What that fuck! This book is one of the worst i've read this year so far. And I just finished -and hated- The Gargoyle so, go figure. If this isn't insta-love I don't know what it is.... I mean, and people make fun of Twilight!!? This book felt like written by a horny teenager. It was like "The doctor introduce him to his daughter Lily" and the guy was already thinking about their wedding day! And him (I don't even remember his name) was SO pity, begging her ALL the time to love him. Gosh, this book was so lame!

The main male character was like "I know you", "I belong to you", "we are going to have a lot of kids"... He knew shit about her, this whole """""romance""""" ocurred in a term of like a week. Ridiculous....

Anyway, There's not need for me to say I am not continuing on with this series....

I’m not really into Paranormal Romance; but I read this book because it was recommended by one of my goodreads friends; we have a book recommendation exchange program going and I thought I would be objective about this book even if I wasn’t looking forward to reading it. What I did like about this book was the Sci-Fi elements in this book; telekinetic soldier, Ryland seems to fall hard and fast for another telekinetic person; the overprotected, Lily. The psychic connections between the two seem to play a heavy role in the book; I think they were having physic sex before they actually meet in the book. Which brings me to the thing I didn’t really like about this book; the romance. While I’m ok with some romance in the book I think this book replaced any form of excitement/plot with romance and sex. Any hint of plot seemed to be overshadowed by the sex; I didn’t really enjoy the sex either; it seemed like the author was trying to censor herself too much, the lack of swearing and violence is a good example of that. I don’t think I’ll ever become a fan of the romance genre, defiantly not the paranormal romance genre but I will continue to keep an open mind when it comes to recommendations.

This book was just as good as I remembered. I have always loved this series and I am glad that my feelings haven't seemed to change. I can't wait to rediscover this series and it's amazing couples.

Lily and Ryland were an explosive couple. I just loved everything about them and how they rely on each other. Their abilities are fascinating and I can't wait to see what new abilities appear in the future.

Love the cover of this edition but when I opened it up to the first page, my heart dropped. The small font combined with almost non-existent line spacing made this reader-unfriendly. The words looked like they'd been desperately crammed on to the page and though environmentally friendly, using fewer pages, it's not something I'd expect from well-established publishers. It made this book seem almost never-ending considering the total number of pages.

Anyway, on to the actual story. This one was "love at first sight" and not the normal kind either, this was insta-love. I swear, if Lily's father and associates hadn't been in the room when Lily and Ryland met, they'd have been trying to get busy through the bars of his cell. No getting to know one another, no slow build up, just bang instant life-long partners.

Despite this unusual lack of romance considering the genre, the science behind these Ghostwalkers was intriguing and perhaps may even explain why there was no courting period: apparently it's possible Lily's father scientifically-engineered the incredibly strong attraction between his daughter and the Captain. Kind of scary to have no choice in the matter, huh?

That's the kind of man her father is, or was. The things he did in the name of his research, his selfish curiosity, were terrifying. He gave no thought to morals or ethics. That's not to say he did these things to be malicious, to take pleasure in others' pain, he only cared about results. If he had to bully a child, cause her pain, to get what he needed, it didn't matter to him. This made him by far the most interesting character and to see his past revealed to Lily, who was horrified but continued to love him in spite of his inhumane deeds.

I'll be continuing the series but hopefully we'll see more romance in the next one.

Speaking of Audiobooks Challenge category: Tempt yourself to find a series that grabs hold and won’t let go by listening to the first in a series.

3.5* rounded up to 4* for goodreads (and because of the awesome narration by Tom Stechschulte).

Shadow Games has a great premise. The government is funding a top secret program to enhance psychic ability. But something has gone terribly wrong and the subjects of the program are now being kept like prisoners in a lock-down facility. Murder, treason, and betrayal are all part of the mix as the men, led by Ryland Miller, try to find ways to protect each other and expose the traitor(s). Lily is the genius, and psychic, daughter of the original researcher. She ends up helping the men and falling in love with Ryland.

As an action/suspense story Shadow Games works very well. Feehan's writing is taut and she keeps the tension high. The romance was intense, and very emotional. My main complaint is that it took over too much of the plot. One love scene was almost an entire chapter and I found myself wishing the story would switch back to the mystery and suspense. I think if I were reading the book it might not have struck me quite so strongly because I would have skimmed the love scenes and gotten back to the suspense plot. Don't get me wrong, I liked both the leads and loved their story, but I'd have preferred shorter sex scenes. Tom Stechschulte's deep voice and sexy intensity may have enhanced the impact of the love scenes, as well.

Overall I recommend the book and already have the second book on audio to listen to soon.

Interesting premise, poorly executed. Lily had potential as a protag but all the other characters were uninteresting and lacked depth.

As for the romance aspects, there was a lot to be desired:

1) Crazy insta-love from like pg 1 pg 5 when the male lead announced that Lily's soul "called to him" after watching her walk through a door.
2) Not surprisingly, the male lead was actually kinda creepy (see above). He was full of such "loving" statements as "you don't love me yet but you will," "soon you'll realize we're meant to be together," and "want me like I want you"
3) The chemistry between the male and female protags felt so forced that even the characters themselves didn't believe it. Lily admitted on more than one occasion that their attraction had to be the result of some sort of scientific manipulation... how romantic? Must have been because she kept banging him anyway.

Finally, I hate HATE it when authors use the same phrase over and over again. There were a few in this book but the two that I kept noticing were "thick walls" and "generous breasts." We get it, Lily's house has thick walls. Thick walls! Quick, remind us again how Lily is lucky to live in a house with thick walls. At least she was talking about her house... Ugh. And as for generous breasts? There has to be more than one way to say that a chick is stacked (look, there's one right there!).

Unless they're handing out hundred dollar bills, boobs only need to be called generous once.

Really great start to a series! I’m looking forward to more Ghostwalker books

I am thoroughly incompatible with this author's way of thinking and displaying her characters. You know that urge to slap the h or H in a book that is acting just totally ridiculous and then you have to suppress that rage cuz its not the characters' fault, but the author for imagining them thinking and acting that way. And then you are left with this great disappointment cuz why I as a reader am not seeing all this greatness this author has show her other readers.

I don't know if it’s the time it is written but there is just an obvious, obnoxious way of making the heroine seem brainy and the hero is just instantly infatuated with her. I mean it's not just insta-love or insta-lust. The dude goes from zero to worship just cuz she speaks in his head. And just like that this perversion of science and man playing god is used to create some instant mate romance.
I couldn't fully buy into the dichotomy of the h's and H's thought processes. Not sure if it's because of the time it was written in but to begin with we have the heroine who is this cerebrally centered and developed person and then with the slightest development of desire and she just goes to self-doubt and criticism of her value when compared to other women. She constantly mentions how she is not a model and how she is not a "big breasted model" and not desirable enough for the H. "Model with big breasts" - for real? Not sure which fashion shows she has been watching but model's appeal is all in the height and proportions. It's all in the long torso and long legs and skinniness. As for big breasts I guess unless we talking about Victoria super models, and even in that case it's all about the right kind of padding to make the right kind of illusion. I think what she might be thinking of when she constantly laments she is not a big breasted model is maybe a Playboy girl? And she tells the hero how she is fat in places and yet there is mention of her flat belly, are we to suppose she has a big badonka-donk? Cuz there is very little imaginative description of her physique given to the reader. All we get are these buckets of self-doubt, some daddy issues and then small glimpses of empowered attitude that just disappears with stupid statement like "I have a high IQ and I can't let you go" delivered to the hero. I was like, a doi? The correlation was just ridiculous for their last impactful conversation. I mean I didn't even know she had issues with her leg or any possible limp. Not until at the end of the book when she was in danger cuz of her previously injured leg and requiring the hero to rescue her. Sigh. So romantic, yeah no. She show some headaches and bad dreaming cuz of her psychic power. Her inability to process some strong emotions and to fully exist sometimes in the outside world with her powers, but I never heard her having trouble with her leg. I guess it could have been in the begging of the book but it was minor that it did not hold impact until they pulled it out again for the big drama finale of the book.

And the hero is just so uber into the heroine he starts talking forever and offspring like after the second kiss. I mean the h doesn't even blink at this. She just keeps on doubting if she is attractive enough for him and he keeps on saying how attractive she is that he wants her to have his kids. And on and on this goes. He just goes in with this inane certainty that they are just the bestest of matches and I as a reader all I got was contrived meetings between the two to share their vulnerability and forced romance on some biological pre-disposition that they are just matching in some psychic way. That never even gets explained or resolved in any logical way. We just get the "you belong to me" and that's it. He kind of even emotionally manipulates her. He knows she is logical but has some emotional weakness to him and his situation so he just milks it to show how pathetic he is and that he needs her to intervene on his and his man's behalf.

And I saw another reader's review of the next book and they describe the same wishy-washy attitude of the new heroine and pushy attitude of the next hero in there too. Needless to say no matter how many other readers enjoyed and were connected with this author's writing I just do not feel or enjoy her portrayal in the least. Her scientific disruptions seem deliberately high-handed to I guess give them gravitas, but ultimately serve no purpose to connect the dots between the powers these characters have and how they developed by the scientists. All we get in the end is just the heroine making them do "mental exercises", "building shields" and of all that explanation of which part of the brain shows impact by some concoction, a more contributing description to the reader would have been to show us what those exercises entail and how they enable the men to strengthen their inner shields and functionality in the outside worlds. Everything else what just scientific jibber-jabber with the attempt to show the author knew some things related to the brain and how psychic powers may be developed. We get it. But once again, seemed so irrelevant to the whole story as it was never built on that it stuck in my mind as a huge why the heck?

I just need to stay away from this author, we don't jell at all.

Okay, I am a huge fan of romance novels. I love a good book about some passionate romance, danger, etc. etc. I really really wanted to enjoy Shadow Game. I am definitely not one who is easily offended or against romance and the “traditional” boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl gets in trouble and saved by boy, happily ever after romance novel. Shadow Game seemed like a great premise and I enjoyed the characters most of the way through the first half of the book. Please do not read any further if you don’t want mind spoilers.

The main characters in this book are in my opinion completely unlikable and the relationship between them seems unhealthy bordering on abusive. I know what the Author was striving for—a strong protective male who loves his woman, but in reality what she accomplished was an over protective abusive controlling male with no faith in his woman. With lines like (paraphrased) “he was really angry at himself but was yelling at her” and the main character constantly swearing, “shackling” the woman’s hands, and generally just overtly controlling and being over the top possessive I cannot in good conscience recommend this book. There is a line in a romance novel between respect between the man and the woman and just downright ownership and I think unfortunately when it comes to Ryland and Lily the author made it clear that Lily is the submissive object in the relationship. I really, really, wanted to like these characters but in the end I had to stop listening because I was so offended and uninterested in watching the relationship continue to spiral.

I could not connect with any of the male figures in Lily’s life and felt like both her Father and her suitor were completely unlikable, controlling, and just downright not very good men in the end. Give me passion and romance, but please next time allow me a female character who can stick up for herself and not just be a useless damsel who allows herself to be steam rolled by pig headed males.

ok...so I think this may actually be the 1st time i've ever given anything a negative review...2 stars?...sure...but an actual neg. review...no...I couldn't help myself w/ this one though. I would prob. rate it a 2 1/2 out of 5 stars because the 2nd half was actually pretty good..but the first half of this book?...BO-RING!! I almost stopped reading this book multiple times during the first half, I def. had to force myself to finish it...it was just VERY slow going. I just recently read the first four books in Shannon McKenna's McCloud and Friends series and I felt that those were very fast paced and had a really good suspencful storyline to them...maybe this wasn't the right book to read after having read those..but it def. paled in comparison as far as a good action packed storyline went. It's kind of sad 'cause I was really looking forward to this series, and after having been introduced to some of the other "ghostwalkers"...I would really like to read about each of them getting their own HEAs, but I'm very reluctant to continue on w/ the rest. :(

I took a break on the book for awhile getting distracted by other reads, but I have finally finished it! I liked it in some areas, but then some parts were too slow for me. Then again I'm not much of a scientific person. Lol! Though the next book I'm excited for and I was told it wouldn't be as scientific as this one was. XD

Ich habe von dieser Autorin vorher noch nie etwas gehört, bis mir diese Reihe empfohlen wurde.
Ich habe diesen ersten Band zwar verschlungen und ich freu mich schon auf die weiteren Bände - jedoch war vieles sehr eindeutig und voraussehbar. Es war am Anfang schon sehr eindeutig, dass die beiden, Ryland & Lily, zusammen kommen werden und es wohl in diesem typischen Muster weitergehen wird, welches ich aus "Midnight Breed"(Lara Adrian) und "Die Bruderschaft der Black Dagger"(J.R.Ward) bereits kenne.
Wirkliche Spannung gab es ebenfalls nicht. Viele Geschehnisse verliefen zu reibungslos, so auch die Liebe der beiden Charakter, die kaum Hindernisse zu bewältigen hatten.
Was mich jedoch dazu verleitet weiter zulesen ist dieser "Hauptstrang" der Geschichte. Es ist mal was anderes, als das, was ich sonst lese. Diese Experimente und paranormalen Fähigkeiten/Ereignisse finde ich total interessant und spannend.