Shadow Flight (Shadow Riders #5) by Christine Feehan-dual review
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 5,2020
Nicoletta Gomez was a terrified teenager when Taviano Ferraro and his brother saved her life. Ever since, she’s been trying to rise above what was done to her, molding herself into a survivor under the protective eyes of the Ferraro family. All the while, she’s been falling hopelessly in love with the man who knows her darkest secrets.…
With one look, Taviano knew that Nicoletta was his, just as he felt their shadows connect. But no matter how much he wanted to claim her, he knew she needed time to become her own woman. When Nicoletta once again finds herself in the sights of dangerous men, a split-second decision has Taviano breaking all of the Ferraro family’s rules to keep her safe. And as far as he’s concerned, the reward is more than worth the risk.
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Sandy’s Review
SHADOW FLIGHT is the fifth instalment in Christine Feehan’s contemporary, adult. SHADOW RIDERS erotic, paranormal romance series focusing on the Ferraro family. This is Taviano Ferraro and Nicoletta Gomez’ story line. SHADOW FLIGHT can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.
SOME BACKGROUND: The Shadow Rider male must find his mate –a woman who is capable of riding the shadows-or at the very least with the ability to bear children with the shadow-riding gene. Within the family, the Ferraro siblings are tasked with finding a mate, fated by DNA, who is capable of continuing the family line. People with the ability to ride the shadows are few and far between, and future generations are at risk if no mates are found with the shadow-riding gene. The Ferraro’s are also part of the Chicago Underworld-a crime family linked to both legal and criminal activity.
NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be some triggers for more sensitive readers. Nicoletta was first introduced to the readers in book one Shadow Rider.
Told from several third person perspectives including Tatiana and Nicoletta, and Ricco and Mariko (Shadow Reaper #2) SHADOW FLIGHT focuses on the building relationship between soon to be twenty-one year old Nicoletta Gomez and Taviano Ferraro. Years earlier, following the death of her parents, Nicoletta found herself in the custody of her step-uncles, who ritually raped and abused our heroine. At the age of eighteen, Nicoletta was rescued by the Ferraro family, and placed in the hands of a loving foster family, where she began to act out against the people in charge. Fast forward to present day wherein, a now almost twenty-one year old Nicoletta, once again, finds herself struggling to survive when her past, in the guise of Benito Valdez, the leader of the gang who call themselves the Demons, specializing in human sexual trafficking, sets a plan into motion to reclaim our heroine, as his personal $ex toy. What ensues is the quick building relationship and romance between Nicoletta and Taviano, and the potential fall-out as the Demons come searching for Nicoletta Gomez, and Taviano’s actions and claiming of Nicoletta are called into question by the family leadership.
Taviano Ferrera has known Nicoletta Gomez to be his mate from the moment of her rescue by the Ferraro family, three years earlier. With their shadows entwined, and continually tightening with each encounter, Taviano knew it was only a matter of time before he claimed Nicoletta as his own but trying to outrun Benito’s men found Taviano pulling Nicoletta into the shadow world, a world she knew very little about, but had begun to experience a few times on her own. Using the shadows to travel causes immense pain and anguish for those not ready and untrained in the world, and for this reason, Taviano is called to task for exposing Nicoletta to potential harm, and revealing the truth about the world in which they lived.
Meanwhile, matriarch Eloisa Ferraro continues to cause problems for the Ferraro family with her ongoing hatred of her sons’ mates. The vitriol and anger directed at the females, who will produce the much needed heirs to the world of the shadows, is called into question as Eloisa struggles with her sons’ choices, and the loss of her power as the Queen of the Chicago Underworld. Secrets will be revealed that will affect everyone involved.
The relationship between Taviano and Nicoletta began as a rescue but Taviano quickly discovered that Nicoletta was a shadow rider when their shadows entwined. Refusing to claim his underage mate, Taviano watched from the sidelines as Nicoletta acted out, all the while, continuing to protect the woman with whom he would fall in love. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
If you are a fan of Christine Feehan, you will notice the many similarities between Taviano and Nicoletta, and Dimitri and Skylar (Dark/Carpathian). Both females had been raped and abused; the heroes bide their time before claiming their under-aged mates; and their treatment of their mate is gentle and loving.
Once again, there is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including all of the Ferraro siblings, their mates, their mother Eloisa Ferraro, numerous cousins from all over the world, as well as Nicoletta’s foster parents Lucia and Amo. The shear number of members of the Demons is overwhelming- naming every member about to face his death was unnecessary and time consuming.
I did have a couple of other issues including the authors need to reveal Taviano’s continuing relationship with other women knowing Nicoletta was his mate-apparently just knowing someone is your mate does not guarantee monogamy or faithfulness in the world of the Shadow Riders ;and Ricco and Mariko’s need to perform Shibari sexual rope play, on the roof of a diner, immediately before and after killing several members of the Demons gang-although the author explains the overwhelming sexual need and excitement over the kill, but on the roof of a dirty diner, in the middle of a killing field, is questionable on so many levels but I suspect added to the story for the titillation factor 😉
SHADOW FLIGHT is a story of family and blood, obsession and determination; retribution, murder and revenge. The slow building premise will captivate your attention; the characters are numerous, colorful and energetic; the romance is seductive and impassioned. If you are a fan of Christine Feehan, sit back and enjoy the world of the Shadow Rider.
Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Shadow Rider
Shadow Reaper
Shadow Keeper
Shadow Warrior
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Barb’s Review
Shadow Flight by Christine Feehan is the 5th book in her fantastic Shadow Riders series. I love this series, as each and every book has been great. With that being said, Shadow Flight may be the best one yet, though I loved Stefano and Francesca in the first book. Refresher: Shadow riders have the ability to blend themselves to the shadows wherever they are, making themselves invisible to anyone. They have been in existence for centuries, with all members of their families trained to use those abilities. The family runs a legitimate business; they use their ability to help others in need to solve various problems and dispense justice. They are an extremely powerful and close-knit family that is totally loyal to one another, also protecting the people that in live in their community.
Taviano, our hero in this story, has always privately loved Nicoletta since he helped rescue you her from an evil gang leader, who ran a sex trafficking ring. Nicoletta, our heroine, thinks Taviano is wonderful, but has no idea that he loves her. When he offers the Ferraro plane to take Nicoletta and her three friends to a concert, things will drastically change, when at the concert, she is recognized by a gang member, and her three friends are kidnapped, as she manages to escape and get to Taviano. Nicoletta remembers vividly her time in captivity and the abuse she had to endure; she desperately convinces Taviano they need to save her friends. In doing so, Taviano needs to take her through the shadows to help save her friends, which is considered a no-no, as being a shadow rider is a Ferraro secret; after the rescue, he decides to go to Las Vegas and marry Nicoletta, in order to be able to keep his being a shadow rider. Nicoletta was shocked at first, but she knew that she had some ability to travel through shadows from her family growing up; she also loved Taviano, but worried that he didn’t love her. In a short time, she would learn how wrong she was.
The story does revolve around Nicoletta’s past, her sexual abuse, and her determination to be a strong shadow rider. Taviano was a great hero, his love of Nicoletta was wonderful, and he was so patient and understanding with her. Nicoletta was also a great heroine, who as the story continued, she was even more so as she stood up to the nasty matriarch, Eloise. I loved them together, and Christine handled the sex scenes very well. We got to spend time with some of the other cousins, who are part of the Ferraro family, and I am hoping Emme’s story comes soon. It really was awesome to see everyone take part of fighting the gang members, who are trying to get to Nicoletta and bring her back to the evil leader.
What follows is an intense, pulse pounding, exciting adventure, where Nicoletta is in constant danger, and Taviano, with the entire Ferraro family trying to be one step of the gangs coming and stopping them from getting anywhere near her. I will not give spoilers, as I do not want to ruin it for you; especially since this was a masterpiece.
What I love the most about this series is all the wonderful characters that Feehan has created. I love all of the Ferraro’s, and those they fall in love with that join the family. They are an awesome family, with amazing abilities that make this so much fun.
Shadow Flight is a captivating, exciting, suspenseful, action packed story, with a wonderful couple that we couldn’t help but love. This was an awesome addition to this series, and loved how Feehan ended with the last 1/3 of the book. This is a fantastic paranormal series that you should be reading, and very well written by Christine Feehan.
Copy supplied by the publisher
Excerpt Kindly supplied by Berkley Publishing
He set Nicoletta down on the comforter and she instantly turned on her side, trying to curl into the fetal position away from him. He put a hand to her belly to stop her. “I’ll need washcloths and towels and warm water.” He took the large case from Drago and put it on the bed beside Nicoletta.
“Piccola, stay still. Let me see how much damage there is. How bad is the headache?” Thankfully the lights were dim, and the shields were down on the windows in the bedroom. She had her eyes closed and her hands over her face, but between her fingers he could see trickles of blood sliding down her face. “You’re going to have to move your hands.”
“I can’t.”
He wanted to smile at her protest, that soft little voice that came at him out of the dark. Very gently he laid his hand over hers. She didn’t try to stop him when he enclosed her smaller fingers and pried them loose, uncovering her face. Even so, it was difficult to see her pale face in the dim lighting of the plane.
The jet gave a shudder as it began to move on the runway. Franco spoke, telling them to prepare for takeoff. Demetrio Palagonia leaned in from the other side of the bed to hand Taviano a warm washcloth.
Taviano took it with a brief smile of thanks. This was supposed to be an easy, casual run to a concert, not a dangerous mission that put them all in jeopardy. They’d handled it, but Stefano wasn’t going to be happy. Taviano had left his phone on the plane. He couldn’t take it into the shadows, and he wasn’t going to see what his brother had to say to him yet.
By now, his LA cousins would have told him that Pia, Bianca and Clariss were safe and staying with them until given the word that they could go home. When Stefano asked why there was no mention of Nicoletta, he would be told that their sister had provided clothes for her to ride the shadows, so no worries on that score and Stefano would lose his ever-loving mind. Taviano couldn’t blame him, but he didn’t want to hear about it, not yet.
The plane was in the air and Taviano breathed a sigh of relief as he wiped away the blood. Thankfully the twin trickles came from Nicoletta’s nose, not her eyes and ears. He had mostly been afraid of a brain bleed. she’d seemed to handle the last ride better than all the others put together. He wasn’t certain why, when this ride should have been the worst, but her body had moved with his, as if they’d been born to ride together.
He cracked an ice pack, wrapped it in a cloth and applied it to her forehead after sweeping back her hair. “Drago, there’s an eye mask in drawer right beside the bed. Would you mind getting that out for me?”
“No problem.”
Drago pulled it out and helped lift Nicoletta’s head so Taviano could slip the mask over her head to cover her eyes.
“You’re good, il mio tesoro. Just relax. We’re in the air. Your friends are fine. You’ve got a small nosebleed but that’s all. Not as bad as before, and you weren’t even sick.”
“Don’t say the word sick,” she cautioned.
“I’ll be more careful,” he promised, exchanging a relieved grin with his cousins and nodding when they indicated they would leave him alone with her.
He waited until both left the room before he removed his shoes and slipped up onto the bed with her. He was damned tired, and it was going to be a very long night. He had some explaining to do.
Christine Feehan is a #1 New York Times bestselling author multiple times over with her portfolio including over 70 published novels, including five series; Dark Series, Ghostwalker Series, Leopard Series, Drake Sisters Series, the Sisters of the Heart Series and Torpedo Ink. All of her series have hit the #1 spot on the New York Times bestselling list as well. Her debut novel Dark Prince received 3 of the 9 Paranormal Excellence Awards in Romantic Literature (PEARL) in 1999. Since then she has been published by various publishing houses including Leisure Books, Pocket Books, and currently is writing for Berkley/Jove. She also has earned 7 more PEARL awards since Dark Prince.
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Great review, Sandy. I love this series.
Terrific review, Ladies. I can’t wait to read this book. Shadow Riders has become one of my favorite series. Thanks for all you do.
Wonderful reviews, Barb and Sandy. I look forward to reading this story. Thanks.
Thanks for the great review Barb.
Waiting for my copy to be shipped. Loved the insight at this time though. I am falling seriously behind on my reading.
Great reviews, Ladies. I am loving this series. Thanks.
Thanks for the great reviews, ladies. I am a big fan of CF and her numerous series.
Another great review, thanks for the excerpt.
wonderful reviews. i have started this series, have to catch up. sounds like a great addition to this series.
Wonderful reviews, Sandy & Barb. Love this series. Thank you.
Fantastic reviews, thanks !
Thanks for the great reviews and excerpt. Congratulations to Christine Feehan on the new release.
Excellent reviews, thanks ladies.