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Shadow Thane #4

Star Crossed

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Catherine Pierce is a black beast, a shape-shifter with witch blood running through her veins: her very existence is a death sentence because there's a secret about black beasts. One that the witches have tried to keep buried for centuries...

Phineas Riordan is a powerful witch prince with nothing to lose. He'll do anything to possess Catherine, and won't stop until she's his... even if it means turning his back on everything he's ever known.

The attraction between Catherine and Finn is dark and full of fire... but if they don't manage to decode the prophecy that binds them and stop the ascension of the Shadow Thane then the two of them will fall to darkness.

Because someone else knows about the prophecy and desperately wants it to succeed--and they'll do anything to see these lovers... STAR CROSSED.

Cover by Heather.

Kindle Edition

First published June 3, 2018

3 people are currently reading
242 people want to read

About the author

Nenia Campbell

60 books20.8k followers
Nenia Campbell is a dark romance author who lives in San Francisco, California. When she's not writing, or reading, she can be found roaming the city or curled up with her void cat. She collects romance novels older than she is and loves a villain with flair.

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5 stars
36 (48%)
4 stars
19 (25%)
3 stars
11 (14%)
2 stars
4 (5%)
1 star
4 (5%)
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
Profile Image for Fre06 Begum.
1,260 reviews205 followers
June 20, 2018
I loved Finn in this one! It was so nice to see a kinder version of him but to still have the evilness that makes him Finn. Loved his possessive and jealous attitude but loved it more that he would literally do anything to protect Catherine. I hope next part comes quick as there are still loose ends that I need answered.....Nenia please hurry up with the next one!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Heather ~*dread mushrooms*~.
Author 20 books566 followers
August 2, 2018
They could never be together. All he could offer her was protection—and she thought she could take care of herself.


I was thoroughly delighted with the finished version of this book! I finished reading the beta version a couple months ago, but I'm terrible at remembering books for the most part, so reading it again felt fresh to me. I did recognize a few new and/or expanded scenes, which I loved. They helped set a nice pace as well as fleshing out both the story and characters. This series started out relatively tame, but this latest installment was anything but. It's like if L.J. Smith's Night World series grew up and got way darker.

Also, Finn kills me. I die.

The big final scene? Are you kidding me? That epilogue? I can't wait for the final book because I know it's going to be EPIC.

PREVIOUSLY:

GUESS WHAT I BETA READ???

And I'll read it again when it comes out officially, because yes, even though Finn is a possessive douchenozzle, I have also deemed him one of my book boyfriends. I enjoy a good fucked-up romance, and luckily, Nenia likes writing them.

Here is my Finn. Yes, this is the same model I used to cast the redhead hero in one of my books, but whatevs!!! I heart him.





Anyway, Finn isn't the *only* thing that keeps me reading (although hot fictional men are my number one book priority, obviously). There were some very cool moments in this book, and a couple of twists that had me all like



And I'm really looking forward to reading the new scenes in the context of the whole. Not because they're dark and sexy or anything. Definitely not because I'm really curious about the bad guy now. Heh heh.

Profile Image for Ursula.
603 reviews186 followers
January 6, 2020
This series is going in a direction that has me a bit bamboozled.
We see some more gender fluidity, there's rapey stuff that happens to men and women, the hero seems to be rather weak in terms of supernatural powers (the heroine is the strong one), the ghastly all-powerful villain, complete with transexual henchperson (the hero's half-sister is perhaps also a bloke, it's never really clear) - it seems to be venturing into LGBTQ+ territory. This is something that I don't generally look for in my fantasy/PNR books- I tend to prefer that for my CR/NA books.
I also found the plot getting too convoluted and even confusing. Yep, it is definitely on the dark side of fantasy. If that's your jam, you will enjoy it.
Profile Image for Clarice.
555 reviews134 followers
September 10, 2023
Solid 3 stars.

I think I'm finally starting to warm up to liking Catherine, she's not as immature in this book than the previous ones. She still pretty much curses Finn out every other time they talk to one another, but their romance actually starts to develop a little bit in this book.

I could see who the Shadow Thane was going to be for a long time, so when it was revealed I wasn't shocked. I also was hoping for some more lore and background about what exactly it means to be the Shadow Thane or what he is besides a kind of cartoonish bad-guy only there to move the plot along, but hopefully that comes in book 5.

One of the main issues I have with this series is that I really couldn't care less about the side characters, since for the most part I don't feel like they add much to the plot. Especially Cassandra, she really doesn't add much to the team as far as I'm concerned, she really wasn't involved at all towards the end of the book and she felt kind of just "there". The romance between her and David is lukewarm at best too. I think Nenia would have been better off focusing on the main pairing and adding to the lore of this series than trying to stretch the narrative across several characters.
Profile Image for Alissa.
672 reviews44 followers
December 16, 2023
Agh the ending of this one was so flipping good! A lot of the things im loving about this series really came together in this one. Finn’s emotions for Catherine are really starting to develop here and i loved the section where he has a long internal monologue that makes it clear how much he cares about her but when Catherine asks what he feels his best attempt at articulating it is something along the lines of ‘you belong to me.’ Which of course feeds into her fears of being controlled and trapped.

I have to say i really struggled to understand Catherine’s continued resistance to Finn in this one. It seemed obvious just taking his actions into consideration that things were different for him here and I understand there’s history and reputation in the way, but it felt needlessly stubborn until that last scene when you realise that for Catherine love is the worst trap of all and it was actually the deepening of their feelings for each other she was fighting rather than the belief that he was using her per se and i actually thought that reveal was quite well done.

This story is great and i cant wait to see how it ends, however there are a few little nit-picky things that would make it better. I think the plot could probably do with some tightening in places. For most of this one the black magic book doesnt get mentioned as they handed it off to the witch council in the last one and i found myself confused as to why it had been such a focus previously and why it had ‘chosen’ Catherine for us to just then forget about it here. It did come into play at the end, but by then id almost forgotten about it.

It also felt a little bit like they were just doing things sometimes. Im not too sure why they went to Alder Springs. The reveal of Shadow Thane wasnt a huge surprise but i am a bit confused about who he is and what he’s representing so hopefully that gets answered in the next one.

I also noticed a few spacing issues in this one and by that i mean how characters are placed and move in a scene. So sometimes characters would be described as coming out of a bathroom and getting dressed and id be picturing that while a conversation plays out only to find out at the end of the conversation that theyre now lying in bed and i had no idea when in the conversation that happened. Or in the fight scenes id be picturing them standing in a certain way and then a comment about Finn making eye contact with Catherine over a body would force me to completely reconfigure the scene because thats not how i had them placed in my mind if that makes sense.

So i guess some minor editing things really. Very excited to see where this goes. I have to say i found Cheshire a more chilling villain than The Shadow Thane so that epilogue where Cheshire submits to him in that way surprised me a little 😅 Loved the final scene with Catherine and Finn though and when Finn and the dragon fight together - the whole Dragon persona is really interesting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
1 review
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July 22, 2017
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This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Medha.
24 reviews
September 24, 2019
The chemistry between the two is so explosive. I loved all the books of this series but the third and the fourth books are my favorites.
Profile Image for Coco.V.
50k reviews128 followers
Want to read
March 29, 2020
🎁 FREE on Amazon today (3/29/2020)! 🎁
Profile Image for Piseog.
1,689 reviews7 followers
July 24, 2018
4.5 stars

This was a fantastic read. I felt like I was waiting forever for this book but it was worth the wait. My number 1 issue with the previous three books was the length. They always felt too short. Well I am happy to say that this book is nice and long, and not in a bad way. It needed that length to develop everything. I love how complex all the characters are, particularly the relationship between Catherine and Finn. I am such a fan of those two together. Finn was so good in this one and has come so far. It's lovely to see how much he cares about Catherine now.

There are a few minor things that prevented me from giving the book 5 stars. I understand that Catherine is a strong character and can't just give to Finn's whims, but I did get tired of her stubbornness after a while. We've already had two books of Catherine hating on Finn (and vice versa), and then we had to read about them having the same fight over and over in this one. Catherine's combative and aggressive attitude towards Finn got old after a while. At least Finn was showing some growth and change in his feelings. But I like to think Catherine will show a more caring side in the next book. Their scenes together are great to read and are also super hot.

The other thing I wasn't crazy about was Cassandra and David having their own POV sections (well, more than in the previous book). I am not a fan of spin-offs or more than two POVs in a book. I get so attached to the protagonists that I only want to focus on them, and not a subplot with secondary characters. It's okay when they are part of Finn and Catherine's scenes but not when they have their own. That's probably really unreasonable of me but is just the way I like my books. I'm also not crazy about the addition of . But that's just me nit-picking.

Anyway, this was a un-put-downable book that stayed with me after reading it. I cannot wait for book 5 and I hope it's not too long of a wait.
Profile Image for Ash.
192 reviews10 followers
June 22, 2018
Daaaaaaaaaayum Nenia!!!!! I need the finale T_T Everything ramped up, the tension and stakes are high, Finn is still the hottest asshole I've ever read about. Just. This whole book was perfect. I was worrying a bit about the pacing, since it seemed like there was still a lot of leading up to the finale, but it was excellently paced as always. <3
Profile Image for Thalia ✨.
14 reviews
July 22, 2020
Oh my gosh oh my gosh, this was amazing. I am SO EXCITED for the next book. This has definitely been my favorite in the series because things are all starting to finally come together. The action was amazing, the romance was intoxicating, and the story is just so well written. I absolutely love the series so far and can’t wait for more.
Profile Image for A..
291 reviews
April 21, 2020
I absolutely loved this book, I love Catherine and Finn (I had hope for him from Book 1! Well...maybe more Book 2 lol) and I love watching them both grow and develop, as well as the series - which keeps getting better and better. Very invested in what happens next!
28 reviews14 followers
September 30, 2020
While I found the first three books good, it’s really the fourth one that obsessed me. Fortunatly, I already bought the last book !
Profile Image for Amy.
621 reviews45 followers
December 29, 2018
If it were any other couple, Finn and Catherine's volatile hate/love relationship would drive me insane, but I forgive it because I think it works so well.

Fascinating and original series. Unsure if this is the last book or not, but I'd be so thrilled to see a fifth!

Profile Image for Ty Nyrin.
67 reviews22 followers
March 3, 2020
😱

Where’s the next book?!?! Where is it?!?!
Finn & Catherine, unhealthy relationship to say the least, but Cassandra’s is even more so. Seriously?! What was she thinking?! That romance is only going to end in death, most likely hers.
Profile Image for Semhar.
8 reviews1 follower
November 17, 2019
*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*

I don’t think I can overstate how criminally underrated this author is, I absolutely loved this book, it’s definitely my favourite in the series, and is such a nice culmination of the slow building of tensions throughout the three books before.


We got to see the return of Cassandra, WHO IS TRANS!!!! This makes me so happy in my heart :’) There was such a saucy scene between her and someone I won’t name because spoilers, and it was SO HOT! But also handled incredibly respectfully, which is a difficult balance to strike at times. I have read books where sex scenes particularly between trans and cis characters can come off as fetishising and dysphoric, so this was a pleasure to read.

Speaking of hot scenes, I can’t get enough of Finn, I really can’t. What I love is that his crazy isn’t explained away as romantic; he is creepy at times, even cruel at times, and I love that the focus of his obsession isn’t some drippy limp girl who normalises everything that he does. Catherine understands who he is and rails against it, and the book is very conscious of situations that could come off as abusive, and that self-awareness is something seriously lacking in YA (not that this book is even remotely a YA book). He’s a possessive, unhinged, borderline sociopath and I just want more. His scenes with Catherine are electric, and though it doesn’t seem like it at first this is really a slow burn in the emotional sense. The back and forth between them builds into something real, something that they don’t even recognise is happening until it’s too late.

All the different plot threads, the small clues, Cassandra’s prophesy, and the dreams really tie together in this book, which made it a very satisfying read, and still brought up new questions and theories for what (I hope) is the next book. There’s a HUGE twist at the end that only brings up more questions about the nature and history of black beasts, it is just too interesting a world for there not to be a next book!

If you’ve ever heard the song Infrared by Placebo, that is (for me) the musical equivalent of Finn and Catherine’s relationship.


description
Profile Image for Amanda Marie ❤'s Reading.
618 reviews31 followers
June 25, 2020
4.5 "really liked it" stars

Okay, this one got a little weird in some places. I have to lead with that. But then again, it is a fantasy novel where there is little in common with the real world. I suppose that is to be expected.

The amount of planning it must have taken for the author to write a series this grand in scale makes my head hurt. There are so many characters; so many variations of what she calls Others, each with their own powers and backstories. The worlds she describes, both current as well as the potential future world of Catherine's (and Finn's) nightmares, is described in such vivid detail that I can picture them. It made for an incredibly compelling read. I couldn't put this book down.

Witches? Shape-shifters? Vampires? Nefarious spirits? Seers? Magic? DRAGONS? Something else, worse than all of those? Yep. This book/series has all of that.

This series... this series is just so damn good. I don't generally read fantasy romance- I am reading this only because I really enjoy this author- but this series is keeping me hooked. At this point, with how much I read, that is quite a feat.

I love Catherine's reluctance to give in to what she is obviously feeling for Finn, and Finn's inability to recognize (or name) what he feels for Catherine. As a result, she doesn't know that he wants her to be more than just a toy. Because he doesn't know how to tell her. It makes for some delicious conflict as he goes about his treatment of Catherine in completely the wrong way.

The potential drama (don't worry-no triangles) of the others that were drawn to Catherine upped the excitement ante. I was incredibly curious about her dark admirer-from-afar. I wondered if Catherine would fall prey to that admiration in the face of Finn's repeated offensive behavior toward her. Guess you'll have to read to find out!

Again, this is not my typical genre, but I am finding it wildly enjoyable. I can't wait for the next book to come out- hopefully soon!

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Profile Image for ♠️♥️Amy♦️♣️.
218 reviews
June 13, 2018
OMG, OMG, OMG!!!! It's not the end?!

I know that Nenia made a play list for this book but I swear this song should be included.
Maroon 5 - Animals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpgTC...

OK, alright, I think I am over the fact that this wasn't the last book, and that I am going to have to wait AGAIN, but only because .
Honestly guys, what can I say, another wonderful, amazing book from Nenia that I will never forget.
Bring on book #5!

Please not so long between books Nenia, you hurt us keeping them away so long. ;)
Profile Image for Suzana Thompson.
Author 100 books102 followers
November 9, 2018
What a rush that ending was! This went in an entirely different direction than I expected, and I love it! The story just got expanded in an epic way.

I haven't been in the mood for paranormal stories lately, but I was excited to continue this excellent series. It is elegantly written and more emotionally complex than the typical paranormal romance, and the typical love/hate romance as well. Even four books in, there are still lingering resentments. That's exactly how it would be, because it takes time to change your mind about someone you have hated. It requires proof that the person has changed. Lust doesn't instantly turn into love. All that antagonism makes for some really sexy times though, which is one of the main reasons love/hate is my favorite. The surprise was how sexy the scene between the other couple in this book was, since they get along fine and like each other.

The dynamics between all the characters were interesting, and each one had their individual struggles with each other and with their own problems, as well as with their enemies. I've always loved the coming together of a motley crew to defeat a common enemy. It's fun when clashing personalities are forced to work together.

I'm really looking forward to reading the next book, and I hope that it won't be a long wait.
1 review
September 10, 2019
I read until the 4th book just for the sake of understanding what kind of relationship they were ending up having. It ends in a cliff hanger, again, who would say, and it is so boring and the action so slow-paced( generaly speaking about the 4 books) and the character development is quite poor and very expected, and their relationship does not even seem real like they don't actually seem to arbour emotion for each other.

It was an interesting plot with a creative take on mythical creatures and the supernatural but not very well structured in the end.
18 reviews
December 31, 2019
Good story, needs an Editor

This story is fantastic as with the other works of the author. She just really needs an editor for proofing and making scenes come to life properly. Wonderful mind of Ms. Campbell, just needs some polishing so she can really shine.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews

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