Bronwyn Green

Very short but the plot made sense. The couple worked together so the relationship didn't come out of left field. She was a bear scientist so when she found out they were bear shifters she was okay with it. Sometimes I think that authors do not set up realistic reactions to a person finding out shifters exist, but this one seemed okay. She really loved one of the guys but was willing to do his cousins because she thought he didn't really want her for permanent and why not go for the foursome since she might never get another chance at it. He didn't really want a menage relationship but was willing to go along so she could experience it. The menage scene was on the tasteful side of these things. It was explicit and complete but didn't feel real raunchy if you know what I mean. Afterwards the couple talked and realized they wanted a committed monogamous relationship. This was nice in that the author didn't try to cram too much in to it.

Thanks to melissaB for loaning this to me.… (plus d'informations)

A Hearts On Fire Review

2.25 STARS - Bronwyn Green's "Vengeful Shadows" is a story about a librarian/ women's shelter volunteer heroine with a secretive and painful past, Tessa Maycroft. She has suffered in her youth and is volunteering as a way of 'paying it forward'. She has a crush on her friend and next door neighbor, criminal psychologist/ college professor/ ladies' man, Zander York.

Tessa is being stalked but she figures it comes with the job since she works at the shelter. she keeps this a secret because she feels she can protect her friends especially Zander from danger. She does this a lot which really made me disconnect with her as a heroine but I will go into detail later in this review.

Zander also likes Tessa so much her refers to her on numerous occasions that she is an "angel" and places her on a pedestal from the beginning of the story - no actions or proof as to why she is placed there. But it is mentioned repeatedly that she's too perfect, another point of contention for me. The overused 'he's too bad for her/ she's too good for him' theme was chosen along with the 'let's fake a relationship even though we like each other' theme. Oh and the 'I'm a damaged heroine, let me be your martyr' theme (another classic).

Zander wants tenure at his job and was told unofficially he needs to get a serious girlfriend/ wife since he's very good looking and single from his superior. Now that smells like a discrimination lawsuit to me and Zander hints to it but instead of shutting that down...he asks Tessa to be in a fake relationship so the college board can see (A grown man stooping to this level, I just- let me stop myself)

So with all of that...baggage comes the extra load of Tessa being stalked by an unknown entity. The stalker leaves threatening notes at her job, her volunteer job and inside of her HOME! And what does Tessa do? She brushes it off like a good martyr because the person is probably upset and/or want her attention. She did contact the police - one of out two things I liked about Tessa. But she can barely piece together a suspect list, does not follow any sort of safety practices so her martyrdom nixes out any vein of common sense she thought she had.

And Zander...he was a mixed bag. His reactions to his male friend looking at Tessa (he turns into a grabby caveman and at points he jus acted for her without consulting with Tessa). He develops feelings for his angel Tessa (gag) but they do not discuss. Tessa believes he just is going through the motions. They don't talk about their feelings. They are pros at not communicating, avoidance and deflecting.

An example:

"We need to talk," he murmured in her ear.
"Okay," she agreed, wanting to leave the deserted garden.
"Okay?" he asked. "I say we need to talk, and you say okay?"
"Um yeah," she answered, still scanning the bushes,not exactly sure what she'd agree to.

And you know what they do after this? Talk? Nope. They eat dinner.

At that point, I didn't care for either main character. They were disappointing. Both friends fall in love but Tessa figures she can't afford to bring trouble to Zander's door so she refuses to believe him.

When Tessa is told Zander could possibly be the one who is causing her all this stalker grief, she has sex with him. Maybe other readers can find that sexy but I am not one of them. And when she is contacted by the stalker and given a time to meet up with him, Tessa, self-sacrificing, Tessa, what does she do? Does she contact the police? Does she alert her friends?

No.

She has unprotected sex (she figures it won't matter since she is going to be killed anyway) with Zander, waits for him to fall asleep (because she knew for sure she could wear him out in under two hours) and creeps off to meet her doom.

Sadly, the story is a HEA. There were some underdeveloped plot lines like the stalker hurting other victims' - young ladies close to both Tessa and Zander but they were mentioned a small amount of times. I think if it was included more often and less repetition of the weak 'he loves me/ he shouldn't love me' or 'I'm going to save everyone but myself'/ 'I'm going to search bushes and deserted gardens by myself' vibe that Tessa had going, the story might have been able to be at least lukewarm to me.

The one thing I enjoyed was that usually when a heroine is portrayed as an assault victim, she is too damaged for anyone,etc. Tessa does act like this but she also used sex as a way of control/ dealing with her PTSD. I thought that was a different approach and I liked it.

The writing was not bad...but it wasn't good either, IMO."… (plus d'informations)