Shadow Marked: A Demon Bound Novel

In the world making up Shadow Marked, the south part of Manhattan is nothing like it is today. An earthquake has stirred a diverse civilization of ancient demons from their dwellings deep within the oceans. The emergence of these creatures has cast a dark, dangerous, and deadly blanket over the lower part of New York City, leaving the residents that reside in the nightly walled-off urban zone to all but fend for themselves after sundown. While most of the time, residents remain out of harms way, there are times when these horrific demons get a little too close to their human neighbors. Samantha Quinn is one of these people. As part of a horrible ritualistic sacrifice at the age of six, she is now blind and has an unwanted connection to a particular species of demon that many still believe does not exist. But despite the nonbelievers, and all the numerous hardships Samantha has had to endure, she exudes strength, determination, compassion, and a 'realness' about her that makes you immediately take a liking to her. Jace Lu, her brother's friend, and the man that Sam has crushed on since she was in her teens, is the emotional opposite of her. He, too, has been effected by the creatures, but carries the emotional baggage around like it's a permanent backpack and buffer against getting too close to anyone. After awhile, it does tend to get old, but when events take place that causes Jace and Sam to come together in a very heated way, their connection is undeniable, and starts to break away some of his stone interior. Together the two of them embark on a mystery to why all of a sudden, after nearly twenty years, Sam's connection to the demons is suddenly causing havoc in her life and to those people close to her. What they find is mystery, deceit, betrayal, pain, healing, passion, and love. The chemistry between Jace and Sam is fantastic! It's hot, playful -- Evan's creates some wonderful banter between the two of them--, sensual and compassionate. While Sam's brother is an overbearing asshat, Jace treats Sam respectfully as an adult and doesn't dwell on her disability. They really do make quite the pair in this novel. While overall, I was really pulled in to this very creative and unique paranormal tale, I just didn't feel the enthusiasm that I really did want to feel for it. Without giving any spoilers away, sometimes I felt as though information that may, or may not, have been important to the plot or characters, was just thrown at me like it had been forgotten until that moment. The sexual tension and heated moments were definitely yummy, but to me there was only one 'great' moment between them, leaving me a little disappointed in the final coming together. And to me this is always important because I want to feel the emotional connection that they share at that moment. And, well, it just never came (pun intended). The ending definitely had closure-- which is always major points for me. But, I was also left scratching my head a bit. At o

When Samantha Quinn was six years old her parents offered her and her two siblings to demons in a satanic ritual. Sam barely survived the ordeal of being offered as a sacrifice, but went blind and obviously suffered emotional damage Years later, Sam begins having visions of an odious demon killing people. Seeing the look of horror on the victim's faces, she tries to find a way to save their lives. At the same time, Sam falls in love with her brother Stephen's childhood friend, Jace. However, as Jace denies his feelings for Sam, she also realizes Stephen is concealing something from her that she fears may be evil and now her newest premonition depicts her beloved as the deceased. Readers will believe there are plenty of nasty essences between heaven and earth with several planet-side in this haunting urban fantasy. Sam is terrific as she still has mental scars from the ordeal of two decades ago, but refuses to allow her neurosis from crippling her as she tries to protect Jace from a horde of demons who relish devouring humans. Her relationship with Jace makes the tale fresh with their role reversal. The sub-genre audience will feel "Demon Bound" to Anna J. Evans' strong thriller. Harriet Klausner