Find Shadows At Sunset Authored By Anne Stuart Distributed As Interactive EBook
wasn't planning on reading this book anytime soon, but I was stuck without the book that I was reading, and needed something to fill the temporary void.
So this one was on my shelf, collecting dust, and for whatever reason, I picked it up, I'm actually glad I got around to reading it finally, because it was a pretty good story, and a fast read for me too, I'm marking it as paranormal only because of the two ghost characters, Ted and Brenda, Otherwise there's not much paranormal about this book, It starts off with Jilly, the "strong" sister going to defend her brother Dean against their wicked father, Jackson, Jilly is always trying to take care of her siblings, never paying any attention to her own desires, Her sister RachelAnn is always in and out of rehab, drinking and drugging and sleeping around, She even slept with Jilly's scumbag exhusband, Even Dean seems to sort of walk all over Jilly, taking her for granted, The siblings all live in a dilapidated old Spanishstyle mansion, former home of a moviestar, Brenda, who supposedly killed her married lover Ted, and then herself, leaving their ghosts to haunt the place.
They're not scary ghosts though, they care about Jilly and RachelAnn, calling them "our girls", Zack Coltrane enters the picture as Jackson's righthand man, and at first, he seems just as cold and heartless, However, he's there to gain his revenge upon Jackson for the death of his mother back in the's, when the mansion was home to a commune of hippies.
Jackson is a bad, bad man, He cares nothing for Dean and Jilly, not even the tiniest smidgen of paternal caring, He does, however, care just a bit too much for RachelAnn, who is supposedly adopted, He's broken a ton of laws, has no qualms about taking people out who get in his way, and he's under investigation by the federal government, thanks to Coltrane's machinations.
The Meyer family in this book makes me glad I was brought up with parents who care about me, that's for sure, There's a bit of mystery to this story, and some twisted things going on, especially with Jackson, The relationship between Coltrane and Jilly moved along at a good pace, they were attracted to each other, and grew to care about each other, but it wasn't any sort oftruck, "meanttobe" kind of love.
At least I didn't think so, I liked the secondary characters a lot, The ghosts were an interesting little side story, and their love was sweet, I was also glad when RachelAnn found her inner strength, and stayed sober, and also that she found Rico, her longlost love from her teenage years, and that they got their HEA.
This was my first try at Anne Stuart's writing, and I can say she's going on my list of authors to look for, I can't wait to get my hands on some of her historicals,'
No es que no me gustara pero me ha resultado un libro simple y simplón,
RitaStuart RetoRitaFirst off, thanks to Lady Danielle for this recommendation!
Shadows at Sunset has something in it for everyone, Technically it's categorized as romantic suspense, but oh let me tell you, it's so much more than just suspense, Stuart takes the paranormal leap in this one by giving us a ghost story within the main story, and then gives us an excellent secondary romance on the side to boot! Only a skilled author can give you three separate stories within a book that'spages and do it well.
Anne Stuart is definitely a skilled author that does just that!
The focus of this book definitely centers around Coltrane, Revenge is his motive as he seeks to bring down the man who killed his mother, He is a ruthless con artist and I absolutely adored him! Jilly is his love interest and also the daughter of the man he plans on destroying.
In typical Stuart fashion, this is not a man who woos Jilly with wine and roses, He is dangerous, mysterious, and up until the very end stays this way,
Jilly's fragile older sister also has a story to tell, in what may be my favorite part of this book, The secondary romance in this book, although significantly less in page number, packs a huge emotional punch, The secondary romance was so beautiful and unexpected that I had to reread it several times before putting the book away today, I will never forget it,
A good old ghost story rounds out the trifecta as we meet a deceased couple Brenda de Lorilland and her lover Ted Hughes.
We learn about these ghosts throughout this book and they play a significant role as towards the end, all three plot lines are seamlessly interwoven together.
I needed a great book to read, and no one can deliver like Anne Stuart when she is on her game, Shadows at Sunset showcases her amazing talent and I loved every chapter, page, paragraph, sentence, and word, This is a must for Stuart fans, and a great recommendation for all fans of dark heroes, I have to admit that I mostly rolled my eyes through this one, Before I mention what I didn't like, I want to be completely fair and state that it is a fastpaced read and remained mildly entertaining throughout, thus two.
Also, I'm not a big fan of the romantic suspense genre, although I've been trying to expand my horizons lately, and some genres I thought I wouldn't like, such as historical romance, I've actually really enjoyed lately.
Unfortunately, this was not the romantic suspense novel to change my mind about the genre,
The story concerns three siblings who live in a decrepit Hollywood mansion which is haunted by two friendly ghosts, all of whom are more or less in the shadow of their amoral tycoon father, Jackson Meyer: Jilly the feisty heroine who has devoted her life to being completely codependent in trying to protect her siblings RachelAnn, the adopted fragile beauty who is trying to resist the lures of drugs, alcohol and casual sex and Dean, the gay computer geek pining uselessly for his father's approval.
Suffice to say, Jackson doesn't care a whit about any of them , but he needs to keep them out of his hair while he continues his fraudulent schemes, so he sics his immoral henchman, Coltrane, on them, to keep them out of his hair seducing Jilly is suggested, but Coltrane must keep his hands off RachelAnn! .
What he doesn't know is that Coltrane has an agenda of his ownhe is out to avenge past wrongs by bringing Jackson down,
Here is what I didn't like:
, Well, that whole plot. Seriously, it's just ridiculous! And not in a fun way, but in an I can't stop rolling my eyes way, But that could have been salvaged by truly engaging characters and/or a lot of crazy plot twists, I have read a few books this year that we're so OTT that somewhere along the line "bad" became "I can't put this down cracktastic goodness.
" Alas, that is not the case here, because:
, The characters were completely onedimensional and boring, Jilly was almost selfless, with no hidden depths RachelAnn's POV was childlike to the point of sounding simpleminded and Coltrane was the most disappointing antihero I have yet to encounter.
Despite all his protestations of being amoral and ruthless, . . he's just a softie with rude mannerisms, I kept thinking of the Sawyer character from Lost, only not anywhere near as sexy,
. A complete lack of sexual chemistry between Jilly and Coltrane,
. A complete lack of suspense, There was a really weak mystery and a bunch of stuff about Jackson trying to avoid the Feds because of, . . fraud, of some sort I guess And he will use his evil ways to, . . ruin his grown kids' selfesteem I don't know, it all seemed pretty weak and generic to me,
. Some interesting side plots that were completely undeveloped, RachelAnn uggh, that name! actually has a romantic interest of her own that was much more interesting to me than the Jilly/Coltrane dynamic, but it was never really fleshed out.
Likewise, the useless brother, Dean, does some investigating of his own, but its just skimmed over at the end,
. Don't even get me started on the "friendly ghost" sections, I don't want ghosts unless they're in a horror novel and out to scare the bejabbers out of me, thank you very much, Luckily, I was able to skim/skip their sections without missing out on any of the story,
. Badly written sex scenes! Luckily, there were not that many,
. And, on that topic, why make such a fuss over how Jillywhile not a virginhas never enjoyed sex before, even with her exhusband, In fact: "At one point she'd even pondered whether she was gay, It was an entirely acceptable lifestyle, and it probably would have made Dean happy to know his sister chose it, But for some reason she couldn't summon up even stray lustful feelings for another woman, " And even RachelAnn, the promiscuous sister, has "her first orgasm in years" only when she finds her love interest,
I think eight is enough reasons to dislike a book no reference to cheesy TV shows of yesteryear intended, so I'll stop here.
On a more positive note, I will definitely be giving Anne Stuart a second try, as I've already purchased Ruthless and am still excited to read it, based on all the great reviews and the fact it's a historical.
There is one thing you can always count on when you pick up an Anne Stuart, The fact that she draws you in to a web of deceit, lies, desire, explosive passion and an ending that would shake you to the very core when you are done is the very reason I keep coming back for her books even with a ton of reading material to choose from.
And Shadows at Sunset proved to be just that sort of read, a story that I completely lost myself in as Anne Stuart wove her brand of magic with Coltrane and Jilly and the rich cast of side characters that makes up this whole story.
Zachariah Redemption Coltrane is a man who is steadfast in his belief and his mission to exact revenge on the man who killed his mother.
His sketchy memories about his mother and the only happiness he had ever known while growing up which had been with her is reason enough for him to bring the man responsible down to his knees, stripping him of the very things that he holds near and dear in life.
But Coltranes plans for vengeance starts to falter when he meets his enemys daughter Jilly Meyer, who lives in and guards the crumbling famous La Casa de Sombras House of Shadows, one of the most interesting houses in Hollywood that is shrouded in scandal.
Jilly is the only one who stands up to her father for the sake of her brother and adopted sister whom she loves with all her heart.
Her one attempt at marriage had failed miserably, rendering her to be doubly wary of men who hides their true nature behind their good looks and veneer of charm.
When Coltrane pushes his way into her life, Jilly knows that in Coltrane lies a man who has his own agenda, a man who is ruthless enough to not care even if he leaves a wave of destruction behind him once his plan kicks into gear.
But her fascination for all that is Coltrane and how he makes her feel, those tendrils of elemental desire that shocks her to her very core makes her distrust him more than anything else.
But Coltrane is not a man to be denied, not when he has set his sights on claiming her, planning all the while to leave her behind, just a casualty of the war he plans to wage.
Shadows at Sunset is such an engrossing tale that is a mix of suspense, romance and two ghostly beings whose love for one another even crosses on beyond their deaths, lingering on til eternity.
The adopted daughter of the Meyer family who makes for such an endearing character on her own, the tender and heartwarming second chance at love that she finds was one of the best aspects of the story.
Equally enticing was the game of cat and mouse that Coltrane and Jilly play with each other, their emotions and feelings towards each other as fierce as the need for vengeance and revenge that courses through Coltrane.
Highly intriguing and explosively good, Shadows at Sunset makes for an amazing read, highly recommended from the sunny side of life!
Rating.
/
Original review posted on sitelink MBR's Realm of Romance This is a hard one for me to categorize, For most of the book, I had no idea where it was going, it was almost a listless drifting that made me wonder what happened to the plot, if there was one at all.
La Casa de
Sombres, The House of Shadows,
Reminds me of Las Noches from Bleach,
Casa de Sombres has a not so interesting legend of murdersuicide attached to it, I would have liked something a bit juicer, but hey, it's Hollywood: there're too many legends as it is,
The main of the plot centers on ruining one sick shit of, . . well, humanity n it's lowest form,
Jackson Meyer is absolutely disgusting, I think his ending wasn't quite poetic enough,
Coltrane was meh, I guess he could have been a bit more bad ass, . . perhaps Jericho Barrons could give him pointers
The children, adopted or otherwise were quite wellversed in self destruction: Dean who belongs in AA meetings as much as RachelAnn RachelAnn hell bent on either ending up with a million STD or worse, and Jilly who has to watch them to the point where she has no life.
Did I mention the incestmongering father Yes, there was one of those too,
Anyhow, for a maiden voyage into Anne Stuart's work, it wasn't bad, .