Shadow Fire (Shadow Riders, #7)

by Christine Feehan

Journey deeper into the world of Chicago’s most dangerous, alluring crime family in this incendiary installment of the Shadow Riders series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan.

Shadow Rider Elie Archambault has been called many things: domineering, brash, loyal, but most of all fast. And there’s nothing faster than choosing to marry a woman you’ve never met. All he has is a signed contract and a list of his new bride’s expectations for their arranged marriage. He’s not expecting love or some happy ever after, just a partner that knows exactly what she signed up for. He’ll be faithful because he’s a man of honor, but she’ll never have his heart.... 

Elie knows who he is. A privileged member of the Archambault family. A skilled rider and fighter. A man who's always had things easy for all the wrong reasons. He's made his mistakes and lost his chance at real, true passion with his other half thanks to his own careless arrogance. Now he just wants to do his duty as a Shadow Rider and leave the past behind.

But Elie has no idea that his choice is about to spark a blaze that will burn all his carefully laid plans to the ground....

• ISBN10: 0593439120
• ISBN13: 9780593439128
• Publish Date: 26 April 2022
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 416
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780593439128

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Shadow Fire is the 7th Shadow Riders urban fantasy series novel by Christine Feehan. Released 26th April 2022 by Penguin Random House on their Berkley imprint, it's 416 pages and is available in mass market paperback, audio, and ebook formats. Large print library edition due out in July.

This is .entirely. character driven and has a huge cast of continuing characters. This isn't (necessarily) a bad thing, but it is a definite feature. It's a series novel in a series whose purpose is chiefly continuing character development and mapping out their relationships and interactions. Readers will be frustrated and lost if they try to jump into the series with this book and I would strongly recommend picking up at least a few of the earlier books to get a feel for the world building and background scaffolding as well as helping keep the characters straight.

The writing is competent, if overwrought in places. For fans of paranormal romance erotica, this book will likely tick a lot of boxes. There's kink and exhibitionism, consensual BDSM, and explicit sexual content. There are also some potentially problematic/triggering contents including child abuse and human trafficking (on the part of the bad guys who are blissfully free of any redeeming qualities). I tend to roll my eyes whenever authors write the word "mate" with a straight face regarding human interactions, and that style of writing is prevalent here.

Four stars. I would recommend this one to fans of paranormal erotica who want more than a blind nod to plotting and story arcs; it really is well written (as the author's extensive sales attribute). It's not Anaïs Nin, but it's not bad - just not as a standalone, unless the reader only wants to flip through to find the NSFW bits. It could be problematic for school library acquisition, especially given the censorship problems in much of the world today, but shouldn't be an issue for most public libraries. For firm fans of the series/author, this is more of the same primarily featuring the character of bad boy (jerk) Elie Archambault.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.