Review: Brilliant and refreshing!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 14, 2014
Book Review by Nicole McCurdy for Bex ‘n’ BooksDisclosure: Tis ebook was provided by the author in exchange for an HONEST and not necessarily positive review.I’m such a sucker (insert cymbal crash on the drums here) for a good stimulating paranormal story, particularly the romance type with the underlying werewolf/vampire/creature of the night theme simply interwoven throughout as a back story but Sacrificed in Shadow was not a typical paranormal fantasy at all and for that I will be forever grateful.  It’s not a schmaltzy saga and is in no way comparable with the likes of Stephanie Meyer’s teenage aimed Twilight series.  Sacrificed in Shadow is an adult Urban Fantasy in a league of its own.  It’s sharp, smart and stylish with a brilliantly refreshing perspective on demons and angels and all the things that go bump in the night.The action is fast paced, exhilarating and I’m pretty sure I got Carpal tunnel syndrome from swiping the e-reader so vigorously just to get to the next page.  There is no real romance in the book and I thought this would be a major problem for me because as I’ve said before I’m a die-hard lovey dovey devotee but the storyline literally leaps off the pages and shreds you by its claws from the very beginning.  A murder investigation leads to a world of demons, Grays (mixed angel and demon lineage), werewolves and corrupt officials that in turn leads us on to a much bigger bad.“Nothing made me.  I was born for sin and damned from the beginning.” So says our reluctant heroine.  Stunningly beautiful, strong, kick-ass and intelligent, Elise is a powerful demon of unknown descent, who agrees to help devout Christian Lincoln the deputy Sheriff solve several cases of missing people and gruesome killings that initially appear to be at the hands of werewolves.  This is where the awesome Rylie jumps into the fray, the female alpha of a pack of werewolves living together in their own little village style fortress.  It did seem that these characters (Seth, Abel, Rylie etc) are part of a separate series of books.  They were lacking back story here and you only get a simple run down of each werewolf and who they are but the underlying tensions and other events appear to stem from a past that I had no knowledge of.  It doesn’t detract from Elise’s story in any way if anything I want to go do my research and find those books to read too.I initially pegged Lincoln to be the lead man in this, he’s in a constant power struggle and battle with his sexual desire for the alluring but demonic Elise and his stalwart faith in good and God and through Reine’s writing you feel that same internal to-ing and fro-ing between what we’re taught to believe is good and acceptable and what we’re taught is sinful and wrong but the females in this book are sexy and badass and could quite frankly kick Buffy’s butt clear out of the park so I wasn’t too stressed out in choosing a demon and a werewolf for my protagonists.  Banding reluctantly together, Rylie and Elise blaze a tremendous trail in the search for the illusive killer and form an unlikely alliance to discover who or what that is slaying innocents.The one thing that got me totally hooked was the small snippet we read of Elise’s past.  And it is just a teaser but once I got a taste of that past when it mysteriously reappeared after a three-year absence and more powerful than before it just made me greedy for more knowledge, more insight, more reasoning.  Just. More, more, more.  So I was a little peeved we were lured in by a small insight into a tragic and somewhat epic storyline and a great character who has great potential to have it linger in the air as a to be continued…but that’s because yet again I just wanted more!It ends on something of a cliffhanger.  It doesn’t necessarily leave this story open-ended but you are made aware that this is just the beginning of Elise and her troubles thanks to the aforementioned painful past and the repercussions from the event in this tale.It was a clear five star rating from me.  Sacrificed in Shadow has excellent edge-of- your-seat action.  It has fantastic leading ladies who don’t need the super strong alpha male around to get the job done but it sometimes helps if you want something nice to look at.Reine’s writing style is able to evoke great imagery, it has an intelligent yet enthralling narration between characters and it just leaves you wanting a load more of these fabulous non-humans and their twisted and tragic worlds.