Shadow Fire by Christine Feehan, narrated by Jim Frangione

Story 3 of 5 stars

Heat 5 of 5 stars

Series – Shadow Riders

Main characters – Ellie Archambault, Brielle Couture

Listened to audio narrated by Jim Frangione. I’ve listened to a lot of his work and he delivers an easy to listen to story. Listening via audio has a few minor challenges as too many names are similar and you have to pay close attention not to confuse who is who.

Ellie Archanbault is a Shadow Rider and part of the Farraro’s inner circle. Raised in brutality to become a monster. He was used, abused and controlled since childhood, trained to be an assassin to police other riders. Ellie was a brash and angry young man. In his anger he lashed out at the wrong person. Older and wiser now, he’s given up on marrying his soul mate and accepted an arranged marriage to fulfill his duty.

Brielle Couture was abused and belittled by her family. Her sister was the golden child and she was an unwanted surprise. When she overheard Ellie’s harsh condemnation of her attributes she was done. She walked away from everything, determined not to look back. Now she’s an accomplished Shadow Rider with exceptional computer skills.

They entered into an arranged marriage blind, not knowing who the other was. When they finally meet its explosive as Brielle wants out and Ellie jumps at the chance to repair the damage he did all those years ago and convince her to stay.

They live in a dangerous world but someone is focusing on them, so they have to navigate past pain, exploring each other’s kink, reconciling a future, all while trying to staying alive.

Brielle flipflops from confident, skilled Shadow Rider, to insecure, self-doubting woman, letting the lies from her past undermine how she saw herself. It often felt like Feehan was writing two different people. I expected to see growth over the story and it just wasn’t there. There are few surprises here in this story that is skewed more toward their kinky sex life than story, I wish there had been more balance.

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Annihilation Road by Christine Feehan, narrated by Ryan West

Story 3 of 5 stars

Heat 5 of 5 stars

Series – Torpedo Ink

Main characters – Savin ‘Savage’ Pajari, Seychelle Dubois

Listened to audio narrated by Ryan West.

Savin ‘Savage’ Pajari is a member of Torpedo Ink a group of men and women trained to kill by pedophiles in an exclusive training camp. They escaped and he did his best to take their rage and anguish, because they were worth saving even if he wasn’t. He’s a sexual sadist that uses his skills to release his own rage through fighting or sex.

Seychelle Dubois is a talented singer. Her parents were both ill and she spent her childhood trying to keep them alive. Now she spends her time helping the elderly and taking an occasional singing gig.

Savin and Seychelle are both damaged souls with gifts to help others to their detriment. When they meet after he saved a boy and then she saved him they are drawn together, even as both try to fight it.

Seychelle always thought she was frigid but Savage’s sadism lights a fire she never knew existed and trying to understand why pain trips her trigger is something she has to come to terms with herself.

Their story is intriguing but also difficult as Savage fights hard to keep his distance including being sexual with another woman. This makes it hard for me to like Savage and it took a lot of my enjoyment from this book. I appreciated Seychelle calling him out on his crap but once I lost trust in Savage it ruined the book for me.

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Dark Tarot by Christine Feehan, narrated by Jim Frangione

Story 4 of 5 stars

Heat 5 of 5 stars

Series – The Carpathians

Main characters – Sandu Berdari, Adalasia

Listened to audio narrated by Jim Frangione. Normally he’s one of my favorites but whenever he was speaking the Carpathian language, he sounded like a Klingon from Star Trek and it ruined the flow.

Sandu Berdari is an ancient who had gone to the monastery to help reduce the risk of turning. He’s forgotten his past but is determined to live honorably.

Adalasia and her family have guarded the portals and the Tarot for generations. She’s trained her whole life for her duty and reading the cards.

Just as Sandu is considering walking into the sun his lifemate reaches out to him, leading them back to his mysterious past and a confrontation with new enemies.

This seems to be a branch out book, which ties all the Carpathians struggles with the mages with the current threat, breadcrumbs for future hunter stories and new lore.

I didn’t like how Sandu tended to make things Adalasia’s fault but loved that he recognized her strengths and fought beside her as she fulfilled her family’s legacy.

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Reckless Road by Christine Feehan, narrated by Jim Frangione

Story 4 of 5 stars

Heat 5 of 5 stars

Series – Torpedo Ink

Main characters – Gedeon ‘Player’ Lazaroff, Zyah Gamal

Listened to audio narrated by Jim Frangione. His growly narration fits Gedeon well.

Gedeon ‘Player’ Lazaroff’s powers are going off the rails and after a long mission and wonky powers all he wants to do is sleep. When he finds Zyah in his room dancing, he thinks she’s a dream. After an amazingly sensual night he kicks her out of his room, to keep himself safe and hurts Zyah deeply.

Zyah Gamal returned home to take care of her beloved grandmother. She managed an international chain of stores, but left it all to be with her after she was robbed and beaten in her home. The women in her family have unique abilities, to heal and know things and hers told her Player was her one and only, but he rejected her coldly and broke her heart.

After much needed rest, Player figures out his dream woman was real and she left the club crying. He will do anything and everything to convince her to give him a second chance but she’s not buying what he’s selling.

When he suffers life threatening injuries saving her and her grandmother from another attack, she knows only her unique powers will keep him alive. As their minds blend, she learns of his horrific past and the danger he faces as his power seems to be spinning out of control.

I liked these characters and I’m glad Zyah didn’t just take him back right away. The resolution to the robberies was good but there was too much time in their heads and it wasn’t easy to feel their connection. I thought the solution to his dangerous power going AWOL stretched suspension of belief a bit too far. I did like that the balance of story and steam was better balanced in this book than in the previous Torpedo Ink books.

Other things to note: we get a few walk ons from the Sea Haven series which was fun to see. There is also a lot scenes that may be hard for sensitive readers, read at your own discretion.

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Murder at Sunrise Lake by Christine Feehan, narrated by Alyssa Bresnahan

Story 4 of 5 stars

Heat 3 of 5 stars

Series – Sunrise Lake

Main characters – Sam, Stella Harrison

Listened to audio narrated well by Alyssa Bresnahan. She delivers a somber narration but it fit well with the story. I thought she did a decent job differentiating the large cast of characters.

Stella Harrison is the owner of the Sunrise Lake Resort. She rebuilt her life at Sunrise Lake and renovated the resort to become a profitable business and a huge community contributor. Her first psychic dream of murder began when she was four years old, she tried to leave her old life behind when she came to Sunrise Lake. But when the dreams start again, she knows she only has days to try and stop it from happening.

Sam Rossi has worked as Stella’s resort as a handyman for the last two years. He’s a scarred, loner and former military but he’s been dedicated to Stella and her resort since she hired him.

The opening scene will grab you with rich detail, pulling you in from the first few words, but as we progress it can get repetitive.

Someone is killing people and making it look like accidents, but Stella dreams of the murders and knows the truth. She is determined to do all she can to stop the murders, even as she struggles with the horrors of witnessing the murderer’s crime and reliving her past. Sam is determined to help her and keep her safe. As she learns to trust Sam, she also opens up to her friends as the danger increases and they all work to find and stop the murderer. As Feehan slowly peels back the layers, we discover Stella’s friends all seem to have secret pasts that they came to Sunrise Lake to escape from and each have special skills or contacts that help.

Even though I figured out who the killer was early, and the pacing was slower than expected, I enjoyed this first book in her new series. Sunrise Lake seems to call to folks with troubled pasts, but each of Stella’s friends has a story behind their story, The romance is a slow burn, with plenty of room to unfold more in future books. I am looking forward to reading more about this cast of characters.

For more of my reviews follow my blog at https://wyldheartreads.wordpress.com/

If you prefer to listen to my reviews, you can find my reviews on Spotify here: https://anchor.fm/wyldheart-reads