Tuesday 2 February 2016

✪ The Shadow ✪ Sylvain Reynard ✪ Florentine Series 2 ✪

© Bianca Janeane
    

SYLVAIN REYNARD
THE SHADOW
• release day: 2 February 2016
The Florentine Series #2

• 432 pages
★★★★★
4.5 Stars


From the New York Times bestselling author of the Gabriel trilogy comes the hotly anticipated follow-up to The Raven, a sensual novel set in Florence featuring the dangerously intoxicating coupling of Raven and William

Raven Wood’s vampyre prince has returned, pledging his love and promising justice for every wrong done to her. In the wake of their reunion, Raven is faced with a terrible decision
allow the Prince to wreak vengeance against the demons of her past, or persuade him to stay his hand. But there is far more at stake than Raven’s heart...

A shadow has fallen over the city of Florence. Ispettor Batelli will not rest until he uncovers Raven’s connection to the theft of the priceless art from the Uffizi Gallery. And while the Prince hunts a traitor who sabotages him at every turn, he finds himself the target of the vampyres’ mortal enemy.

As he wages a war on two fronts, he will need to keep his love for Raven secret, or risk exposing his greatest weakness...







The Prince and The Raven & The Shadow connect our beloved Gabriel Series to Sylvain's brand new paranormal Florentine Series.

YOU NEED TO READ THE RAVEN BEFORE READING THE SHADOW!
And if you haven't already read THE PRINCE first and before that The Gabriel Trilogy!!! ☺

This 3rd book starts with a little time travel - we see how William lost his first love many 100 years ago :(
Then we go visit the Emersons - to kill them?
No, he promised Raven not to hurt them....but he'll have a little talk with Gabriel.
And then we go back to present-time Florence.
William has just gotten over his stupidity and told Raven that he loves her and that he has a surprise for her...
That surprise is her former step-father in a cell in William's basement. The step-father who molested her little sister and the person responsible for her bad leg.
But Raven is extremely upset about all that. She's not sure what to do now....

Then there's still the problem of a traitor in the Prince's 'government'.

And the police have still not given up on finding the person responsible for the theft of the Boticelli Illustrations.

William has his hands full in this book ... with politics and his new love life et cetera ...

What will happen to The Prince & Raven?
What will happen to Gabriel & Julianne?
Will everybody die at the end? o.O
Or will there be a horrible Cliffhanger?


I'm not telling you that of course ☺
I don't want to spoil too much ☺
well, there's not really a Cliffhanger - well maybe there kinda is...but not a really bad one ☺
 ____________________________________________________



 

First I have to say that I'm not really a fan of supernatural books. But since I love Sylvain's Gabriel series and Gabriel has a little part in here too, I really wanted to read this.
And I really enjoyed it. It's not like all those vampire books or tv-shows you always see. We don't have guys running around with blood dripping all over their faces, no bloody fights all the time. It's a real classy story. It's about love, and pain and loss and politics and the past and the future. About Art and the city of Florence. There's suspense and intrigue and mystery and romance. And it's so wonderfully written by Sylvain - he has this amazing writing-style that's just so different from other books ☺

This second book in the series was a tiny little bit too political for me though :/
I want my romances to be romances and William has soooo much to do and to worry about with being the Prince, so that the romance part gets pushed too far back. But other readers might love that. ☺
But - it's still very sexy and romantic and exciting and suspensy ...

I really love William and Raven together.
They're soo completely different, yet they just belong together.
But it'll be hard, with him being what he is.... I really hope there will be a very happy end for them one day!

Now I can't wait for the next book in the series!!!!!! I need to know what will happen to William & Raven next - and of course we want to see the Emersons again ☺


If you loved THE GABRIEL SERIES and EVEn if you're not a HUGE fan of vampYres - you need to read THE Florentine Series - IT'S BEAUTIFUL!!!!!  



I can totally see this series as a TV show - set in this beautiful city, with sexy Professors & Vampires - #BringItOnKevinWilliamson




ARC received for an honest review

You will need to have read The Prince and The Raven first, as The Shadow follows on right where The Raven ended.

 Sandro Botticelli - Birth of Venus

The Prince and Raven are absolutely perfect for each other.  Their imperfections are what make them beautiful to the other, and you just want them to be together.  Need them to fight for each other. And fight they do.


The Shadow is a suspenseful kind of read.  There are things going on in the Vampyre world, things going on in the art world, things going on in Raven's world that you are not quite sure where they are going to go.

There is probably a little bit to much political stuff going on in The Shadow for my liking though - it might just be me, but I wanted more of William and Raven's beautiful love story.

We also get a tiny little glimpse of the Professor and Julieanne - I still need to know what happens there!

Nope, not telling!

Just a heads up - The Shadow again ends on a bit of a cliffy, but nothing too bad!

I am really looking forward to where Sylvain Reynard takes us next in the world of The Prince and The Raven.  I hope it is not too long before we find out because


I am not a huge paranormal reader, so if you are wary because it is about vampyres - don't be.  The Florentine series is so much more!


 

LINKS TO THE BOOK AND AUTHOR



   
If you haven't read THE RAVEN - DO IT NOW!!!
(and preferably before reading The Shadow ☺)




STALK SYLVAIN ON:
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I am honoured to have had all three of my novels appear on the New York Times and USAToday Bestseller lists. I was a Semifinalist for Best Author in the 2011 and 2012 Goodreads Choice Awards. "Gabriel's Inferno" was a Semifinalist for Best Romance in 2011 and "Gabriel's Rapture" was a Finalist for Best Romance in 2012, in the Goodreads Choice Awards, as well. The final novel in The Gabriel Series, "Gabriel's Redemption," debuted at #6 on the New York Times Bestseller list.

My next book is "The Raven," and it releases from Berkley press on February 3, 2015. It's already available for preorder

I'm interested in the way literature can help us explore aspects of the human condition - particularly suffering, sex, love, faith, and redemption. My favourite stories are those in which a character takes a journey, either a physical journey to a new and exciting place, or a personal journey in which he or she learns something about himself/herself.

I'm also interested in how aesthetic elements such as art, architecture, food, drink, and music can be used to tell a story or to illuminate the traits of a particular character. In my writing, I combine all of these elements with the themes of redemption, forgiveness, and the transformative power of goodness.

I try to use my platform as an author to raise awareness about the following charities: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation, WorldVision, Alex's Lemonade Stand, and Covenant House.