Stefano is the head of his family and is a shadow rider. He protects his family and the people in his territory. Francesca is on the run, afraid and unknowing that she is also a shadow rider. Stefano takes one look at Francesca across the street and knows she's his, he just has to convince her. He's overbearing, bossy, controlling and scary. She's afraid and distrustful of his wealth and nature but he eventually wins her over. Sex has a bit of kink, dominance, spanking, and bondage.
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Warning! ranting ahead

To say this book annoyed me would be the understatement of the century.
I picked it up in a bookstore and it seemed so great especially with what people were saying and all so I thought "Oh I'll definitely love this book"

Spoiler alert: I didn't.

This was your typical [Rich handsome man with dark secrets] x [poor girl with a dark past] story, I've read thousands of those on Wattpad and if I'm being honest some were much better than this one.
It was so predictable down to every last thing in the plot.
As I was reading, I kept hoping it wouldn't go with the typical ending in which the girl gets kidnapped and the boy saves her, but guess what? It happened!

I hated that whole "love at first sight" thing that went on between Stefano and Francesca (Actually I downright hated their relationship in general). At first I thought there was something like a mating bond of a sort that snapped in place when their shadows touched and that's why he got so obsessed with her but nope,that whole shadows thingy only meant she was able to produce shadow riders as children.

I hated how he walked up to her and claimed her as his as if she were some sort of a toy or something that he can own AND SHE DIDN'T EVEN PROTEST!!
Like wth? That's just wrong on so many levels.
Don't ever do this kids, if a stranger walks up to you and says you're his outta nowhere you knee him in the groin and run away because he's a creep, no matter how hot, no matter how rich he can be, you just run for your dear life and hope he never catches up to you!

The reason I picked up this book in the first place was the whole shadow riding aspect, I found it so interesting and wanted to learn more about it and how it works, but nooooo! All I get instead is the fucked up relationship of Stefano and his charity case that he decided to claim as his own property!

I hated how spineless Francesca was, she just batted her eyelashes and nodded at every single command he gave her without protesting even if she didn't agree with it. And he just went on and on ordering her around like a hound dog!

Bloody hell that was frustrating!

And their engagement
Oh dear lord their engagement!
He basically takes her to party with his family, she doesn't know why then all of a sudden his sister says they're celebrating their engagement
WHAT?
Dude! You're doing it wrong, you skipped the whole getting on one knee with a ring in your hand and asking her to marry you
SHE DIDN'T EVEN FUCKING KNOW
The worst part? She was actually fine with it

Also, I'm not sure the author is aware of it but there are in fact English words other than "sexy" to describe someone's appearance.
I threw the book across the room several times because everything Stefano did or had was sexy
His eyes
His face
His mouth
His hands
His hair

NO! Just No!!!

One more thing that turned me off was how graphic and details the sex scenes were in this book
It was just too much that I actually had to skip a lot of them hoping to get more of the plot but getting nothing instead.

I can actually sum up the whole thing in a few lines:
- Poor almost homeless girl goes with her friend looking for a job
- Handsome rich man sees her and she catches his eyes
- He forces her to take his coat and money, basically bullies the restaurant owner to hire her and claims her as his then leaves
- She is attacked and his cousins save her
- He takes her out for dinner n they talk a bit
- She goes home n his cousins hate where she lives
- Him n his family attack her landlord who happens to be a creepy asshole and he forcefully takes her to his home with him
- She stays with him in his home and she's suddenly fine with it
- They discover she's running from a rich psycho who murdered her sister
- Freaky sex
- Some more freaky sex
- He takes her to party with his family and then he be like "yeah it's our engagement party, no biggie"
- SHE IS FINE WITH THAT
- More freaky sex because there's no plot so let's write smut!
- She is attacked again n they save her
- His mom is a bitch
- She quits her job bc why not
- More freaky sex
- Psycho rich dude is in town n he visits them
- He goes on a mission n saves a girl (I bet my ass his bro is gonna marry that one)
- Psycho rich dude kidnaps her n the sister
- The bros come n kill everyone to save them
- Wedding scene

-_-
I've only seen that in like every single Rich boy x poor girl story I've ever read, and I found all of those on Wattpad

I'm seriously so pissed off at this book because it had so much potential but it went and ended up being. . . crappy ( )

dark x ( )

Shadow Rider
Shadow, Book 1

I Picked Up This Book Because: I can’t seem to let go of Christine Feehan

The Characters:

Francesca Cappello:
Stefano Ferraro:

The Story:

In the Why Did I Read this section I said I can’t let go of Christine Feehan and I should explain. Every book I’ve read in the past two years I say needs to be about 100 pages less. Shadow Rider is no exception. Though I think Feehan is a an awesome story teller who gives beautiful details about her characters and their surrounding areas (especially in the Leopard Series), she is now infamous for being repetitive. Really if Francesca said how beautiful she thought Stefano was one more time I was going to reach in the book and smack her.

Now that I got that off my chest let’s talk about what I liked. Super powerful, rich family that’s close and takes care of each other. Love it. Dispenser of justice to those who can not fight for themselves. Love it. Steaming hot couple who care deeply for each other. Yep, love it too. (I can ignore the instalove but just a warning). Crazy, maniac after our heroine, not original but I liked the author’s twist on him.

The climax of the books was good but also totally expected and What I really love is the set up for Nicoletta and Taviano and I’m disappointed that their book is not next. I will definitely be continuing the series however I hope I can get the audio versions as I think fair better with this particular author’s brand of storytelling.

Overall I enjoyed the broad strokes of the story.

The Random Thoughts:

2.5 Stars ( )

It's a new series, it was okay, but I don't love it. Maybe if I was into the so called alpha controlling male and sexually submissive, all about making him happy, female relationship? The paranormal part of riding shadows is interesting. Family is all is another part of the storyline. I don't know. I'll probably read the next one, but I've dropped her "Dark" series as a must read. ( )