Sometimes it's nice to read a PnR book that uses a lighter, more deft hand with the "P" portion of the moniker...and Shadow Game fits that bill. The series' namesake refers to a group of soldiers who've had natural psychic predilections amplified exponentially. The result of the tampering has been extremely detrimental to them, such that their ability to survive in the "real world" is all but destroyed. Enter Dr. Lily Whitney, genius scientist and daughter of billionaire Dr. Peter Whitney. Her job, once introduced to this top-secret project, is to get to the bottom of "who/what/why/how"...or die trying.

What I enjoyed most was the dynamic between the two protagonists, Lily and Captain Ryland Miller. They make for a one steamy couple! The evolution of their relationship was adorable; it was easily my favorite aspect of the book.

The supporting characters are also quite fascinating. Captain Miller's team of soldiers were each introduced and described well enough to make them memorable for future books. Their primary function in this story was to accomplish (off-stage) any number of the Captain's commands. There were some fun and endearing scenes featuring the band of guys together, though. I really got the sense of the GhostWalkers being a type of rough-and-tumble family.

Less compelling was some of the action. Missing was the excitement and tension that usually accompanies such scenes similar to the one in this book: prison escape attempts, assassinations, kidnappings, and good-old hand-to-hand combat. I mean, we're talking about Special Forces super-soldiers, here! ^_^ But more often than not, the action was a *bit* anti-climactic. Not terrible, just...not an aspect that had me dying to get to the next page.

All in all, the world that was established here is a very interesting one, and future books have a very solid foundation from which to work. I'm vested in the Whitney household now, and intrigued for the next installment. I guess that's all one could ask for!

Where in the world have I been that I've not heard of this series until recently? This is a remarkable, long-running series that has flown under my radar for far too long! I feel like I've stumbled onto a gold mine in that I have a TON of great reading to look forward to!!!

I loved so many things about this book that it is hard to put it all into words. After reading so many romance novels, it's hard to believe that there will ever be something "new" that I've never read before. Well, this is definitely "new" and different than anything I've read in the past!

This is a paranormal romance that is set in the mind. Lily Whitney and Captain Ryland Miller are both telepathic. They are both are pawns in an experiment that's focus is to create a powerful new "species" of human/soldier. Both have suffered immensely because of this experiment.

The attraction between Ryland and Lily is immediate, and I get the sense that they were predestined to find each other and were in essence "created for one another" by Lily's scientist father. We'll have to see if this hunch ends up to be true:)

The best part of this book for me was our hero Ryland Miller. He is so gentle and tender with Lily, but he is as tough of soldier as I have ever come across. He will stop at nothing to protect Lily. The suspense was incredible and I really am enjoying how this story is enfolding.

Shadow Game is filled with scorching hot sensuality, and there are MANY scenes that will stay with me for some time. Lily and Ryland have such combustible chemistry that the steam smokes off the pages!!! The writing is awesome and several of the other soldiers have peaked my interest, and I can't wait to get to their stories!

What an incredible find! Thanks to Lady D. for the recommendation and reviews that led me straight to this series!

Setting: mansion overlooking San Francisco – with sound proof walls, secret lab with 12 small children’s beds, up-to-the minute tech security; Donovan Corporation: research lab, south of San Francisco,

Theme: playing God to enhance human ability – without regard to risks to the human; unexpectedly finding love – even if it was an engineered love; self discipline so as to fulfill one’s potential and to contribute to the security of the country/world;

Characters:
Captain Ryland Miller: feels responsible talking his men into the experiment; powerful psychic powers of enhancement, telekinesis, dream-walking, telepathy, and an anchor; leader of the GhostWalkers;

Dr. Lily Whitney: an enhancer, amplifying emotions; sees in mathematical patterns, needing constant challenges; with a touch she knows people’s private thoughts; has built mental walls to protect herself;

John Brimslow: Whitney chauffer; Peter’s childhood friend; Lily’s surrogate father; Lily can’t read him;

Rosa Cabreros: household housekeeper and surrogate mother; 1st came as nurse to infant Lily through the experiments, stayed on; Lily can’t read her;

Arly Baker: household high-tech security;

Kaden / Raoul ‘Gator’ Fontenont / Ian McGillicuddy / Tucker Addison: antiterrorist unit; black / Sam Johnson: black; big man, light on his feet/ Jonas Harper: blade; Kyle Forbes /

Nicholas ‘Nico’ Trevane: raised on a reservation then lived 10 years in Japan; a sniper for the military; dreamwalker – helps Jeff when he is in danger in his dream;

Jeff Hollister: dream-walker; champion surfer; ‘pretty boy’; degree from MIT; cookies/letters from family monthly; the latest victim of the general – had an electrode planted in his brain, unbeknownst to him, and exposed to radiation, suppose to lead to brain bleed and death, but rescued before then – but he had escaped to his dreams, and Ryland and Nico go into his dream to get him back… where they find Rusell Cowlings – so they chase Russell away, and Jeff wakes up;

Russell Cowlings: trained with the GhostWalkers, but he didn’t start with the excellent background & psychic ability of the rest; ends up he was a plant by the military – and he turns against the rest; he dies;

Dr. Peter Whitney: creator of the GhostWalkers through experiments he first began with orphaned girls 30 years earlier, to strengthen/exploit predisposition to psychic abilities, to foster mates for each girl so as to create babies born of 2 such strengths;

Colonel Higgins / Phillip Thornton: military consultant on experiment / moneymaker & president of Donovans; want to sell the men, and the technology to highest bidder – and try and get rid of Peter when they believe Lily can give them the formula; they want Peter to think experiment failed, to draw him away, and they kill a few subjects with brain bleeds toward that deception; have one of their men planted in Ranier’s, their boss, office -

General Ranier: life long friend of Lily since she was a child; he did not know Peter and then Lily was trying to get a hold of him; aware of a leak in his office, but not who; Lily makes sure to dance with him at the Donovan fund raiser dinner, and she tells him of her father’s death, and then men who were abandoned after being inhumanly used; he figures out who the leak is, and assures Lily he will take care of things; once all said and done, he absolves the GhostWalkers and commits to helping them, and gaining them assignments where their talents will be used;

Summary:
GhostWalkers - the story begins... Ryland and crew have been in Peter Whitney's paranormal enhancement program for 2 years, and things are going south... 2 of his men have died from brain bleeds, and he and his men are caged separate from one another - in concrete, iron, & glass... they are all suffering with more headaches, and frustration that this is not what they signed up for... they are trained loyal soldier/warriors, and they are not being put to work.

In walks Lily - her father, Peter Whitney, has asked her opinion, and has given her very little information about this experiment... and there is an instant psychic/sexual connection between Ryland & Lily - the pain Ryland has been suffering lessons, and he is soothed by Lily's presence, and Peter is watching them very closely...

Now, having read the other books I know that Peter is more evil and more science means more than anything, but in this first book his motivation is unclear. As Lily learns more about his experiments on these men, she believes that her father may have done something to manipulate their attraction - and as we come to see, he definitely did... also in this book, we are led to believe that Peter loves his adopted daughter - she is the only one he has loved... but this comes into question in later books...

and the night after meeting Ryland, Lily has a psychic connection with her father where he tells her to right his wrongs (yeah, I know better), and to help the men... and he alludes to hidden research... and she can 'see' that he is being pulled under water and she believes him dead (yeah, I know better)...

Ryland - still locked up - feels her anguish, and connects with her telepathically and soothes her as best he can... As Lily finds her father's hidden lab, and sees a dozen small beds in a room, she discovers that she is not her father's biological daughter, and that she was one of a dozen that he had found throughout the world as infants with special abilities, and whom he raised in the lab ... as the girls got older, and he pushed them/experimented with them, he finally decides to adopt his favorite Lily - one he seems to genuinely love in his perverted way - and he sends off the other girls... Lily is committed to finding them and making sure they have what they need... and Lily struggles with the betrayals of Peter Whitney, who used these children in such a cold manner, questioning whether he ever loved her… and then repeated the experiment on the military volunteers… and a part of Lily is fascinated by the science of it all… hmmmm… and Lily becomes dedicated to locating these now women, checking on their well being, helping if they need it;

Lily and Peter are astronomically rich and their home is a fortress - there are 3 on staff, a housekeeper Rosa - Lily's guilty feeling ex-nanny, a chauffeur, John, who grew up with Peter, and tech/security Arlan, who has been around a long time, loves Maria, and is always investing in new gadgets... I don't remember these three in later books, but I'm sure they make an appearance. It has underground, hidden rooms and entrances... the home, and the people in it are designed to minimize Lily's discomfort - as an enhanced psychic, she is sensitive to the thoughts & emotions of others, and these help shield her... Lily sets up one of the wings to house Ryland and his crew safely with Arlan’s help;

Lily helps them escape, with Arlan's help - providing them cars and access to her home... one of the men (who had been to the infirmary weeks earlier with brain bleed) has a convulsion and is unconscious... (they take him to the home of a surgeon that Lily trusts, and he helps him physically);

Lily and Ryland’s first sexual experience are in a dream, where Ryland comes to her to console her, and Lily becomes aggressive and free, opening up herself… when they are together, she is hesitant to have sex with him, worried he will expect the uninhibited woman she was in the dream … he eases her into accepting him;

It ends up that the base general plus wants control of the program... and he wants to know how Dr. Peter Whitney enhanced the men... when Peter does not share, they want him to think that the experiment failed, so they are planting electrodes in some of their brains (hence the two men who died with brain bleeds) ... when this still does not change Peter's behavior, and when he calls in his daughter to consult, the general plus decide to kill Peter and rely on his daughter to find and give them the research and carry on... Their ultimate plan is to sell the intel to the highest bidder.

So Lilly, and Ryland and his team, connect with a family friend, higher up general, and after a failed kidnapping attempt on Lilly, they go to the general's aid... their connection for future assignments.

Ryland knows in his bones that Lilly is the woman for him... it does not put him off to think Peter might have manipulated it, for everything he learns about Lilly he loves... Lilly is more cautious - and only gradually gives her heart... in the end, Ryland tells her to keep Peter's research, but only if no matter what she finds it will not cause her to question their feelings for one another...


Memorable Scenes:
“Lily pressed the heel of her hand to her throbbing forehead. “Not because you loved me, Dad, but because I was the least problematic.” She saw it so clearly, her father as a young man, logically choosing the one child who would give him the least amount of trouble.”… but later, in his journal… “I can only say in those early days, I didn’t have much of a heart or conscience. You’re the one who provided those two important elements in my life. I learned from you…” then “I determined that if I chose men with superior training and discipline, I wouldn’t run into the same problems. I could depend on them to do all their practices, build shields, erect the necessary barriers when they needed respite. You were able to do it, so a fully grown man would be stronger, a military man more apt to obey and make use of all the training…. But “Everything has gone wrong again. You’ll see the problems in the disks and reports.”

“The moment he’d laid eyes on her, he knew she was the woman born for him. She might not know it, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t, and he was relentless once set on a path.”

“She should have been afraid of his craving, the intensity of his terrible hunger, but within her body, in the shadowy corners of her soul, she found her own secret desires.”

Lily started after him for a long while, her fingers against her lips. The taste of him burned in her mouth, in her body long after she arrived at the hotel and had begun her circuit of greeting the other guests. It was strange how she felt Ryland with her, almost as if a part of him lingered inside her. And maybe it did.

**********
Content: Lots of M/F sex, violence / death, mild cussing, a few typos
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3.75 or 4 stars. Slow at times, and too sexy, but a suspenseful series opener! I am on a paranormal kick right now, and this book really fit the bill. I felt Feehan managed both the suspense and the romance well, and integrated them both with the paranormal elements -- enhanced psychic abilities, including telepathy, telekinesis, pattern-finding, etc.

3rd person POV, shifting from H to h multiple times (but easy to follow).

Plot, suspense, tension: Not bad! The plot was coherent. Some scenes were pretty tense, including the scene in the hotel, on the dark stairs. Very well described! A stalker hunts Lily, but she is "Holding her ground when everything in her screamed to break and run." There are two plots here: 1) The current plot, involving treason and greed, and 2) the long-range series plot, involving something Lily's father did about 25-30 years ago.

Romance: Squee! I loved Ryland (Rye) Miller, the captain of the ghost walkers (about a dozen men who are all special ops -- green berets, seals, rangers, etc. -- specially treated to enhance their natural psychic gifts). Rye loves Lily (a scientist) at first sight, but he puts up a little struggle -- after all, he thinks her father is a greedy monster. He soon acknowledges fully what he wants -- a lifetime with Lily -- but Lily is slower to trust. She thinks her father used psychic drugs to "make" them fall in lust. I really liked Lily, too. She is no wilting flower!

Sex: Too much for me. First, there's explicit dream sex about 30% into the story. Then, real sex about halfway in, and then multiple sex scenes follow, in the last half of the book. After the second fully described scene, I tend to skim.

Fun Parts:

1) Loved the two scenes when the ghost walkers protected Lily (at the hotel and at Donovan Labs). I really loved all the ghosts -- Nico, Kaden, Ian, Tucker, Gator, Jeff, etc. Enjoyed their camaraderie and banter, cloaking an absolute determination to protect Lily and help Jeff, their ill comrade. One example of banter under pressure: Lily telepathically tells the ghosts, "The henchman is coming to get the car." Ryland, reading her fear, asks, "Does anyone actually use the word henchman?" Lily hears ghosts snorting and commenting on the telepathic wire, and then Rye says, "I'm sorry, honey. The verdict is -- no one uses that word." (Tee hee!!)

2) I really enjoyed the secondary characters in this book. In addition to the ghosts, I have fond feelings for Lily's "family" (Rosa, the housekeeper and mother figure, Arly, the security expert and uncle figure, and old grandfatherly John, who serves as chauffeur). I sympathized with Rosa and was glad when she finally joined in, mothering them all, calling them boys.

3) Lily the fighter scenes. Example: When Lily uses karate and psychic ability to fight back a certain slime ball. Loved it when she attacks him with an interesting assortment of "weapons" (no spoilers, but a fun scene!).

4) Scenes with Lily the thinker, sleuthing out the big question -- "Who killed my father?" -- and doing everything she could to keep the ghosts safe.

5) Scenes with Ryland, going all alpha protective on Lily. And going all tender, massaging her poor leg and convincing her that she's beautiful. And Rye all bossy -- making her acknowledge the bond. Sigh.

Flaws (some are minor):

1) Too many references to Lily's appearance. Her glossy, shiny, beautiful hair, eyelashes, skin, scent, lush form (but at least she is not model thin, and she has a limp). Too much of this and I begin to lose faith in the love.

2) Setting: We are not told until almost 10% into the narrative that the story is set in the hills around San Francisco. In addition, Feehan does almost nothing to build the setting. No vivid descriptions of the area.

3) Some silly language: "...bathed him in hot heat" (what, opposed to cold heat?)
and "her hair gleamed at him" (AT him?)

4) Pacing bogged down a little somewhere around the middle. Also, it bogged down towards the 75% mark, with repeated sex scenes. Yawn.

5) At the end, the culprits were captured too handily. But then, ghost walkers are almost invisible. ;-)

That said, I enjoyed the story! I think this series is going to be better than Feehan's Drake Sisters series.

ending was a bit abrupt and I felt this one dragged for way too long. Some of the dialogues were too repetitive, but overall a good read. But I still like her Dark series better:)

It okay. Not one of her best works.

This book as better than I thought! I love the craziness about it. Love, science, experimentation, it’s all covered. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series.

Either there is something wrong with me or I'm reading the wrong books.

This one started off interesting. Military men go under a special treatment to enhance their psychic abilities but something goes wrong and one by one they start to die. Dr Whitney who has done this experiment on them can't figure out what's going wrong so he asks his daughter, Lily, to help him out.

I liked the beginning of the story. Lily was a cool and detached character. Ryland, who is the head of the military group, was an alpha male but he wasn't a douchebag so he didn't annoy me. There was some pharmacology involved in Lily's explanations. How can you enhance psychic abilities with SSRIs is beyond me but it was a cool concept. I have never read real scientific explanations in a paranormal book before so I was pleasently surprised by it. Maybe I should just reread my pharmacology book instead of reading paranormal books...

The mystery aspect was interesting, as well, and I wanted to know what happened next... until I didn't. About halfway through, the romance felt boring, I thought Lily was acting weird, the plot became repetitive and I just wanted to stop reading the book. The chemistry between Lily and Ryland seemed to evaporate and I was sick of reading the same explanations over and over again. We got too many summaries of what happened, long conversations of what's happening, detailed explanations of characters' feelings. They all felt overkill. Maybe the next books are better since this is a long series. But I'm not thinking about continuing at the moment.

When Captain Ryland Miller and his elite team signed up to take part in Dr Peter Whitney's experiement they were told that they would have their natural psychic abilities enhanced making them a powerful asset to the military. As their powers begin to grow it soon becomes clear that something has gone very wrong. Seperated from each other and locked in cages the men start dying - Ryland has a feeling that their deaths aren't an accident and that he could be the next on their enemies list. Feeling responsible for his team Ryland is determined to get them out but he doesn't know who he can trust.

When Dr Whitney asks Lily to help him she agrees but when he goes missing shortly after bringing her on board she is thrown in the deep end trying to figure out exactly what her father was involved in. There is an instant attraction between Lily and Ryland but it is more important that they find a way to help his team and discover who is behind the deaths and Dr Whitney's disappearance.

Shadow Games is the first book I've read by Christine Feehan - I'd heard a lot of great things about her Carpathians Dark series but when I spotted this in the library I thought I'd give it a try. I'm really pleased I picked it up & will definitely be reading more books by this author. This was very different to anything I've read before but I really loved the GhostWalkers (Ryland's team) and found it interesting looking at the idea of enhancing psychic abilities for the use of the military.

Ryland is a great hero - loyal to his team and determined to save them he is also incredibly sexy and not afraid of his feelings for Lily, he knows what he wants and will do whatever it takes to make it happen. Lily is intelligent and beautiful but also shy and somewhat naive - the feelings she has for Ryland are all new to her and she worries about her inexperience. With Ryland's help it doesn't take long for her passionate side to come to the surface which leads to some very erotic scenes between them.

Although I would class this as a paranormal romance there was also a lot of action and some great twists in the storyline. Not only do Lily and Ryland have to try and discover who is trying to sabotage their team but Lily also has to find a way to help the men deal with their new psychic powers so that they have a chance at living a normal life. We don't get to know the rest of the team well but from the glimpses of them that we've seen I'm really looking forward to reading their stories. I will definitely be reading the rest of this series and I'm looking forward to trying some of Christine's other books too. I'd recommend this to paranormal romance or urban fantasty fans who enjoy a story with plenty of hot sex scenes along with an action packed story line about hunky military men. What more can a girl ask for?

Immediate sexual and irrational attraction at first sight with descriptions of sexual acts wanted to be performed, body parts described and throbbing, all getting in the way of a good plot before it even gets a chance to get off the ground. The kind of PR that makes me want to punch something.

When the heroine is asked by her father for her expertise on his project, she is proud to think he values her opinion. Loving her father and loving up to him career wise doesn't change the fact that he is emotionally distant at best and totally forgetful and absent at most. She's invited deep into the secret world of genetically engineered soldiers and in that facility, she meets the hero. He isn't what the world would consider handsome yet from the very second, she locked eyes with him she felt connected to the man in the cage. He touches her mind with his, they speak secretly under the noses of her father and the guard and though she tries to remain detached he can feel every single one of her emotions good and bad and has locked his target on her.

The hero, responsible for why he and his team have been experimented on, tortured and imprisoned for years, feels guilty and will do anything to escape. He sees the beautiful yet vulnerable woman for who she is and knows she's met to be his. Though he feels hatred towards her father, he grieves for her while she grieves the old man's death. He wasn't perfect as a father yet she still loved him and his death shatters her world. But it's only after his death that she begins to learn the truth regarding the man she thought of as her father. He was an evil man. He experimented on children, herself included-trying to push her abilities and mold her into a soldier. He tortured the hero and his men, playing with their brain until some lost themselves to insanity or their brains just shut down with the strain.

The heroine is torn between the love she felt for a man she barely knew and the realization of just how hated her was. Throughout the journey to discover who murdered him, she has the hero to be her rock. Breaking out of their prison and hiding in her house, the heroine and hero explore this strange yet all-consuming desire to be with each other. Both possess heightened abilities and the heroine fears that anything between them is only cold science not love but the hero knows that their connection runs deep in his very soul and that what he feels for her is real and true.

Once again, I found myself struggling to connect to the characters and their personalities though I'd rate this higher than the other books I've read. I think it's the writing style that puts me off. The long dramatic dialogue, the over the top desire and craving from the hero and the repetition of conversations make it a hardship to remain lost in the story. I found myself skipping pages knowing that I won't be missing anything. That being said the story wasn't a complete write off. There were some pleasant moments between the main characters that I adored and the action scenes were exciting and a bit of a lifter upper for the book. I can say that I enjoyed the light-hearted conversations the characters had here and there which showed that this author does know how to write it just that I wish there was more to it you know? I never truly feel like the hero and heroine really get to know each other and fall in love- rather their romance just seems to happen. Overall, I thought this book was alright. I liked the fact that the villain Whitney is portrayed as a man who could possibly have some good in him-something shown to be false in the books to follow.

I hesitated to read this book for years. I have read the entire series twice through and finally I decided to just read it! I think my hesitation was Lily. So after all the delays I ended up really enjoying the read. Lily and Ryland will never by my favorite couple. Lily is just too standoffish for me to really connect to her. I was also really frustrated with her “support” of her father and constant musings about his great mind. Having read the other books I have strong feelings about dear old dad. But it was the perfect set up for the aeries.

All that being said, I encourage anyone wanting to read the aeries to start at the beginning and work through in order. While they are standalones, they are so much better when you know the connected stories. I love Feehan and I love this series so I am happy I finally read this one!

BTW - I think the audible versions of this series are fabulous