19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Shadows of better romances., July 9, 2008
This review is from: Bound by Shadow (The Dark Crescent Sisterhood) (Mass Market Paperback)
Riana Dumain is the mortar of her triad, an earth controlling Sybil and leader of her group. Creed Lowell is a cop working in the Occult Crimes Unit. When a senator's son is murdered in a ritualistic fashion it falls on Creed and his partner Andy to figure out who killed Jacob Latch without actually being involved with the case. When Andy brings some evidence to her friend Riana for some help things get tricky.
Creed has always had something inside him, something not human, something other. It gives whole new meaning to the phrase 'personal demon'. Riana and her triad begin to suspect he is a member of the Legion, enemies of the Sybils who want to take over the world. As the two try to figure out what this 'other' that Creed becomes is and solve the case the two become attracted and fight their urges to be together.
I'll be honest... I couldn't give a better description of the story. Why? Because I think just about anything more would misrepresent the story. I wanted to like this book. Windsor can describe a scene well but she can't write passion and attraction at all. Riana is two-dimensional and has about as much personality as baking soda. Creed is attracted to Riana but we know so little about who he is that I couldn't see a reason he liked her. The general story of the Legion, the Sybils and the urban fantasy elements had potential but nothing was ever explained enough to make much sense. There were several inconsistancies as well. Supposedly Rianna could cause earthquakes but she doesn't when it would make sense and does when it serves no point to the story. The whole thing was sloppy. And Windsor needs a thesaurus. Her info says she writes erotica under another name yet she never refered to male genetalia with any other word than the standards 'cock' and 'erection'. It felt clinical and as many times as it was used in non-sexual situations it became annoying and silly.
I'm still undecided whether I will buy the rest of the series or not. I didn't enjoy this book much. Barely enough to give it three stars. There are many better PNR series out there one could spend their money on and really enjoy. If you like Vicki Pettersson's Signs of the Zodiac series this has some similar concepts you might enjoy.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sybils are evil kicking women, June 25, 2008
This review is from: Bound by Shadow (The Dark Crescent Sisterhood) (Mass Market Paperback)
Bound in Shadows is the beginning of an excellent new series-involving butt kicking women known as Sybils. There are three to a group and each of the women has an affinity for one of the four elements.
Things begin to get a little weird when a senator's son is killed in a `odd' way and a man named Creed Lowell, who works as a detective, comes to the Sybil's home. He has a split nature and isn't quite human, and quite dangerous.
The lead Sybil Riana and Creed have a physical connection, but she knows Creed has the power to hurt her and her family.
This book is action packed and very steamy. It personally took me a while to connect with Riana's character, though I fell for Creed immediately. This book would go into the dark urban paranormal category. I'm looking forward to the second book; I hope there are even more action and hot scenes. Definitely worth paperback price, add it to your collection.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
3.5 Stars - Great World and Some Really Good Characters, but Heavy-handed Attempt to Up the Sensuality Marrs the Romance, January 23, 2009
This review is from: Bound by Shadow (The Dark Crescent Sisterhood) (Mass Market Paperback)
First books in an paranormal romance series are tough, because in addition to developing the characters and their romance, the world has to be explained and then on top of all that the story has to be told. But Windsor manages to do a pretty good job with most of it. Her mythos of the Dark Crescent Sisterhood was interesting and well thought out, with Sybil (women of power) triads. The triad that is the focus of this first trilogy are: leader Riana with the power of Earth, and her 'sister' Sybils, Cynda with the power of Fire and Merrilee with the power of Air. The trio use their magic and battle skills as protectors of humanity in the fight against the evil power hungry demon-wielding 'Legion'.
Enter Creed Lowell, NYPD Occult Unit investigator and his partner tough smart Andy. When trying to get a handle on the supernatural ritualistic elements of a murder case they are working, Andy takes Creed to her friend 'psychic' Riana. But unknown to Andy, Creed has a secret - or at least he had one because as soon as he comes across Riana and her sisters they sense it immediately - Creed is not quite human. And as Riana is drawn to the mysterious, gorgeous and possibly dangerous Creed, her loyalties are soon divided between the 'man' with whom she finds an irressitable connection and her sisters' who are emphatic in their disapproval for the monster inside Creed who seems too much like their enemies.
Riana is fine as a heroine. She is strong but vulnerable, not only to her desire for Creed, but also in her lack of surety that she is a worthy leader to her group. But it is Creed who makes the story for me. Creed is a wonderful honorable hero struggling to keep his monster leashed, and needing to prove his worthiness to fight at Riana's side even as he respects her need to do the job for which she was trained. Also strong in the book, and another big plus for me, is Creed's partner Andy. Andy is sassy with an attitude that won't quit. Rianna's sisters are okay but don't really stand out in their limited screen time and the full dynamic of the trio isn't really explored either. But they have books of their own so, we're sure to get to know them better. And Creed's twin and the mysterious Jake have real potential, hopefully they will be as good as Creed when they get their turn in the limelight.
So the mythos and characters are good and there's a fair enough background plot with a decent amount of action packed battles - along with the discovery of just what Creed is and how he came to be that way - all weighing in on the plus side. The part that works less well for me was the way that the attraction between Creed and Riana is established. The actual love scenes themselves were pretty good, but my nit is that both Creed and Riana were so besotted with the other that they were constantly thinking about the aroused states of their bodies no matter what else was going on in the story at the time. I don't think I've ever read a book (even one of the few actual erotic ones that I've come across) that used the 'c'-word for the male anatomy so many times - and the majority of the usages weren't even in the context of the love scenes. Every time Creed thinks of Riana, or sees Riana, the paragraph has a reference to his aroused body part, and, making this doubly annoying, Rianna does the exact same thing (of course thinking about her appropriate female parts). Also since Creed spends a great deal of time naked (something is forever happening to his clothes) Rianna takes every opportunity to grab onto said aroused body part. Okay, I'll stop my rant now, the bottom line is that instead of upping the sensuality level of the romance for me, (and I do like a bit of steam in a romance) it was so heavy handed that it detracted and dropped my rating a star.
So overall, Bound by Shadow is pretty good and likely the next two books
Bound by Flame (The Dark Crescent Sisterhood) (Cynda and Creed's twin Nick) and
Bound by Light (The Dark Crescent Sisterhood)(Merrilee and Creed & Nick's blood-brother Jake) will be even better as Windsor already has a head start on developing her cast and her world, but even though I already have the next books on my TBR pile, and I will read them, Bound by Shadow didn't inspire me to dive into the next one right away.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
