Shadow Fire

Christine Feehan

Apr 2022 · A Shadow Riders Novel Book 7 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

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....

Ratings and reviews

4.25 stars--SHADOW FIRE is the seventh instalment in Christine Feehan’s contemporary, adult SHADOW RIDERS erotic, paranormal, series focusing on the Ferraro Crime Family. This is Shadow Rider Elie Archambault, and Brielle Couture’s story line. SHADOW FIRE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. WARNING: Due to the nature of the story line premise including bondage, discipline, D/s scenarios, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers. SOME BACKGROUND: The Shadow Rider male must find his mate –a woman who is capable of riding the shadows-or at the very least with the ability to bear children with the shadow-riding gene. Within the family, the Ferraro siblings are tasked with finding a mate, fated by DNA, who is capable of continuing the family line. People with the ability to ride the shadows are few and far between, and future generations are at risk if no mates are found with the shadow-riding gene. The Ferraro’s are also part of the Chicago Underworld-a crime family linked to both legal and criminal activity. Told from third person perspectives SHADOW FIRE focuses on the arrange marriage between Shadow Rider Elie Archambault, and Brielle Couture. As a child, Elie Archambault had been passed from family to family while training to ride the shadows in Europe, finally finding peace in America, befriended by the Ferraro family, becoming one of their own but an arranged marriage with a European shadow rider meant potentially spending his life with someone he could never love until his fantasies came true with the arrival of Brielle Couture, the woman that has starred in all of his dreams. Brielle Couture wanted nothing to do with our story line hero, having fallen victim to his verbal assaults, and emotional attacks years before, leaving her a shell of her former self. Battling between head and heart, Brielle was desperate to nullify their unwanted betrothal but when the truth is revealed, Brielle finds herself with the man meant especially for her. As every shadow rider manifested their own particular talent and skill, our heroine knows she is more than adept at computer research and discovery, and her research is about to reveal a possible connection between the take down of a human trafficking ring, and another ring succeeding back home. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Brielle and Elie, and the potential fall out as Brielle’s discovery place her in the direct line of fire as more than one assassin is sent to take her down, along with the people she now calls family and friends. The relationship between Brielle and Elie is an enemies to lovers; a fated but tempestuous and embattled love affair destroyed by words said in anger that leave our heroine humiliated and broken, attacking her already fragile self-esteem. Brielle’s appearance has changed in the years since Elie last saw the woman with whom he will fall in love, a change caused by the caustic and vitriol spewed by our story line hero. As Elie sets into motion a plan to seduce the woman he married, Brielle must consider if Elie is the man with whom she wants to spend the rest of her life. The $ex scenes are passionate, erotic, and intense with scenes of bondage, discipline and D/scenarios. There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including most if not all of the previous story line couples, and their expanding families, as well as Valentino’s cousin and right hand man Dario. The requisite evil has many faces. SHADOW FIRE is a story of family and relationships, betrayal and vengeance, power and control, obsession and love. The premise is gritty, emotional and captivating; the romance is fated and seductive; the characters are energetic, dynamic, powerful and captivating.

Trigger Warnings: Human trafficking, child abuse, graphic violence Shadow Fire is Book 7 in Christine's Shadow Riders series about families with paranormal abilities that dispense justice from the shadows. Each book is dark, edgy, sexy and exciting and Shadow Fire is no exception! Elie Archambault is a shadow rider from one of the fastest and deadliest families in the shadow riding world. Having seen his adoptive family–The Ferraros–go through the trials and tribulations of finding and struggling to claim their shadow riding females, Elie has chosen to have an arranged marriage. In this world, it’s vital to find a compatible shadow rider and birth more riders to continue the legacy. Little does Elie know that his intended is a blast from his past that both surprises and excites him. You see, Elie has adored a woman from afar but he made a grave mistake years ago and lost her… or so he thought! Shadow Fire is aptly named because there is so much fire and passion between Elie and his wife. Elie needs to be in control and craves his wife’s submission. And she needs that structure in and out of the bedroom. They’re a good pair and have combustible chemistry. I enjoyed their story. I absolutely loved all the secondary characters. We get lots of page time with the Ferraros, Val Saldis and his scary sexy cousin Dario, who I hope will get a book next! He’s the bad boy you love to hate but secretly want a peek inside his dangerously wicked private life. Something tells me we may not survive it but what a way to go! While this book is entertaining, this story has some very sad/graphic/awful scenes that could cause triggers for some readers. I would absolutely be sure you can handle those before picking up this book. **I voluntarily read a copy of the book generously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest, unbiased review**

Page turner for so many different reasons. The Shadow Riders deliver justice. Eli is one of the fastest and signs an arranged marriage. The depth between Eli and Brielle working out their relationship, the honesty and integrity each brought to it really spoke to me. Both Eli and Brielle grew up with out real family connection and watching them become a family with the Ferraros and the Saldis was flat out heart moving. Watching them become a family unit on their own was beautiful. The other page turner was because BSDM, Kink etc does nothing for me and I had a hard time with those sections, but if it is your thing, you know Christine will bring it with class. Even with the dark background, the trafficking, the child abuse, there were moments of goodness, family and humor to help carry you through. So like the real world, there is darkness, there is light. I so want Dario to have a happy ending but I don't know if I will be strong enough for it :( Thank you for the arc, I freely volunteer my thoughts and opinions.

About the author

Christine Feehan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Carpathian series, the GhostWalker series, the Leopard series, the Shadow series and the Torpedo Ink series.