This is a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of book...
Rating:
5 / 5
And make sure to start this book when you have plenty of time to finish, this is one book that is very, very hard to put down...
This was my second Anne Stuart book, and this one, so different in style from the first book I read by her, has established in my mind that this is a consistently top-notch author, no matter what the type of storyline.
Shadow Lover features a classic "bad boy" hero, yet at the same time he is surprisingly endearing, he grows on you. (Is that the fascination there is for that kind of hero - the challenge of making him a lovable man? I wonder).
Is he or isn't he? Is he who he says he is? Is he who she thinks he is? Or is he all of the above? Possibly none of the above? Previous reviewers have outlined the plot, but the part that was impressive for me was the way I, the reader, had my emotions tied in knots. One minute I thought - yes, he is! Then the next minute, no he's not! This is not so much about an ending - is he or isn't he? But rather the ride, it's sort of like an emotional roller coaster where you don't know where the roller coaster is going, you never know where Ms. Stuart is going to go next, but boy, do you care!
Anne Stuart is a master at manipulating emotions, and she is also a fabulous writer who can transmit a mood by just a few words. She is also an author with an instinctive knowledge of the human psyche. What her pen sometimes shows us is not always a very pretty sight - yet we know that it's true, nevertheless. Her understanding of both the good and the bad of human nature, and her talent in writing it realistically is what makes her an excellent writer, and her portrayal especially of the "dark side" is what gives her novels that *edge* - and an edge-of-your-seat reading experience.
I don't usually like these kind of dark and suspenseful novels, but Anne Stuart is such a good writer that I forgot that part. Oh, and did I mention that Anne Stuart is a good writer?
A six star novel
Rating:
5 / 5
Excellent work by Anne Stuart, this book will keep you reading all the time, and when you can't read it because you are at work or at the movies, you will think about what will happen next in the book. The way that Alex-Sam makes his plans to know the truth about his life will not let you forget about the book until you finish it.
Another of Stuart's Dance with the Devil bad boy...
Rating:
5 / 5
Sally McDowell is dying and has many regrets, but most of all she regrets the disappearance of her son, Alex, nearly two decades ago. Carolyn Smith loves Aunt Sally and is very defencive of the woman who treated her like a daughter. Eighteen years ago, she loved Alex, followed him around with stars her in hers. But one horrible night she shadowed him to the beach, saw him meet someone and watch as that person killed Alex. She went into shock, and they found her nearly dead with pneumonia. When she awakes from nearly dying, she finds the family believes Alex stole from Sally and ran away...they are so convincing, Carolyn actually doubts she saw Alex killed, but was part of her fevered imaginable. Sally and Carolyn's quiet world is rocked when the stranger comes, claiming to be Alex. Sally, so ill, wants desperately to believe this man is her long lost son, but Carolyn knows better. His coming brought the nightmare back, and she KNOWS she saw Alex killed nearly twenty years ago. Yet, the man knows too many small things, knows how she yearned for Alex, but was too young to handle the attaction...and that attraction is still there, only amplified by Alex as a grown man. Despite knowing in her heart she witnessed the 'real' Alex's death, she cannot run from the strong physical sparks they create. Only, is this man here to hurt Sally, steal the inheritance meant for the real Alex? Is her life in danger by the very man who stirs her blood, because unless Sally changes her will Carolyn inherits everything that was to be Alex's? No one does the blackhearted bad boy better than Anne Stuart. She is the Queen of this sector in romance, and her continual deliver time after time, historical and contemporary, keeps me spellbound with stories that will haunt you long after you put them down.
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