombs
Title: The Abandoned Bride
Publisher: Silhouette Shadows
Publish Date: September 1995
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: The moment of truth.
All the guests had arrived at St. John's Church. The wedding gown had been donned. The organ music swelled. Lucy Maguire's big day had finally arrived. All she had to do was walk down the aisle....

Until a mysterious man burst through the door -- and her groom-to-be fled....
Max Ryder certainly had a way of making an entrance into a woman's life. But if it hadn't been for him, she would have made the biggest mistake ever. Obviously Lucy wasn't great at picking husbands -- and now she was falling in love with a stranger....

Review: This Shadows read like a very old gothic romance, only it was set in more modern times (the 90s). You are almost halfway through the book before you really get an idea of who, or rather what Dooley is, a psychic vampire. What? No, this vamp, doesn't feed on blood, it feeds on the spirit, or at least that's how I interpreted it.

Max, whose appearance caused Dooley to vanish from his nupitals, is a P.I. out to get him for killing his twin sister, Olivia.

Then there's the cat Persy.

Can this get any more confusing?

I think not.

Oh and Lucy has visions that are attached to the moonstone necklace that her grandmother left to her. It is because of her powers that Dooley wants her for his bride..that and she's a virgin. (Really?)

This story had a lot of potential because the characters were different, but in the end it read like a book written in the late 60s or early 70s.  Lucy was spunky but there was no explanation of why she was attracted to Max and vice versa, so their romance just fell flat.  This wasn't one of the better Shadows novels.

Rating: 3 flowers

Book Review: Twilight Illusions

Author :Maggie Shayne
Title: Twilight Illusions (Wings Of Night)
Publisher: Sillohuette Shadows
Publish Date: Dec 1, 1994
Buy: Amazon
Book Blurb: Master of the damned

There could be no doubt that the one called Damien was the master of shadows, the greatest of his accursed kind. But now his ancient mantle of mystic power was threatened by a terrible weakness--a fatal passion for a woman of mortal flesh and blood...

Suspicion had first drawn Shannon Mallory into the darkness, in search of the truth behind the legends that swirled around this man--if man he was. But it was not suspicion that kept her there, or even fear--it was pure, stunning desire...

For centuries, loneliness has haunted them from dusk till dawn. Yet now, from out of the darkness, shines the light of eternal life...eternal love.

Review: Before there was Twilight, there was Maggie Shayne. Maggie is one of the best writers of paranormal romance from the 90s. Twilight Illusions is part of her Wings Of Night series for Silhouette Shadows. These were some of the best vampire romances around at the time.

I found this one at Goodwill and snatched it up. It was definitely worth the 99 cents!

Damien is an ancient vampire and a recluse he's also 6000 years old, oh and he's a magician on the side!

Wowzas!

Shannon is a tough girl, looking to solve the murder of her best friend. She's street smart and not the typical Harlequin/Silhouette heroine...except that she's sworn off men because of an abusive foster parent. That in itself is deep for a Harlequin, and I think that's what makes this book so good, and let's it stand up many years after its initial release

Each character has a lot to deal with. Damien is trying to deal with loving someone after thousands of years as well as getting to know another of his kind, Eric Marchand who comes into play fully more than halfway through the story. Shannon is dealing with the death of her best friend, by someone that may just be a vampire. They both have to deal with the DPI investigator that would be more than happy to see them both dead, along with the real killer, of 3 of Damien's assistants.

This story is heavier on the mystery and lighter on the romance.  It is a definite must read for vampire fans.

Rating: 5 flowers

Book Review: Shaded Leaves Of Destiny

Author: Sally Carleen
Title: Shaded Leaves Of Destiny
Publisher: Silhouette Shadows #46
Publish Date: Nov 1, 1994
Book Blurb:  The man at the top of the staris


A menacing silhouette at the top of the stairs waited for the woman to approach - and then it struck! When she woke from her near-deadly fall, Amanda struggled to merge two sets of memories separated by decades. One set she recognized, but where had the other come from? Was she really divorcee Amanda Parrish - or abused wife Elizabeth Dupard? And in either life, what part did the mysterious Dylan Forrest play?

As Amanda's present became more real, her fascination - her obsession - with the handsome stranger whose consuming touch felt hauntingly familiar - hauntingly terrifying - grew even more powerful. Had Dylan loved Amanda before? Would he love her in this lifetime? Or did Dylan simply want Amanda...dead?

Review: This is one of the best Silhouette Shadows that I've ever read, and I've read many from this line. This story deals with reincarnation, and it does so really well. The romance almost takes a back seat to the struggle of Amanda/Elizabeth.

Amanda's struggle with what she thinks is amnesia and the discovery of the tragedy of Elizabeth Dupard's life makes the story all the more gripping. She doesn't know who to trust, her ex-husband Phillip who is trying to reconcile or her handsome neighbor Dylan who is always there at the right time.

The best part of this book is learning about Elizabeth's life and solving the mystery of her death.

Sally really did a great job with this story. It read like a gothic romance, but without a lot of the drama that usually goes with those. Oh and the mystery? Even though you had a clue as to who was reincarnated as who, you really didn't expect them to be as evil as they turned out to be.

I wish the Nocturne line went for more storylines like this than the typical vampires and wereworlf stuff that seems to be the thing these days.

Book Review: Old Flames

Author: Sandra Dark
Title: Old Flames
Publisher: Silhouette Shadows
Publish Date: March 1996
Rating: 3 Stars
Book Blurb: Have we met before?
Anthropologist Amber Sheridan had come to the centuries-old mansion to unearth a mysterious discovery--not to fall under the spell of the home's handsome owner. But she soon found blue-eyed millionaire James Shockley impossible to resist.
There was a haunting quality to his caresses, an almost desperate yearning in his kisses. It was as if she had searched for him her entire life.
And though Amber knew she could easily succumb to James' passionate pleas, she was determined to uncover the reason why his soul called to hers, and, if she gave in to her desire, where that surrender would lead.

Review: This Shadows had so much potential but it didn't quite do it for me. The book started out much too slow and didn't really get going until about mid-way.

Once it got started it really pulled you in, however if a less dedicated reader would likely cast the book aside in favor of something a little more fast paced.

The problem with the story wasn't in the plot so much as it was in the discovery of what the paranormal thing the characters were dealing was. In this case a curse on the Cavendish family by 7 slaves.  The first part of the book spent too much time with Amber and James getting to know each other and the excavation of the basement of James' mansion, where the bones were discovered.

Once it became known that the seven women where like priestesses, the story picked up and things started to become clearer to the reader. It also made it easier to like James, whereas before you felt weary of him. If you are a patient reader, this book delivers, but if you want something that grabs you from the very start, this might not be your thing.

Book Review: Swamp Secrets

Author: Carla Cassidy
Title: Swamp Secrets
Publisher: Silhouette Shadows
Publish Date: March 93
Rating: 3 Stars
Book Blurb: There are none so blind . .
...as those who will not see. And Lindsey Witherspoon, used to capturing the world with her camera, to controlling the images that met her eyes, refused to see that the swamp was beyond her control.

The swamp that spread so tantalizingly beyond her door, beckoning with promises of beauty never yet captured on film, was in truth a place of darkness, a place where a woman had no business to walk alone, unprotected. Where the paths themselves seemed to shift and shiver. Where a woman who wasn't careful might find herself alone with... a man like Royce Blanchard. A man who once had warned her that his last woman had come into the swamp... and died.

Review: I was really disappointed in this book, but not because the story was poorly written or anything like that, but more for the fact it was marketed as a Silhouette Shadows. Yes, this showed "the dark side of love" but it really felt more like a gothic novel or a suspense than something that borders on paranormal.

Lindsey and Royce are an interesting twosome. I loved the madness that Royce had, and how he pushed her away because of it.

The best parts of the story center on the fear that Lindsey is made to feel, whether it be from a fortune teller, a voodoo doll left in a room or even Royce.

I would have loved it more if the "things that went bump in the night" were real and not so easily explained at the end of the book by Royce's mother. It all worked out so easily; the explanation about the woman who disappeared in the swamp, the child she heard crying and the reasons Royce retreated into himself.

I also didn't like that Royce didn't take Lindsey to the hospital after being hit by a falling tree branch. Even if they couldn't have made it there the day of the accident he should have insisted she see a doctor when the weather cleared.

Again, I think if this book had been marketed under a different line, I probably would have liked it better.

Rating: 3 flowers

Book Review: 'Til We Meet Again

Author: Kimberly Raye
Title: Til We Meet Again
Publisher: Silhouette Shadows 60
Publish Date: Jan 1996
Rating: 5 Stars

Mishella Kirkland has returned to Texas in hopes her healing touch will make her sister, Stacey well again. The only problem with her power is that a great evil seems to be following her. She sees visions of a blue eyed lady that offers advice. Then Raphael Dalton comes into her life.

He shares the same power as she, and they have a cosmic bond. Their power comes from a fallen angel, who expects their souls in return for its use. Mishella and Raphael have the souls of two lovers from hundreds of years in the past. If they can defeat the demon, they will be free of the evil and be free to love, and Stacey will be cured.

This story has just about everything, mystery, betrayal, and hot steamy sex. What else can you ask for? The best part is that the story is written so well, especially when Raye, gives the back story on the two lovers from the past. It really keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting for the two present day lovers to come together.

The story has just the right amount of spice with the mystery and magic, that the reader is never overwhelmed. Plus the story moves along at a nice pace. The 240-ish pages fly right by.

Book Review: Burning Times

This book totally reminded me why I loved the Shadows line back in the 90s. Some of the stories were really borderline horror novels and this is one of them.

In Burning Times you have a possession and a witch. The spirit that's doing the possessing is a Puritan that is out to see witches burn, and he comes through a portal in Brie and Steve Peabody's home. Brie is a semi-practicing witch.

So you know that nothing good is going to come from this.

Steve is a non-believer when it comes to witch-craft and Brie will do anything to keep him, even deny herself her true nature.

That's the only thing I had a gripe with in the story. Brie was a witch. She should be proud of her heritage and not hide it or try to become a kitchen witch, just to please her husband. (Especially when his sister is a witch as well)

All that aside this book was a real page-turner from start to finish. It kept me glued to it until the last page was turned. I had to find out how things worked out for those two, especially when things looked bad for their marriage.

This definitely would have been a great book to read around Halloween, except that maybe turning out the light would be hard. Heck, I'm not sure that I can turn out the light now.

Book Review: Who Is Deborah

Elise Title's Who Is Deborah is a great modern day gothic novel complete with an amnesiac heroine, a dark and brooding hero, and two twisted secondary characters that keep you on your toes wondering who did or, or who is going to do it throughout the whole 241 pages of the book.

Deborah was attacked in NYC and a private detective friend of her husbands has located her in the hospital to bring her home, but when she gets there things are not what they seem. Her husband is a horror writer who lives with his cousin, who is just a little bit crazy. Oh and Deborah is finding out that the person she's supposed to be wasn't very nice, which isn't how she really is. That gets people wondering.

There are several attempts on her life while she's at Raven's Cove, but her memory is slow to return and she doesn't know who she can trust.

The best part about the book is the suspense surrounding Deborah's return. The reader is left wondering when she's going to remember, and you know she's got to remember her past life at some point.

The thing that bothered me the most was their wasn't any closure at the end, when she regained her memory and the killer/would be killer is exposed.

This was a good enough read, but again the ending left a little to be desired.