Sylvain Reynard

Raven Wood's vampyre prince William has returned, pledging his love and promising justice for every wrong done to her. In the wake of their reunion, Raven is faced with a terrible decision: allow the Prince to wreak his vengeance, or persuade him to stay his hand. But there is far more at stake than Raven's heart. A shadow has fallen over the city of Florence. And as the Prince is waging a war on two fronts, he will need to keep his love for Raven secret, or risk the exposure of his greatest weakness.

The Shadow

Briar's Reviews

Sylvain Reynard has another incredible novel in The Shadow. 

This is the sequel to The Raven, and it doesn't disappoint. While this novel doesn't seem to move as fast as the first one, it is still delicious and intriguing.

I liked this novel, but I didn't exactly love it. Yes, I was obsessed with knowing what would happen with the characters but I felt like it was missing something. There was a good amount of romance in it, and the action lacked a little. I felt like this book was more of a set up, since it explained a lot of the vampire politics involved in the story. 

This series does have at least one more book (I heard a rumour it was two) so this book ended at the perfect little cliffhanger. It wasn't a cliffhanger that left me angry at Sylvain for making me wait, but it was just enough - leaving me desperate for the next book but willing to wait.

Overall, I did enjoy this book! The first book was so incredible (and so was the Gabriel's series) that I had really high expectations for this book, perhaps too high.

Four out of five stars. I can't wait for the next book, I want it now!

Anna Ureta

I LOVE SYLVAIN REYNARD‼!
 I mean I love his novels, I don’t know anything about the man personally, but I would love to sit in on one of his lectures someday.
 I honestly didn’t even have this book marked on my calendar and didn’t know it was coming out until I saw him post on facebook, lol.
 When a book is announced six plus months before its release date it’s hard to be…excited.
 But being a huge fan of the Gabriel’s Inferno Series, and loving The Raven, OMGGGG! I think I love the sequel even more‼!
 If I haven’t already, The Prince, aka William York’s name is going on my list of Book Boyfriends because….*fans self* that man is the living end. Seriously, he could charm the pants off anyone! (At least I think so). Now some people may not like Raven Wood as the female lead (as she does get a little bit annoying towards the end – but with good reason), but she is a human being dealing in the affairs of vampyres so I mean…there’s little she could have done anyway, right?
 Having read this book with no expectations, I can say I was very surprised and very taken by how much I enjoyed it! I think perhaps a little too much…;)

For the love of his life, who is the strongest, kindest, and one of the bravest women he knows, The Prince of Florence believes she deserves justice. Justice for the man who ruined her childhood and permanently disfigured her. William will do anything to protect Raven as well as try to give her the love she so easily deserves.
 But her safety and happiness isn’t the only thing on the Prince’s mind.
 The Curia are threatening to come to Florence to put an end to all the vampyres who live there who are causing trouble for the humans, and William can’t protect Florence and Raven, not without losing one or the other.
 For Raven, the safety of her family has always come first, and now, even dating a thousand year-old vampyre, she will do anything to protect him from those who hunt him, those who wish to do him harm, and those who want to separate them from each other.

Let me just gush for a second at how good this book is.
 The words just…flow so easily off the page and feel like they were put together with such elegance and poetic hands…it’s ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU SWOON! Reynard has a serious talent for romance and charm, I’ll give him that much. It’s not just the immortal vampyre aspect and the money or the charm, but the WILLINGNESS and DEVOTION he has for Raven that’s just so attractive!
 William loves her, like really truly loves her, and will do whatever he can to protect her – even if that means losing her in order to keep her safe. That is serious love right there.

I think something I’ve noticed and admired about a lot of these book boyfriends that makes them so attractive is their ability to be so supportive towards the female. Just because a woman is sensitive and cries doesn’t mean she’s weak. Being a good shoulder to cry on is a definite positive. It also doesn’t hurt to be supportive of their work, their dreams, their desires, etc. It’s just GOOD TO BE SUPPORTIVE PERIOD!. ((Men write that down that’s important stuff I’m telling you right now)).

Since it’d been so long since I read The Raven, it took me a little while to remember where the story was picking up from. The story was well-paced and had many surprises, which I can’t tell you about because spoilers. I definitely think this book was much more exciting than the last – especially because William and Raven were no longer playing Cat and Mouse with their feelings.

As for Raven, I like that she’s NOT PHYSICALLY PERFECT but has an abundant amount of inner beauty.
 People say I’m rather harsh on myself but it’s a little like I say, “I’m a bad person with good intentions”.
I’m not actually a bad person but I believe I could be kinder… With Raven she’s got this ENORMOUS heart and sense of kindness that can be seen as extremely uncommon.
 In the case of, “Good guys never win” it seems that the kind and sweet girl won out this time. Shame though that a lot of people overlooked her because of her disability. Even more of a shame that society is a lot like that – with their perceptions and their prejudices. You never know what people have to offer until you get to know them.
 That being said, a reminder is in order that Raven IS HUMAN and that for her to interfere too much in supernatural business is just plain craziness. She could die! Like…really easily, which is why I get…where she could get really annoying because of all her whining, but it was for the best…I mean what else could she have done?

All and all, I’m perfectly satisfied with this sequel and would absolutely read it again! I can’t wait for the third book to see what happens next and what becomes of Raven and William, the vampyres and the Curia.
 Although I suppose I’ll have to wait a whole year for that….BOO!!

5/5 Hearts of Love

Lacey

Originally posted at Booklovers For Life

3.5 STARS

I highly enjoyed the first book in The Florentine series, so I couldn’t wait to jump into my early copy of the sequel. The Shadow picks up right where The Raven left off, continuing with Raven and William’s passionate love story and the dark underworld they live in. Sylvain Reynard’s writing is as lyrical and lush as ever, and though I didn’t love this book as much as I loved The Raven, it’s still a great installment to the series.

“You’re a dream.” She sighed. “A dream of love I never thought I’d have.”

William has now accepted that his heart belongs to Raven, and he’ll do anything and everything to protect her. There are dark forces that threaten his reign over Florence, and the best way to hurt him is to hurt Raven. The Shadow focuses a lot more on William and Raven’s beautiful romance, which is certainly the highlight of the book. We also get to know William so much better and he’s no longer such a mystery. Their relationship has now developed into something deeper, more intense and passionate. The depth of love these two have for one another is above and beyond, and I really loved seeing how they interact together.

He touched her cheek. “You are the light that shines in my darkness.”

I really liked this book. That being said, the first half of the book felt too slow and there wasn’t much going on besides Raven and William reaffirming their love. However, once the plot involving the underworld developed more, the suspense and action went up a notch. This is when I became fully immersed in the story and couldn’t stop flipping the pages. The action and intensity near the end of the book reminded me of why I fell so in love with the paranormal romance genre years ago, and continue to love it to this day.

The Shadow is a must-read for fans of the series. The romance is captivating and sexy, the writing is detailed and sensual – everything about this book is so very SR, even though it’s PNR and not contemporary. I’m already eager to get my hands on the next book in the series – I can’t wait to see what SR has in store for William and Raven, because I really need them to get their HEA!

Thanks to the publisher for generously providing me an ARC to review.

Quotes are taken from the ARC and are subject to change in the final version.

Amazon Ebook: http://amzn.to/1FX8kby
Amazon Paperback: http://amzn.to/1PMtzBt
Audible: http://amzn.to/1Sy1Xzz

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