Shadow Keeper

Shadow Keeper- Christine Feehan
Berkley/Penguin Group
Release Date: May 29, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚

Synopsis: The paparazzi can't get enough of infamous bad boy Giovanni Ferraro. But unknown to them--and the women he beds--he's just playing a role. Keeping the spotlight on himself keeps it off the family business. And if this lethal shadow rider can't hunt in the dark, he'll find his pleasure elsewhere...

Sasha Provis grew up on a Wyoming ranch and thought she knew how to protect herself from predators. But in the nightclub where she works, she's fair game--until one of the owners steps in to protect her. Giovanni is gorgeous. He's dangerous. And his every touch takes her breath away.

The devil at her heels may have finally met its match...

_______________________________________________________________

The third book in Feehan's Shadow Rider series, Shadow Keeper reminded me why I still read Christine Feehan's books.  As hard as many of them are to get through thanks to poor (or no) editing, sometimes the characters are still worth the read.  Giovanni and Sasha are great characters, with instant and believable chemistry between them that grabbed my interest from the beginning.

The Ferraro family seems to the outside world like a crime family of the rich and famous.  Men resent them, women try to catch them for the money.  Unsurprisingly, the Ferraros have grown more than a little jaded by the fortune hunters- and it becomes harder when they have to keep up the fast lane lifestyle to cover their true lives: Shadow riders who help mete out justice.  Giovanni has been sidelined from riding the shadows thanks to an injury and this is the first book in the series that doesn't actually focus on the shadow-rider aspect of their lives, but on the more human and personal aspects (and costs).  Sasha works at the nightclub the Ferraros own and believes Giovanni's playboy image.  When he comes to her rescue at the club, she has to reevaluate what she thinks she knows- about him and herself.  It was sweet to see Sasha, such an honest and straightforward person, in contrast to all the manipulative money hungry people around her.  She doesn't come across as overly naive and Feehan does a good job of letting Sasha stay true to herself, but also giving her enough backbone to stand up to anyone in the Ferraro family.  

Shadow Keeper was more enjoyable than many of Feehan's latest books.  It was better written and focused, so I didn't have to skim through pages of the same thing over and over again.  The mystery and threat of Sasha's stalker stayed front and center, and Feehan didn't let herself get too sidetracked.  While Shadow Rider, the first book in the series, is still my favorite, I enjoyed Keeper.  The importance of family and honesty is a dual theme woven throughout the book, and really speaks to the core of the entire series.  A good book for paranormal romance readers to add to their to-be-read pile.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review