One With the Shadows

Companion #5

by Susan Squires

Kate Malone makes her living reading Tarot cards and fleecing society's elite. With no prospect of independence, her own fate looks bleak. But Kate's fortunes change when she steals a magnificent emerald--and is soon confronted by a mysterious stranger. Kate is sure that the striking gentleman's attention is a ruse to retrieve the gem. But his presence awakens her to passions she never dreamed of…and to powers she never knew she possessed.

Gian Urbano is bound by honor to retrieve the mystical stone that can drain a vampire's power--and drive humans to madness. The willful, stunning Kate has no idea of the emerald's dark magic, or the lengths Gian's enemies will go to retrieve it. But soon Gian discovers in Kate a desire more compelling than duty--one that could save them both, or lead them to their downfall…

Genres: Vampires, Romance, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Historical, Vampire Romance, Historical Romance

322 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

Susan Squires is a NYT bestselling author known for breaking the rules of romance. Whatever her time period or subject, some element of the paranormal creeps in. She has won multiple contests for published novels and reviewer's choice awards. Publisher's Weekly named Body Electric one of the ten most influential mass market books and One with the Shadows a Best Book. Time for Eternity received a starred review.

Susan has a Masters in English literature from UCLA and once toiled as an executive for a Fortune 500 company. Now she lives at the beach with her husband, Harry, a writer of supernatural thrillers, and three Belgian Sheepdogs, who like to help her write by putting their chins on the keyboardddddddddddd.

Reviews

[Sarah Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

An aggressively mediocre installment—easily my least favorite Companion novel thus far. There’s very little vampire action & what does appear is driven by the silly ‘magical stones’ plot, which is a bland & cheesy fulcrum. The remaining pages are spent with two whiny MCs stuck in feedback loops—Kate whines that she’s hideous & unlovable because of a facial scar & being abandoned as a child, while vampire Gian whines about his damaged honor** & how he can’t ever ask a woman to join him in immortality because it’s ~AgAiNsT tHe RuLeS.~

…Please note that this is book 5 (book 6 if you count the prequel). By now we’ve already seen 4 (or 5) other couples become immortal together. Some of these are turned willingly while others make the best of a bad thing—but regardless, we-the-reader have watched these ~RuLeS~ broken multiple times, & we know this couple will also break the ~RuLeS~ in some fashion to achieve their happy ending. Sooooo… STFU. 🙈 Likewise, hearing yet again about the Companion’s powers + predilections, the process of turning, the scent of vampires, etc etc, is utterly uninvolving because we’ve heard this multiple times before. I’m aware that there’s a fine line balancing info for new series readers vs. longtime followers, but why does Kate need to mull over the cinnamon + ambergris in every freakin’ scene? Why do we have to re-explain everything even when it’s not relevant to this particular story?

*exhales* Anyhoo. 2.5 stars. But the opening tarot-reading scene was great, & I’ve enjoyed the other books in this series…so I graciously rounded up. (Also, the hero’s mother was awesome & I’m looking forward to her story.)


**He has no real reason for such angst, which made it even more irksome. Gian has led a sheltered life by vampire standards, esp compared to previous heroes like Callan in book 4, who is raped & abused for years at a time by multiple more-powerful villains. My heart hurt for poor Callan. 😢 My heart felt nothing for whiny Gian.

[♥ℳelody · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book I read of hers and I loved it. Couldn't put it down. For a historical paranormal book it was beautifully written. Very dark twisted but dramatic and a great read. Loved the tortured hero in this Gian and the connection he found with Kate. It could have been easily contrived but it wasn't, both characters are fully developed and so is the story. Both come from dark troubled backgrounds and total outsiders that connect. Her style of writing stands out to me and made me start reading her other books.

[Julianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for THC Reviews
One with the Shadows was a pretty good story, but it didn't resonate with me quite as deeply as the other books in the Companion series so far. For readers who found the earlier books in the series to be too heavy with rape and abuse themes, this one is an easier read. There is only one scene of this nature in the entire book as opposed to it being almost continual in the previous books. However, I didn't feel like the characters were developed quite as well as they were in the other stories. Susan Squires has always had a somewhat languid pace to her books, but I found the first several chapters of One with the Shadows to be slower than usual. A lot of this was owing to me wanting to know more about the hero who seemed quite intriguing, but we don't get his POV until chapter 7. Even then, it started out with pretty minimal information that didn't really draw me in at first. Once the POVs evened out, the pacing was more what I expect from this author, but I still saw a few missed opportunities for better reader engagement.

Kate is a fortune-teller, who basically bilks the wealthy out of their money by giving them the psychic readings she thinks they want to hear. Despite her profession, Kate is a very sympathetic character. There are a couple of flashbacks to her childhood which were very sad. She was abandoned at the age of six and has no memory of the time before she awoke on a trash heap. From there, she lived on the streets of London, Oliver Twist-style, and learned very quickly how to pick pockets and break into houses. Eventually, Kate ended up in an orphanage, but as a teen, she was taken in by Matthew, a man who claimed to be her father, but who merely used her to make money by telling fortunes and occasionally servicing their male clients in other ways as well. When one of those clients was about to make Kate his permanent mistress, Matthew had her deliberately attacked and her face permanently scarred, so he wouldn't lose his only source of income. Kate is very self-conscious of her scars, but I thought perhaps the author could have done a little better job of conveying how profoundly her disfigurement affected her life. It never really went much beyond her simply thinking that no one could love her and doubting Gian's motives because of the scars. A few people along the way thought she was cursed or marked by the devil, something that she's learned to live with, but overall, I didn't get a strong sense of how it affected her emotionally. Kate's background does come in quite handy on multiple occasions as she saves Gian's life, and the pair embark on a mission to return some very unusual gems to their home in the desert of North Africa. During these times, she is very brave and courageous, doing what she must to help the man she loves. She was also surprisingly unfazed by the revelation that he's a vampire. In fact, she was smart enough to figure out a lot on her own before he even admitted it. Despite having many positive qualities, I thought Kate's characterization still could have been a bit better. There are some things about Kate's past that aren't revealed until near the end of the book, which I think would have helped build her character more if they'd been woven in a little sooner. Much like with the scarring, I detected a couple of other instances where the author does more telling about Kate's issues rather than showing the impact they had on her life. Otherwise, Kate was a pretty admirable and likable character.

From the beginning, Gian is a darkly seductive hero. He's loved and admired for his handsome features by every woman with whom he comes in contact, and is basically the vampire version of Casanova. He's taken numerous lovers over his incredibly long life-span, but after watching his parents marriage end in tragedy, he's never allowed himself to truly fall in love. Gian is an honorable man who is very committed to anything he sets his mind to do. His current mission involves finding a mystical emerald and returning it to the vampire enclave of Mirso Monastery. Gian experiences the ennui that seems common to many of the vampires in this series (in fact, his has gotten so bad, he's become impotent), so once his mission is over, he isn't certain what he wants to do with his life. He's considering the possibility of taking the vow and staying at Mirso permanently until Kate comes into his life, giving him renewed purpose. I love that Gian never really sees Kate's scars, but instead, looks past them to the woman she is inside. Even though he's the perfect specimen of masculinity, he never thinks of her as damaged or ugly, only beautiful despite her disfigurement. Gian definitely lived up to his Casanova-like persona by being a tender and thoughtful lover who thinks only of her pleasure. However, much like Kate, I saw a couple of missed opportunities to deepen his characterization. First, he seems rather tortured by his time fighting the vampire war to conquer Asharti's army in Algiers, but we don't get much background information about this. Unlike with the other heroes in the series who had frequent flashbacks to their tortured pasts, Gian's is more of a distant memory that haunts him occasionally, rather than something that consumes him from an emotional standpoint. The other intriguing thing about him is that he has the unusual ability to produce spontaneous combustion when someone makes him angry. He is said to be a firebrand, the first time I believe that term has been used in this series, but little explanation is given for why he's able to do this. I really wanted to know more about this oddity.

Gian and Kate's relationship development had some weaknesses as well. Shortly after meeting, they take a lengthy carriage ride together, during which they share some conversation, but for some reason, it didn't spark as much of a connection as I would have hoped. Not long after arriving at their destination, they share their first love scene. I couldn't help wishing there had been a little more build-up leading up to it. In general, Gian and Kate seem to essentially hold each other at arms length. Kate believes no man could love her because of her scars; Gian believes no woman can love him because they would think him a monster if he revealed the truth about himself. Kate also believes that Gian is a love-them-and-leave-them kind of guy and that he will soon abandon her just like her parents did. While I understood their vulnerabilities, there were times when both seemed a little belabored and I just wanted them to have a good conversation about it and move forward. They don't end up declaring their love until the last ten pages or so, and even then, it's a rather tentative sharing of feelings. It just wasn't quite enough to fully convince me that they were ready to make a commitment to spend eternity together. Therefore, I found the romance in this book to be somewhat weaker than in the other books of the series, but I will say that, as always, the author has created some delectably sensual love scenes which are in themselves a way for Gian and Kate to express their feelings for one another. This is one area in which Susan Squires really excels in her writing.

Being the fifth book in the Companion series, One with the Shadows does contain a few common characters with other books in the series. The villainess is the vampire, Elyta, who was first introduced in the previous book, One with the Night. She is basically taking over the role from Asharti, whom she apparently mentored, so it isn't too surprising that she spends most of her time sexually dominating and torturing men, while plotting to take over the world. However, she doesn't show her teeth quite as prominently in this book as in the last one. Gian and Kate visit briefly with Ian and Elizabeth (The Companion), who help them prepare for their journey into the desert. Finally, Gian's mother, Donnatella, a beautiful contessa, adores her son and would do anything for him, but she herself has been nursing a broken heart for centuries. She believed in the rules of the Elders and made the grave mistake of not turning the one true love of her life into a vampire when she had the chance. Now it looks like she'll have the opportunity to right the wrongs of the past by traveling back in time in her own book, One with the Darkness, the next in the series.

Despite having a few flaws, One with the Shadows was still a good read overall. Another area in which Susan Squires excels is her research. As a reader and fellow writer, I can tell that she has either personally visited many of the places she writes about or has done very extensive research. Her attention to detail in both her historical and environmental descriptions is superb. She always chooses unusual settings for her stories, and I appreciate the variety. I felt like I was being transported to another time and place. I also liked the way that she wove the vampires into real historical events, making their appearance there plausible. All in all, I enjoyed reading One with the Shadows even if it wasn't quite as strong as some of the other stories in the series. I'm definitely intrigued with the possibility of Donnatella time traveling to Ancient Rome, so I'll be looking forward to reading her book soon.

Note: Sensitive readers should know that this book contains one fairly graphic scene of the hero being raped and tortured by a powerful female vampire.

[Paranormal Romance · Rating 4 out of 5]

The heroine has had to fight her entire life for survival. Abandoned by her family, adopted by a man who used her very ill indeed, selling her to clients and scaring her face so to be sure no one would want her- she has not known warmth or love so she does not believe in such nonsense. She’s very talented at reading people, using her gift of spinning tarot cards to show the Italian aristocrats a future of their desire, she looks to earn enough money to retire in England, safe from prying and judgmental eyes. But when she sees the hero, she sees a man shrouded in mystery. She knows he sees her as a fraud so when she’s asked to read his cards, something happens deep inside and what comes out is shocking. She tells him of his torture in the desert, of his pain and sense of loss. How he is a man who wears a mask and that his true nature is darker and more tormented than the handsome man those around him see. For the first time, she seems to have foreseen the future, but that’s utter nonsense. Yet the intense look in his eyes and shock on his face tells her that her words hit closer to home then he expected.

Later than night, she picks the pocket of a passerby and earns herself a very large and very expensive emerald jewel. In its depths, she sees visions of the people around her. Visions of birth and death, happiness and sadness. And she’s now attracted the attention of the hero who knows she has the stone and offers her 20 thousand dollars to hand it over. He saves her from an attack and transports her to his mother’s villa. Their relationship is tense and more often than naught they are arguing about something or another. The heroine begins to see stranger traits in her traveling companion the least of which is his complete disregard towards her scars. He is sensitive to the light and has strength beyond what it normal for a man. It’s a stretch but with her recent discovery of her own powers, she begins to realize that he is a vampire. The hero is a born vampire and one who began his life as a generally happy man who treasures honor and duty but after a tour in the desert, he is tortured by his actions. He is beautiful and he knows it but it means nothing when those around him see him as something he’s not. Women want him for his body but he somehow can’t seem to make his body respond to them. He is frustrated by the heroine and her stubborn nature and less the stellar morals yet he is enchanted by her beauty and intelligence. When he succumbs to the desire to have her, he is furious that any man should ever make her feel anything but magnificent yet pleased he can give her pleasure. When the stones are stolen and the hero imprisoned its the heroine who will risk her life to see him freed. Now the quest to see the stones returned from whence the came is paired with the risk that a true love will pass them by if they do not fight for it.

This author is always guaranteed to be a pleasure to read. She has a way with words and a way of writing characters with true heart and even deeper torment. But they are never over dramatic or brooding, they are just saddened by life or by the Companion inside them. To me these 2 characters captured what I love about this series. They were both stunningly beautiful but neither believed it (like the heroine)or welcomed it (like the hero). The hero may have had a pretty good like considering but his time at war has shook him to the core where he doubts himself. He plays up the character of a hansom man without troubles but in reality he's quite the opposite. The heroine on the other hand has always had a troubled life from birth where her family abandoned her, to her childhood where her ' father' sold her to his clients or scared her face to prevent her from leaving him. She grew up in a harsh world where she had to claw at survival and its morphed her into a woman reluctant to belief in the world at large and every herself. They were quite humorous with their arguing it seemed both parties enjoyed baiting the other or picking fights out of nothing. I loved how they feel in love yet still kept the fact secret from the other because they didn't believe that love to be returned. I liked the heroine resourcefulness and strength to survive and I liked the heros gentle nature - despite what he was- and his desire to do right. The plot was interesting and exciting and I was swept away into the world of vampire and romance.

[Ann Noell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully dark, hot and erotic. A fantastic vampire thriller. A wonderful story full of exciting adventure, danger,And the power of true love. I could not put this book down, I was up way past my bed time totally captivate long into the night.

[Jenny Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

My firt time with this author. I immediately went and bought 4 more of her books, if that says anything. I really liked it!

[Haylie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good, I loved the ending!

[☆.。.:*・°☆Love2Read♡HEAs☆.。.:*・°☆ {Anne} · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rated 4 Stars

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the female characters very modern, independent and interesting. I enjoyed the tale it kept me interested and wanting to find out how it ended. A good satisfying quick romp.

[Shawna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Companion Bundle Two is a compilation of three Paranormal/historical novels by Susan Squires. One With the Night is the first book in the bundle and is the love story of Jane Blundell and Callan Kilkenny. Both have become vampires unwillingly, one by accident and one by force, but both share a common goal, to rid themselves of the disease and the only person who might be able to help them is Jane’s father. Neither expects to find love and when they do they both fight it, hoping they can find a cure and move on with their lives, but fate has other plans for them.
In Book Two, One With the Shadows, you get to meet Kate Malone, a tarot card reader and Gian Urbano. Their paths cross when Kate steals an emerald that Gian needs. When their paths cross it takes them both on a path they never expected to be on.
The last book in this bundle is One With the Darkness. Contessa Donnatella di Poliziano travels back in time to find the love of her life she let slip away many years ago. The only problem is that not only does she lose her memory when she gets there; she has also changed the entire course of history. She may not have her memory but the moment she sees Jergan she starts to fall in love with him all over. But can their love survive the test of time?
This historical/paranormal romance bundle was a good read. I enjoyed going back in time with all of the characters and following them on their journeys.

[J. Kahele · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review
Kate Malone was an orphan who believed that a man, who took her from an orphanage, had saved her. But she soon finds out this ‘father figure,’ was only using her to help him scam people out of money. It was him, who in a fit of rage. left a scar on his face.
After he passes away, Kate is left to face the world on her own, doing what she did best, scamming people. Posing as a Tarot reader, she comes across a man who exerts a strong energy when around her, Gian Urbano.
Gian Urbano was no ordinary man, but a vampire searching for a mystical stone, that he soon finds out is in Kate’s possession. After a fellow vampire threatens to get the stone, at any cost, including killing Kate, Gian takes them away, to protect not only the stone but Kate. What started out as something simple, turns into confusion for Gian, as his feelings for this human begin to grow deeper, his want for her overtaking his existence.
This was a very good story, I have read many books by this author and I have to say, she is an amazing wordsmith. Her characters are always likable, and have this realism to them that makes you root for them to make it through whatever darkness they may entail.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first novel by Susan Squires. I have read a couple of her stories/novellas in compilations.

I enjoyed her take on the vampire legend, and wish that I had done enough research to figure out that this is a continuing series. Usually I am fanatical about reading in order.

I do think I will try to collect the rest of the books and read them in order; probably I will re-read this one when the time comes.

Kate was an interesting heroine; even comparable to Bella Swan in some ways, although the books are a very different setting.

Gian is a vampire, but an honorable one. He reminded me of the dark heroes in Christine Feehan's series which I love.

[Ashlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book

I love this series and this book is one of my favorites of The Companion Series. It's a beautifully written Paranormal Regency Romance full of love and pain and, well, life. I will warn you that Susan Squires has no compunction about describing rape and torture and grisly deaths in detail in her stories. So if you have a weak countenance this may not be the series for you.

[Rachel Graft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 5 in The Companion Series. Brings some of the older characters into this story line. Ian & Beth Rufford & what happen to the Bitch Asharti. Each Vampire & their love have unique abilities & how to fight against evil - this story was against Elyta Zaroff.

[Lynn Calvin]

Amazon received

[Laurie Stoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book! I'd like to read more of her books since this was the first of her's that I've read.

[Jayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the plot but the way the story was written didn't really excite me.
It's an okay read but I won't be searching out this authors stories.

[Amarilli 73 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vampiri + rinascimento + antico Egitto
Inizio avvincente.