Review--Shadowdance by Kristen Callihan

Once a heart is lost in shadow...

Life has been anything but kind to Mary Chase. But the Society for the Suppression of Supernaturals has given her purpose. Now she's been tasked with catching a vicious murderer dubbed the Bishop of Charing Cross. But someone is already on the case—and the last thing he relishes is a partner.

Only someone who lives in darkness can find it.

Jack Talent has been alone with his demons for many years. He never expected to have the willful Mary Chase assist him on the Bishop case. Their age-old rivalry reaches new heights—even as their desire for one another reaches a fever pitch. Though he aches to bring her close, Jack's dark secrets are a chasm between them. With dangerous enemies closing in, Jack must find the strength to face the past...or risk losing Mary forever.

I received this book in ARC format from the publishers in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review. Please not that this review is based on the ARC.


Kristen Callihan's Shadowdance now tops my favorite in her Darkest London series! I thought that Moonglow would always remain my favorite, but Jack and Mary's story really got to me and I loved it so completely that I just ate up the pages!

Time is always a sticky concept in this series, but it never really lasts. We open the book up four years ago when Jack and Mary first meet and it wasn't the best of greetings and ended up taking a negative spin. Two years after that we have the events of Winterblaze, and what happened to Jack within Poppy and Winston's story, and then here we are now two years after that and our story takes place. See, it's a sticky mess at first, but then it's smooth sailing.

Jack and Mary have quite the relationship in the beginning. They can't really tolerate one another and when they are forced to work together to find out who has been murdering the good people of London, Jack isn't pleased. Nor is Mary. But work together they must. But Jack is keeping a secret from Mary, from everyone. He's been busy these past two years tracking down all the demons who took part in tormenting him while he was held captive and killing them. He's not the murderer our on the streets though. That's someone else, someone who is making the kills suspiciously similar to Jack's way of slaying the demons.

What I truly loved about this story was the attitude between Jack and Mary. They trade barbs with one another constantly. Jack may make a snide remark in Mary's regard, but Mary has a quick wit of her own--one I wish I had! I could think of snarky remarks myself, but its always after the fact!--and will turn the barb around and place one on Jack! It's an endless cycle between these two, but it's quite enjoyable! I found myself wanting to see more and more of Mary and Jack versus seeing one of them on their own.

Like Kristen's other books, we don't only get the point of view of our her and heroine but from other characters too. Such as one Holly Evernight--our next leading lady! It's nice because we get to see what the back-story will be to Evernight. And that's going to be a doozie based on the epilogue!

But back to Shadowdance...we know that somewhere down the line that Mary and Jack are going to fall in love. But just when we think that's going to happen, we totally get sideswiped with a whopper of a surprise! Kristen really knows how to throw her punches. So after 200 some odd pages, we think we're getting to the character becoming a couple, but we're nearly thrown back to square one. Now this problem is a spoiler and I won't reveal it, but I must say I liked it, in some respects. It was a nice twist of circumstance and I enjoyed its part in the story. Even more so, I am glad that Mary and Jack can work past it. Because again, that's not a spoiler. Because so far in every book the hero and heroine have had issues that keep them apart and yet they overcome it all! So you see, not a spoiler!

And when the romance does finally blossom between the two, it's explosive! Seriously, I thought my heart was melting once that happened. We learn some pretty intense pieces of info about Jack that totally changes your perspective of the guy and I so love him! How after he made his mistake, he continued to fight to win Mary back it was just so endearing. I am surprised Mary lasted as long as she did!

Shadowdance was a fantastic read! I was slow to warm up to the Darkest London series, but I am so glad that I gave it that second chance because the books have been truly remarkable! I cannot get enough of this series. If you're hesitant to read a "historical romance" as it's labeled on the book, never fear. There's plenty of paranormal elements in this series and it should be called something like "paranormal historical romance" instead! As I also mentioned, this is now my favorite book in the series and I would urge everyone to give the series a shot. You don't necessarily have to have read the previous books, because as I said, the time is kind of funky between books, but events that happened previously in books are a sort of base of problem setting for the current book. Plus, the series is just awesome, so you'd want to read all the books anyway!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars