Standing in the Shadows

In the interest of saving those who are sensitive to reviews that tear a book apart, leave now while you still can. It's about to get bloody.

Standing in the Shadows by Shannon McKenna was the book I chose for the TBR challenge. I was all ready for a great story with writing that is reminiscent of Linda Howard on her good days. (I've seen her compared to Howard) This book has been in my TBR pile since 2003 and thanks to this challenge I was able to pin myself down to finally giving this author a shot.

It may have been fatal.

There was a review template that Angie set up to make things easy but, you know me, I like to ramble. (oy, remind me to tell you of my treadmill mishap tonight - I'm in pain!)

I was going to post my thoughts on this book as I was reading but with it being the TBR challenge I figured I better keep all my thoughts in one post.

Normally I like to start with the blurb but I am going to just sum up most of the plot. First, this book is obviously from a series because for the first part of the book I am introduced to characters who I am supposed to know. Not only that, I am supposed to understand what happened, crap, I don't know, 6 months or a year or year and a half ago. Let's just say, events and time lines were a bit confusing.

So we have Erin the heroine whose mother may be going insane because her husband did something bad and was sent to jail and whose younger sister is acting out in college and has lost her scholarship. Erin has also lost her job, most of her money (keeping her mother afloat) and her spirit.

Connor, her hero, is a former cop who has it bad for her. Ten years bad. His boss was her father (or something like that) and he was the one who took her father down. He figures he's cooked. Oh, and he has physical limitations that have his two hard core alpha brothers fussing over him like little old ladies.

Oooops, it's starting.

In the beginning things were looking good. Angsty hero and brave heroine each just trying to stay alive. Then it gets out of control.

Here are my thoughts from two nights ago.

So I'm at page 234 of 410 pages and I'm in trouble.

I mentioned that the hero needed a good bonk on the head but since then I noticed the Brava insignia on the spine of the book.

Yep, hit me like a ray of light. Ohhhh, one of those kind of books. I see.

So that explains some of this dominate / submissive stuff I am being subjected to. Hey, whatever rocks your boat I say but, uh, problems abound.

First the heroine Erin is, if not sexually inexperienced, as close as one can be. The famous, did it with some guy who said she was difficult in bed.

Great.

That being the case, I can't see her doing all the things she does with the hero, Connor, the very first night they are together. True, I don't want to read another story about a woman who is timid and has the 'oh, does that hurt' doe like simplicity to sex. It's 2005. Give it up. I would actually like to read a scene where maybe the heroine is too aggressive with certain parts of the body and the man yelps in pain or fear. Not to be mean or anything but if someone has not truly experimented and such, there are bound to be mishaps.

And tickly spots.

Another problem I had was how many times they had sex in one night with her very limited experience. Yeah, lust is a bitch but not only did I have to sit through alllll of the sex, I actually began to wince thinking that it couldn't very well be comfortable anymore. Hell, the heroine even says at a few points, 'dude, can't take anymore'. Does he back off? NO! I know this is supposed to be fantasy but at some point it would be nice to hear Erin cry out in pain because the guy is being such a brutish asshole.

So, Connor, the hero is not impressing me with his caring in the bedroom. Add to that this guy shouldn't be allowed in public at any time and I have a real problem. This guy insists (forces the issue during sex) that he must go with Erin to a meeting with the millionaire who has hired her freelance. Now, I should mention that Erin has some serious financial issues going on and this millionaire is her bread and butter. Sure, Connor thinks the guy is the evil SOB that's out to kill her and the reader knows this to be true but OMG, Connor acted like such an ass at the meeting that I don't know how Erin didn't kick him to the curb. Sure, she told him afterwards that if they were really engaged (they were pretending) his behavior would have made it so they wouldn't be engaged anymore. Now, let's fuck. Ugh.

So there we be at the mid-point of this book. I thought I would follow Rosario's lead and report on the book at moments the inspiration hit. Let's just say, I could have written pages of wrath by now, but I will persevere and I will pray that this works out so the alpha butt turns into a somewhat alpha beta guy who won't growl at every man who so much as breaths in the heroine's direction. I'm not exaggerating!

Back to the book.

I can't believe that I have to say this, but the book actually got worse. Plot wise it was fairly smart. Relationship wise, these two are headed for years of counseling. Their children are not going to turn out right. They'll become that Primetime episode of a wife killing her husband in self defense.

There was a sex scene (second to last in the book) near the end that was so very one-sided, coarse and humiliating. I kept waiting for Erin to punch Connor in the gut and run for bear! It was so bad, that I was not mollified by the ending and I didn't believe for one minute that these two could live happily ever after. I can totally see this guy blowing up because some guy looks at her from across the room. Caveman in the extreme. Trust is an element that must be present in a romance and to me, Connor can't be trusted.

Now to give you some perspective, I love Anne Stuart! I thrive on men who live on the edge and do bad things to their heroine but, and here is where it is different, Stuart's heroes *know* they are assholes. They know they are being brutes and that the heroine should be running from them. For the most part, these heroes are *trying* to get the heroines to leave to punish themselves for their misdeeds. Ah, sweet bliss.

Connor was an ass but everyone believed he was an honorable, wonderful guy with a hero complex. He wasn't trying to push Erin away, he was trying to attract her. Uh, okay.

Kinda gives a whole new meaning to 'there's someone out there for everyone'.

Grade D+ because it had potential. I wanted to love these characters together but they were better apart.

I have more McKenna in the pile but I am now truly terrified.

For another review of this book, AAR gave it a B.