Review: Not your typical 50 Shades pastiche
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 8, 2014
I am a sucker for rich, powerful anti-heroes who change their wicked ways for the love of a woman. Unfortunately the heroine is usually some weak, spineless female who can't do anything but sulk over her sad, lonely life despite being unworldly beautiful. Marni Mann's series The Shadow Series is anything but the usually 50 Shades of Grey pastiche. Granted, Charlie is a beautiful girl. An aspiring artist with a sad past and and low self-esteem. When she becomes a glorified prostitute to get out of debt, she finds she is intrigued by the "work" and how her taste for sex somehow has empowered her. Or has it?  But Charlie does anything but sulk. She's too busy observing others and working on her "careers" to wallow in self-pity.As a talented art student by day and seductress by night, she tries to understand how the two can coincide. Soon she finds herself working with a sexy, stimulating and well-known artist-- and finds herself questioning her choices and how she can make a relationship between the two even possible. When her dangerous "career choice" brings her to the realization of just how dangerous a predicament she is in, she thinks her best choice might be just to run. But how?I thought the series well paced and the characters likeable. I thought despite the awful situation Charlie was in, she was remarkably strong and was thrilled when she realized just how strong she could be.Excellent beach read! And if a vacay is not in your sights, download it sooner-- as this is a great escape.