Shadow Game

GhostWalker #1

by Christine Feehan

#1  New York Times  bestselling author Christine Feehan plunges readers into the darkest recesses of the mind as a man and a woman discover the terrifying power—and the forbidden passion—that could destroy them both in the first novel in the GhostWalker series.
 
The brainchild of renowned scientist Peter Whitney and his brilliant daughter, Lily, the GhostWalker experiment was created to enhance the psychic abilities of an elite squadron, transforming their natural telekenetic powers into a unique military weapon. But something has gone wrong...
 
In the isolated underground, the men have been dying, victims of bizarre accidents. Captain Ryland Miller knows he is next. When Dr. Whitney himself is murdered, Ryland has only one person left to the beautiful Lily. Possessed of an uncanny sixth sense herself, Lily shares Ryland’s every new fear, every betrayal, every growing suspicion, and every passionate beat of the heart. 
 
Together, they will be drawn deeper into the labyrinth of her father’s past...and closer to a secret that someone would kill to keep hidden.

Genres: Paranormal, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy, Romantic Suspense, Urban Fantasy, Military Fiction

331 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 26, 2003

About the author

Christine Feehan is a #1 New York Times bestselling author multiple times over with her portfolio including over 100 published novels, including five series; Dark Series, GhostWalker Series, Leopard Series, Drake Sisters Series, the Sisters of the Heart Series, Shadow Riders, Torpedo Ink and her Romantic Suspense novels. All of her series have hit the #1 spot on the New York Times bestselling list as well. Her debut novel Dark Prince received 3 of the 9 Paranormal Excellence Awards in Romantic Literature (PEARL) in 1999. Since then she has been published by various publishing houses including Leisure Books, Pocket Books, and currently is writing for Berkley/Jove. She also has earned 7 more PEARL awards since Dark Prince.
Her series include:
The Dark Series - https://www.christinefeehan.com/darkb...
The GhostWalker series- https://www.christinefeehan.com/ghost...
The Leopard Series - https://www.christinefeehan.com/leopa...
The Shadow Series- https://www.christinefeehan.com/shado...
Torpedo Ink series- https://www.christinefeehan.com/torpe...




IN HER WORDS:
I've been a writer all of my life -- it is who I am. I write for myself and always have. The ability to create pictures and emotions with words is such a miracle to me. I read everything; I mean everything! All kinds of books, even encyclopedias. I am fascinated by the written word and I love storytellers. It is a great privilege to be counted one myself. (www.christinefeehan.com)

Reviews

[Jessica's Totally Over The Top Book Obsession · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Melting the Ice Princess Stars

*Spoilers*




"Am I tempting you, Lily? You always look so cool. I always have a mad desire to melt the ice princess."


Wow I love Christine Feehan. I read all of her Dark series and loved them . I put off starting this series because I was afraid it wouldn't hold up to her Dark series. I should have known better than to doubt Christine's mad skills. This book was so dayum good!

"I don't care if they find us locked together. Do you know what it feels like to have you so deep inside me?"

What this book is about


"Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are, Ryland?"

Captain Ryland Miller and his men are the best of the best. They all signed up to let Dr. Peter Whitney do experiments on them in the hopes of turning them into an elite military group with psychic abilities. All is going well; They are growing stronger in their psychic abilities and training. But then some of the men start having seizures, others bleeding on the brain, and some dying. Now they are in cages locked away from each other and being treated like lab rats. Ryland doesn't know who he can trust or what to do all he knows is he has to save his men before anymore die! Dr. Peter Whitney brings his daughter Lily in to help with the experiments and to figure out why they are starting to fail. The second Ryland sets eyes on Lily he knows she is his forever! When Lily's father is murdered leaving Lily a message to save the men and right his wrongs, Lily and Ryland will have to work together with the team to find out who is killing off the men and trying to sabotage the project. Will Ryland be able to keep his men , his woman and himself safe? Will he be able to get Lily to stop over thinking their relationship and trust her heart when it comes to him?

"It isn't a game to me, Lily. I saw you. I knew you were meant to be mine the moment I laid eyes on you. It doesn't matter that we're in the middle of all this bullshit. You're forever. You're real."

Ryland:



"Yes, you can, Lily," he said softly, lifting his head, sucking the taste of her from his fingers, "you're going to take all of me deep inside you where I belong. I want you to know what no other man will ever do for you. I'm going to know you so intimately you're never going to think of leaving me."

Ryland is everything you want in a hero. He is sexy, kick ass, protective, bossy, fun, and sweet all rolled up in a yummy hard body! He is so sweet to Lily making her laugh every time she was sad. I love Ryland, he is so charming. Loyal to his men, strong for Lily and supportive. He alone made this book a 5 star book for me. He was just freakin Awesome.

"Lily, can't you see there's more than just something physical between us? I ache for you, I won't deny it, but I feel sad when you're sad. I want more than anything to make you happy, to know you're safe. I think about you every minute of the day. You refuse to see what's between us. I look at you and see clouds in your eyes when you're looking back. Does it matter so much to you the why of it?"


"Your name is Lily Whitney. You are the woman I want at my side night and day. I want you to be the mother of my children someday. I want you for my lover. I want you for the person I turn to when the world gets to be too much."


"You're magic, Lily, sheer magic. And you're mine, Lily, my everything. I'm drawn to you because you're Lily Whitney with more courage in your little finger than most people have in their entire body. You have a brain, a sense of humor, a smile that knocks me over, and every single time I'm near you, I want to tear your clothes off. And damn it, I'm not going to lose you."

Lily:



"Go away." Her voice groaned the order. "I can't possibly move. Not ever again. Can someone die from making love too many times?" His teeth nibbled on the nape of her neck. "I don't know, but I'm willing to try if you are." It was sheer joy to wake up with Lily in his arms. "I want this for the rest of my life."

Lily for me is great one minute and the next I would want to shake her and I am not the only one since Ryland does shake her a few times in the book! Lily is so very smart she would try to use logic to push Ryland away and that drove me crazy. It was like she had two sides. The smart Ice princess, and the funny, kick ass passionate lover. I love that she is very brave and that she doesn't let any man walk on her. When she figures out that she is in love with Ryland and stops fighting her feelings Then I loved the hell out of her!

"You're making a total ass out of yourself," she pointed out, "but fortunately for you, I'm in a forgiving mood. We elitists learn that at an early age when they put that silver spoon in our mouths."


"Really?" She looked down her nose at him, princess to peasant. "Men obey your orders because of your rank. Women think things out and decide all by their little lonesome what to do." She patted his head, her fingers lingering for just a moment on a spiral curl. "Don't worry, now that I know about your little ego problem, I'll do my best to look all gushy when you pound your chest."


"I do love him and I want to spend the rest of my life with him. This is your home. It will always be your home. You're my mother and no daughter could love you more than I love you. If you truly don't want Ryland and these men here, we will leave. All of us. I'll go with them."




"Just ask him. He thinks he's responsible for the entire world." The flat black eyes swung to taunt Ryland. "And you're making a damn fool out of yourself looking at her all goofy that way. You're making the male gender look bad."

Ryland and Lily have some serious heat! They burnt up my kindle! I love how when Ryland touches Lily she goes from Ice princess to wild woman in no time flat! I love the other team members they are all so funny and loyal. Standing by each other and pickin on each other like brothers. Shadow Games has a great plot, with lots of lovable characters. The world was built up well. Not only was this book smokin' hot , but it was funny. I love it when a book can make me laugh and this book made me laugh and smile a lot. Great read I can't wait to start the next book. Below I leave my favorite moment from this book:

"I don't think you had sleeping in mind," Kaden ventured. "I distinctly heard you say Ryland was interested in bondage. Are you planning on putting cuffs on him, because I want to stay around for that." "You were watching my movies," Arly accused. "What movies?" Gator chimed in. "Are you holding out on us? You have some good bondage flicks and you're not sharing?' "You're all obsessed with bondage," Lily felt compelled to point out.

http://jessicasoverthetopbookobsessio...

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread on Audiobook done in July 2020

I don't have much to add. I get something new out of these books every time I read them and I love them so much. While this one is a little more slow paced and has less action than the following books, it has a special place in my heart because it introduced me to these characters that I love so much, and the captivating world of the GhostWalkers.
**************************************************
Reread/Buddy Read With Lacy (Read in May/June 2016)

My sister and I decided to do a buddy read because I have been talking incessantly about this series for years and I wanted my sister to share the joy of the GhostWalkers. I ended up finishing long before Lacy has (she's still reading it.). So here are my thoughts. I will add questions to/from Lacy when she finishes the book.

I had forgotten some facts about the series to my great surprise. And I have to say I love this book even more each time I read it. I appreciate the more subtler nuances of the characters (Lily, Ryland, Team One GWs). Ryland is such an awesome hero. He's alpha and possessive, but also tender and gentle. No overcompensating with him. He loves Lily as is. It's nice to see Kadan before he became Crazy Kadan (who I love dearly), and as always, I loved the friendship/bromance between the GhostWalkers. In short, I think this is still a fantastic start to a fantastic series.

*****Reread May 3-7, 2012****
My Thoughts:

This series remains one of my all-time favorites. I love this concept and the characters. The suspense/action elements are easily as strong as the romance, and it satisfied my multi-faceted reading nature with both.

Ryland--

Ryland is one of those sneaky alphas who acts like a beta towards his woman. He was adorable at how in love he was with Lily. But don't be fooled. He is a lethal, fierce man. Very droolworthy. Even though I love some of the GhostWalker men more, it's a relative thing, because I realize on reread how much I love Ryland. I think for a nine (soon to be ten) book run, having only mildly disliked one hero (Mack) and loved all of the others, that's saying something.

Lily--

Lily is a multi-faceted heroine who I love and admire. She is wicked intelligent, with a highly cerebral scientific nature balanced by a fiercely loyal, caring, passionate and loving heart. I liked her in this book a lot, and it's great to see what a lynchpin she is for the GhostWalkers in the later books.


Together, their chemistry is sighworthy and hot! If you like plenty of love scenes, Feehan won't let you down.

Team One--

I adore all these guys. I love their strong bonds and their loyalty to each other. Not to mention their soldier bad*ssedness! They know how to joke around, but they also know how to take down the bad guys. It's great to see each one with their women. Going back and rereading this makes me even more excited for Sam's book. (big smile)

Final Thoughts--

I never find Christine Feehan a quick read, but I love her books all the same, particularly this GhostWalkers series. I am glad I did a reread and was able to dive deeper and appreciate things I may have missed the first time around, or just to immerse myself in this book world I love so much.
Mind Game is next and I am so looking forward to it! Glad to get GhostWalker fix. I an a stone cold addict for this series.

Check out my GhostWalkers pinboard!




Original Review


I gave this book five stars because I enjoyed it so much. I have heard that it is not the best of the series. I am happy to say that if this is not the best, then it will be a pleasure to read the rest of the books. Right from the start, I knew I would like Ryland, the hero. He came off as a principled, caring person, although with a dangerous edge (which I like in a hero). I liked his immediate attraction to Lily, and how he saw the beauty in her although she never thought she was beautiful. Lily is a good heroine with some qualities that make her stand out from other cookie-cutter heroines. I like that she has the tendency to be a nerd/brainiac type and is very cerebral. She can get sucked into her research and be cranky at times. It's refreshing to read about heroines who aren't goody-goody all the time, although they are good people all the same. It is clear that despite being a very scientific person, she also cares about people and about doing the right thing. I definitely saw the chemistry between Lily and Ryland and hoped that they would get together. I loved that they had a psychic bond that helped each other, when either was feeling pain or anguish. By the time the love scenes came, there was already a deep emotional connection that made the love scenes that much better.

I also liked the premise of the story. It's cool to read a paranormal with humans who happen to have enhanced mental powers. I loved how the Ghost Walkers could tell someone to look away and not see them, and persuade them to do things, yet they never used these powers in a cruel way. I thought the science was plausible, although clearly Feehan made an effort not to bog the reader down with it. The romance and the relationships were the strong focus, yet set in a world that is very exciting and interesting.

I also liked Ryland and Lily's relationships with the other Ghost Walker men and also with Lily's family of employees that have been with her since she was a small girl. I would say that Feehan has a skill at writing about relationships and the intricacies of those interrelations with people. She shows the turmoil that Lily had about her father and her discovering that her father did do some less than ethical experimentation on her and other young girls in his quest to develop psychic powers in human subjects. All the characters in this book were interesting, and I had quite a few good laughs as they joked with each other.

The action scenes were exciting and well-written, showing that this was another area that Feehan is good at. I love reading about tough people who can kick butt, and this book has this in spades. Also I liked seeing the Ghost Walkers and Lily use their powers when they got into fights and went on missions. It reminded me of the X-Men movies, comics, and tv show.

I can heartily say that this book was enjoyable and I am adding it to my keeper shelf. I am eager to read all the books in the series.

[fleegan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was total pulp. I just needed something easy to read at the moment. I would not ever recommend this book to anyone who can read. The plot was about a military psi-ops group gone wrong and sex. Mostly sex. Psychic Dream Sex, Sex Sex, and Oral Sex. Also, Sex.
I blushed.
I thought to myself, "Who is this lady author with all the sex in her head anyway?" so i flipped to the back to see if she was brave enough to put a picture of herself on her Excuse To Write About Incredible Sex That Can Not Happen Ever or "book" as she probably calls it. And yes, there's a picture. And oh my goodness, she looks like a sunday school teacher or something wholesome like that. because, you know, obviously.
It's always the quiet ones.

[Dina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't expect to love this book because most readers think this is one of the weakest books in the series, but I guess I'm not "most readers", LOL. I loved it!

Ryland was the perfect hero: protective but not overbearing, and not shy or afraid of his feelings for Lily. Once he knew she was the woman for him, there was no turning back. Lily wasn't so "perfect" - either physically or emotionally - but that only made her more real to me. Her fascination, as a scientist, with her father's work, despite some of the horrors behind his actions, was understandable and fit her character. Speaking for myself, I wouldn't find it hard to react like her because, in concept, his father's project was fascinating.

And that's the main reason I loved this book: the plot. It's PNR but it's so close to reality that I can see it happening. I found myself paying close attention to all the scientific "mumbo jumbo" uttered by Lily, even though a couple of times I couldn't understand what she said. I guess I'm some kind of science geek to love that stuff... ;) Anyway, all the talking and researching gave the book a slow pace at times - especially in the beginning, when Ryland and his team were still locked up in the lab - but, in the end, I thought that was important to "set the stage", so to speak.

Final verdict: It looks like I'm hooked to another series! :)

[Ꮗ€♫◗☿ ❤️ ilikebooksbest.com ❤️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Psychic Super Soldiers!



The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💚🖤💙❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏🌎
Character development: 🤓🥹😮😳
Narrator: 🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Solo Narration

The Hero: Captain Ryland Miller - he was in the special forces, he and his men volunteered for a special project that centered around research and developing psychic abilities in a group of elite soldiers. They were called ghost walkers because they can get in and out of situations without making a sound. They used telepathy to talk to each other on missions. However, something went wrong and their psychic abilities have become too strong and has caused severe headaches and killed two of his team.

The heroine: Lily Whitney - daughter of billionaire doctor Peter Whitney, Lily is also a doctor in her own right. Lily has her own psychic abilities and has since she was very young, so has learned how to handle them and dampen them by blocking out all the voices and white noise when she is around other people.

The Story: Doctor Peter Whitney and Colonel Higgens have been in charge of the program to create psychic super soldiers. When things with the program start to get out of hand and two of the soldiers die, they separate the rest of the group and lock them up because they became too powerful and dangerous. Peter brings Lily in on the research where she meets Ryland and there is an immediate connection between the two of them.

The book is told in dual points of view via solo narration by Tom Stechschulte. He isn’t the best narrator, but isn’t the worst either. His voice is nice and deep which I like, but he sounds a bit old for the special forces soldiers. Also he wasn’t that great at doing different voices for the different men. I liked the story though, and he wasn’t bad so there is that.

The story centers around the death of Lily’s father and the secrets he kept about the project and about Lily herself. There was plenty of action, since the soldiers escape from where they were being held and there was a lot of mystery about who killed her father and what exactly they were doing to the soldiers. The romance was good, but the story took precedence over over the romance. There were some steamy scenes, of course and there was plenty of chemistry between the two main characters.

Blog|Goodreads|Facebook|Instagram|Twitter|BookBub

[Shawna · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars – Paranormal Romance/Romantic Suspense

This is an exciting, promising start to what appears to be a thrilling series about a covert experimental government program designed to enhance the paranormal abilities and various psychic powers of a group of elite soldiers called the “GhostWalkers”. It’s a cool premise, and I liked the combination of paranormal elements and romantic suspense. Captain Ryland Miller is a yummy alpha hero who falls hard and fast for fellow telepath, Dr. Lily Whitney, as they race to expose the dangerous conspiracy that’s threatening the lives of Ryland’s men.

The romance between tough, sexy, protective alpha Ryland and spunky, independent virgin Lily is blistering hot. My only complaint is that the story dragged a bit for me in places. I think it’s partly due to the usual first book of a series world-building and also because of Feehan’s exceedingly detailed, overly descriptive, and extra wordy style, which I liked for the sex scenes (steamy!) but it tended to slow down the flow and action at times.

Overall, I enjoyed Shadow Game, particularly the intriguing, unique premise, interesting characters, and strong romantic element, and it’s definitely sparked my interest in reading more books in the series. 4 stars!

[Lover of Romance · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have very few complaint about Christine Feehan, and I have fallen in love with the 'Ghostwalker Series', this is the second time that I have read Shadow Game and it was good to read this one again, and I plan on reading the rest of the series. This is the first book in the Ghostwalker Series, with Cpt. Ryland Miller and Lily Whitney has the main characters. Lily has grown up with mental abilities and is a anchor and is able to help others that have issues controlling their mental powers. Her father Peter Whitney brings her on to his latest project. Peter Whitney brought in a group of men that were in the Special Op's division of the military, the best of the best literally. Peter manipulated their minds so that they had mental abilities, and put them in cages in a secured location. The moment that Ryland and Lily meet, the ground shifts and there is a instant connection between them. Ryland is amazed, because the moment Lily enters the room, all the pain in his head disappears, and he is able to concentrate clearly and efficiently. Ryland and Lily have a strong connected to each other, and are able to communicate mentally, and Ryland is desperate to get his men out of their prison and be free once more. Ryland is losing one of his men slowly one at a time, and knows that he and his men must escape as soon as possible, or they will all be dead. After Peter Whitney is killed, Lily although grief stricken, finds some truths about her father and her childhood that haunts her. However, despite all that she is suffering, she manages to help Ryland and his team escape, and transfer them to her house. One of his men Jeff, is injured, and she slowly helps him recover. Together as Ryland and Lily work toward the mysterious of Lily's past, the passion and the connection them becomes stronger and deeper than ever.
This is a exciting adventure with twists and turns of intrigue and sizziling passions and intense suspense that keep you on the edge of your seat. Definitely a page turner, and the characters both main and minor characters, thoroughly charm its readers. I found myself being drawn to both Ryland and Lily, who are both strong characters and have powerful abilities, and are able to work together to discover the mysteries of Peter Whitney. Although Ryland hates the man, he fells what Lily feels and is able to help her in her grieving for her father whom she loved. Lily however discovers a powerful secret about her childhood. Lily and other young girls had natural mental abilities, which Peter Whitney forced them to use and hurt themselves in the process. It wasn't until Lily hurt her leg in a accident, that Peter Whitney finally faced himself and he found the other girl's homes and raised Lily as his own. This is a deep and emotional story that will tear your heart asunder but will endear you to the story and its captivating characters. This is definitely a read you don't want to miss out on!

[Nichole (DirrtyH) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh. I feel like I just lost a chunk of my life I can't get back...

Quite simply, this book was DULL. With a capital everything.
I read this book concurrently with Kresley Cole's Kiss of a Demon King, and maybe comparing the two isn't fair since they're pretty different in tone and style, but I can't help comparing two books I'm reading when one absolutely grabs me by the balls and won't let go, and the other has me praying for the end. Ya know?

Where Cole is writing romances which combine a rock 'em sock 'em adventure, unforeseen plot twists and a truly unconventional romance, Feehan managed to pair a stale and cliche conspiracy story with a "love at first sight for no reason" romance. Ick.

So basically, it was just boring and predictable, but I do have some more specific complaints:

1. The dialogue was really awkward and sometimes just plain weird. Characters that had supposedly known each other for years would suddenly stop mid-conversation to give the other a run-down of their own mutual history. I know this is done for the readers sake, but it was done so clumsily. People do not talk like that! I do not explain to my friends how long I've known them, how we met or what their role is in my life when we meet up.
Characters would also often say things that just didn't make sense with what they were talking about. They would start off talking about one thing, then say something completely different as though it were all one coherent thought. Several times I found myself saying "Huh? What does that have to do with anything?" The dialogue in this book did not sound the way anyone talks and it drove me nuts.

2. The conspiracy itself didn't really make much sense. I don't want to say too much about why for those of you who may still decide to read the book, but the motivations of the bad guys were never really clear. Oh, they explained it just fine, I just didn't think it made sense.

3. The ending was WAAAAAY too easy and convenient. You just happened to find a recording of an extremely explicit and all-inclusive confession? PLEASE.

4. I got really tired of reading about Lily's generous breasts.

5. Did I mention the love at first sight thing? I really hate that.

But I finished, and now I can move on and read something that I will hopefully actually enjoy, so there's a silver lining...

(P.S. - I shelved this as paranormal romance because there are paranormal elements, what with the telepathy and telekinesis and what-not, but it really read more like romantic suspense which may have been part of what bored me. At least the heroine wasn't a divorced single mom in Kansas.)

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up to 4 stars. Pretty good but the insta lust and insta love was a bit much. Lots of ‘raw hunger’ and other phrases of this ilk repeated on many occasions...story itself was an interesting premise.

[KatLynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

5+++
Ok, so WOW… This is my first book by this author and I LOVED IT! This was an amazing, sensual, well-written, suspense filled, hot, hot, sizzling story where I was hooked from the first and just did not want to put this one down. As there are many reviews already written, I will forgo the synopsis and just give my impression. This story flowed, captured and captivated me. I am trying to think of anything I didn’t like and I can’t. I loved it all!

Too often, when I choose a Romantic Suspense novel, I find there is more suspense than romance. In Shadow Game this mix is perfect. Ryland, oh my, who wouldn’t love him as well as Lily. They,along with the other men of this Special Group, are full of courage, integrity, and loyalty. And I loved that Ryland and Lily had this hot, drowning stark need for each other. And there is no doubt from the first that these two are soul mates.

For me, this book had all the elements of a great paranormal, romantic suspense story including laughter. I give this one 5 stars. I am hooked, excited and can’t wait to read all in this series.

*********Possible Spoiler Alert****************
My Favorite Quotes:
--“The moment he saw her face, the moment she entered the room, his soul seemed to reach for hers. To recognize hers.”
--“Lily looked up at Ryland, drowning in the stark need in his eyes. No one had told her it would be like this, a wild craving that crawled over her skin, heated her blood, and created a hunger so deep, so elemental she could hardly bear being separated from him.”
--“You are the woman I want at my side night and day. I want you to be the mother of my children someday. I want you for my lover. I want you for the person I turn to when the world gets to be too much.”
--“Lily, I want this night for you. I want you to feel how much I love you. When I’m touching you and kissing you, when I make love to you, I want you to always know it isn’t just about sex. There’s so much more between us.”

[Treece · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4 1/2 stars


Looking for a dark, urban paranormal thriller with a sexy alpha H and a delightful, smart h? Then Shadow Dance is the novel for you. There’s tender romance, humor, nasty bad guys, and a believable plot with loads of military intel and sci-fi intricacies that artfully explain telepathic enhancement.

Ryland Miller is a hot, ruthless alpha male who knows how to love and care for a complicated, damaged woman like Dr. Lily Whitney. If I thought that sometimes Lily was TSTL, then I knew I could count on Ryland to handle things without breaking her spirit or crushing her independence.

The supporting characters (Ryland’s men, Rosa, Arley, John, General Rainier etc.) were brought to life by the narrator, Tom Stechsculte, so that I could easily distinguish everyone. At first, I had to get used to the narrator’s voice and his pronunciation. His depiction of Ryland was so amazing and intense I knew he captured this character so vividly. The interpretation of Lilly’s voice and character was impressive considering the actor is male. There were times when I felt I was listening to a lecture, and his broad accent trickled into words like “body” which was distracting.

There were a few issues that didn't feel were resolved. Lily's father, Dr. Peter Whitney, was a man who committed some atrocious acts and crimes. When he did change, I don't believe that he redeemed himself in any way at all. The consequences of his actions where all left on Lily who sometimes comes off as a martyr. Lily is so brilliant, she also shifts into cold, calculating scientist mode. Ryland drags her back into humanity. I found myself feeling at times that he invested more into their relationship than she could. Outside her superior intelligence, and willingness to help Ryland and his men, I didn't see Lily as being extraordinary until she was confronted with situations where she saved herself and didn't need Ryland there. That is when she truly surpassed herself.

Christine Feehan did an amazing and excellent job writing this novel. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys paranormal romance.

[Ronyell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now, I have read many paranormal romance novels by different authors, but I must admit that “Shadow Game,” the first book in Christine Feehan’s “Ghost Walker” series was the first time I had ever read any of Christine Feehan’s works! This is really surprising to me because even though I saw like a million books written by Christine Feehan at my local library, I never once thought about picking up any of her books and now I seriously wished I had!

Peter Whitney was a renowned scientist who was able to create an experiment that would help enhance the psychic abilities of an elite squadron in the military and his equally brilliant daughter Lily Whitney would help out on his accomplishments. One tragic day however, Peter Whitney starts to notice that something was going wrong with his experiments as the subjects in question, a group of soldiers who volunteered for this experiment which among them included Captain Ryland Miller, were suddenly dying of mysterious circumstances. When Peter Whitney discovered about who was sabotaging his experiments, he ends up being murdered before he was able to tell his daughter Lily everything about his experiments. Luckily, since Lily is a telepath herself, her father was able to communicate with her that she needs to check out the videos of his experiments in order to right the wrongs he had done in the past before he died. Now, Lily is determined to discover the dark secret of her father’s experiments while trying to figure out who murdered her father. But in order to learn more about his experiments, Lily has to try to release the soldiers who were being experimented on and there she meets the strong willed Captain Ryland Miller, who she immediately begins to fall in love with. Lily and Ryland will soon discover that there is more between them then just a telepathic attraction with each other as they discover the dark secrets of Peter Whitney’s experiments together.

Wow! I seriously cannot believe that I had not read any of Christine Feehan’s books before this one! Christine Feehan had done a brilliant job at writing this book as the relationships between each character felt so real and raw and I really enjoyed the bantering between the characters, especially between Ryland and Lily! I also loved the way that Christine Feehan managed to mix romance and action into this book as I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat trying to see if Lily and Ryland discovered who murdered Peter Whitney while developing feelings for each other. What I loved the most about this book were the characters themselves as they were interesting and fun to read about, especially Lily and Ryland! Lily Whitney was such a fantastic heroine as she is smart and courageous and I loved the fact that she was willing to put her life on the line in order to right the wrongs of her father and protect Ryland and his men. I also loved the fact that she has so much scientific knowledge about the experiments that her father was engaged in as it showed how she is willing to use her intelligence to help the people she cared about. Oh man, Captain Ryland Miller, you wicked devil, you! I have to seriously say that Captain Ryland Miller is one of my most favorite heroes ever as I loved the way that he cares about Lily and is willing to do everything in his power to protect her from harm. I also loved his bantering with Lily as I just cannot help but giggle and feel tingly inside whenever he is being so sexy towards her. One of my favorite quotes from this book is this:

“Your name is Lily Whitney. You are the woman I want at my side night and day. I want you to be the mother of my children someday. I want you for my lover. I want you for the person I turn to when the world gets to be too much.”



For anyone who does not like language in a book, this book does have some language, although it is not as bad as some romance novels. Also, there are many scenes in this book where the characters are in danger of being murdered and that might be too intense for some people to handle.

Overall, “Shadow Game” is a truly fantastic read for fellow paranormal romance fans and I am definitely going to check out the rest of the “Ghost Walker” series!

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

[Nisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I finished, I think I would have rated this 3 stars. but I couldn't finish it. And I can't really understand why. I mean, I like sci-fi military types. And the narrator, despite being male (not that I have anything against that, but some men fail at reading female voices) was quite good. My biggest problems were (1) I couldn't really get connected with Ryland or Lily. (2) the action part of the story didn't really intrigue me, and (3) we don't meet the rest of the team until halfway into the book.

So about (1), they didn't have the chemistry or interactions that make for a sizzling romance. Everything was tell (about their feelings), rather than a spark that you could hear from their words. I know it sounds crazy, but they just didn't have it. (2) Since the first half of the book was primarily in their mind or dream world or whatevs, the story was damaged by lack of movement. Ms. Feehan puts lots of effort to create their relationship, that everything else stands still. In fact, we only get minor tidbits of Ryland's interactions and plan with his men. And (3), come on, male interactions are what makes these books so fun. True, we did have Lily interacting with her family, but they aren't getting their own books. How are we supposed to get attached when we don't even get a glimmer of personality from any of them. Maybe we will, in the 2nd half, but I'm bored.

I know I sound harsh, but that's it. I've been giving a lot of chances for this one, and I think I should just face the facts. It's not for me.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

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.

[Pam Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Shadow Game Stars

I liked how different this book is from other “paranormal” books. It was a little slow going at first but that is to be expected when you’re starting book 1 of any series. The author has to start building the world and you need the details to help understand.

Lily and Ryland are perfect for each other, I loved how he pushes her and she doesn’t even know it but she pushes back. The dynamic between them is sweet and hella hot.

Ryland’s team, I really wanted a little more of them. I think they helped balance out a lot of the seriousness of this book. A bunch of hot alpha men who give each other a hard time. That’s just good all around.

Really enjoyed the narrator Tom Stechschulte I think he might have been a first for me. But I really enjoyed his tone, and the emotions he put into his words.

*You don't have to like my review but its 100% my opinion, and I am allowed to have it.*

[Bex (Beckie Bookworm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rereading this for a bit of nostalgia, I devoured this series back in the day and whilst I enjoyed revisiting the ghostwalkers, it also at times did feel a bit cheesy, well at least the romance portion did. I'm still planning on rereading the next book in the series but I think my tastes in romance fiction may have evolved somewhat.

The premise is certainly intriguing and this is book one in a longer series each book featuring a different couple. The ghostwalkers are an enhanced military project that basically has created super soldiers with psychic abilities. Shadow Game is about Captain Ryland Miller and Dr Lily Whitney, daughter of the project lead Dr Peter Whitney.

When Lily is introduced to her father's top-secret government project and meets Ryland Miller she feels an instant connection as does he. Ryland and his men are currently little more than lab rats and this revolutionary project that they all initially signed up for has taken a dangerous turn. It's now imperative that they escape but their trust in the people around them is at an all-time low and with good reason.

Lily finds herself thrown into the deep end when she's brought on board as a consultant to her father's latest project and when he then vanishes she suspects foul play is involved. She is also thrown for a loop when she realises just what her father was involved with and just how far it reaches. She knows she is the ghostwalkers main hope of assistance and is now fully prepared to attempt to put right her father's many wrongs, no matter the danger this presents to herself.

The story itself did at times feel quite slow moving but I was invested enough to keep reading. I preferred the super-soldier storyline over the romance aspect of this which as I mentioned earlier did feel rather cheesy. But this was well written and it's going to come down to how you like your romances served up. 

Overall this was ok, and Lily and Ryland were both extremely likable characters. I'm planning to read further into the series before I decide if I'm going to reread them all. I do remember a few that made more of an impression when I initially read this series and I don't believe this one was one of them. Overall though this is a solid first book and does a good job of explaining the ghostwalkers and their origins.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com

[Jane Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not enough happening. I had to force myself to keep reading.

I liked the overall outline. The characters are trained military guys given drugs to create psychic powers, but at times they have pain from it. The plot sounds ok. Bad guys want to sell this process to other countries and kill anyone in the way.

The problem is filling in the pages. Most of the book is boring conversation and ponderings about feeling bad, sad, angry, and what to do. Lily feels bad because her father was killed. Lily is upset when she learns what her father did in the past. They talk about what to do about the bad guys, but there is no interesting process of discovery. It has some heroine stupidity because twice Lily goes “alone” to the bad guys’ place saying to her buddies “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” But something bad happens to her. Other action scenes could have been shown but were not. For example, we don’t see the guys escape from their cells. We don’t watch the scenes when people are killed. There are a couple of action scenes toward the end that were shown, but they were vague and unsatisfying - for me.

When Lily and Ryland first see each other there is an instant bond. Then their conversations sounded like an old married couple. Of course there are several sex scenes. Those are full of “I want you so bad... You feel so good...” It felt like a cheesy campy old-style romance novel.

I know many readers liked this so there must be some appeal.

The narrator Tom Stechschulte was good. I liked his deep sexy alpha male voice.

DATA:
Narrative mode: 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook length: 13 hrs and 21 mins. Swearing language: I don’t recall any. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: about 7. Setting: current day northern California. Book copyright: 2003. Genre: paranormal romantic suspense.

[Pepito · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. I had really high expectations for this one, maybe that was the problem. It started really good. The set up of the story seemed different and original. But when it came to the romance, it got really lame. I really liked the premise of this story, but it wasn't enough. I felt like a lot of information was missing. (The ages of the characters were never mentioned, for example)

What upset me the most was the bond between Ryland and Lily.It felt forced, not real. They meet and seconds later they can't live one without the other. You never get to see the relationship develop, you just see Ryland telling Lily how much he loves her over and over again.

And Ryland was just not my type of hero. I mean he was so sentimental and kinda girly. All the time he was about to cry and was telling Lily how he felt most of the time. I prefer my heroes tough and strong. I like them being sweet with their partners but not so sentimental. I don't know I just couldn't believe in their romance.

Nevertheless, the story had some really funny moments. And the set up of the back story was really good. I'll try with the next two books to see if it gets any better. But if all the books are like this one I will not keep reading this series.

[BleuBelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 55%.

This was just too boring. Nothing really happens. Too long sentences and conversations. Endless dialogue about medical things, that aren't real (because paranormal) but whatever. I don't care about this, it doesn't make any sense anyway. All the problems were thought on in dialogues. Lengthy and one sided dialogues.
Heroine wants hero, but she's always in her head, telling herself not to react. That these are just pheromones and things, not real feelings. She always pushes him away, making spectacular excuses. And then after the first time they had real sex, she converts to this shy thing that has problems with her body. Guess what? It's not perfect. But who's is? And she always thinks about all the perfect women the hero could have been with. She didn't even have any reasons to think such things. Total turn off.
The Hero went caveman on her. He loves her, wants to protect her, never leave her. He talks about kids and such. Insta-love. He's relentless. I liked him way better than her.

But I just couldn't read anymore. I was at 55% and not one step further ahead than at 30%.

[Abril Sol · Rating 1 out of 5]

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....

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, so I got on the band wagon a little late, but I guess it's better late than never.

What a great way to start this series of Ghostwalkers. Great world build up and sets the story just perfectly. Added with that Special Ops men with abilities, to blow your mind.

The hero Ryland is an alpha in all sense of the word, protective, controlling and so damn fine it's hard not to love him. The heroine Lily, is strong willed with a vulnerable side that fits right in the hands of Ryland, who would do anything to protect her. The chemistry that these two set are just great.

Ryland
[image error]

The secondary characters have me so intrigued, that I need to read the rest of the series. Loved it!

[Mamacita aka MawMaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just found my next totally binge-able Rom Suspense series.

[CC · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to add in a little review.. after having read all the books that are currently out for this series I just wanted to let people know that this book is the WORST out of the series.

So if you're starting this series, and this book doesn't seem that interesting to you, continue on and at least try the second book. Because I LOVE this series.. and yet Shadow Game was not that interesting to me. So keep going and see if you like the next one before you give up on the whole series.

[Edwina " I LoveBooks" "Deb" · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my 3rd time reading Shadow Game and I still love it. This book centers on Capt. Ryland Miller GhostWalker who is a psychic with a talent for dream walking and his psychic mate Lily Whitney daughter of the creator of the GhostWalkers. This story is sexy, hot and very faced paced a real page turner. Its the first book in a wonderful series of hot sexy psychic soldiers, that many authors have tried to copy but have not succeeded. Christine Feehan is the Queen of Paranormal Romance

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Darien · Rating 3 out of 5]

^^I LIKED IT!^^

So I read this book as apart of one of the Romance Readers challenges featuring author Christine Feehan. This was my first book by this author and I am unsure if it will be my last. Where I did like the book; there was many things missing from it, like the lack of a hot sex scene, they were all pretty lukewarm to me. Maybe I am just greedy, but I like a good sex scene damn it. So this is the life of the GhostWalkers, humans who walk this earth undetected, unstoppable and dangerous. Equipped with wicked psychic abilities that can deter the enemy and make them invisible to the eyes.

The book begins with Captain Ryland Miller locked in a cage and extremely pissed off, seems he volunteered to be a apart of an experiment to enhance is rather remarkable attributes. Under the watchful eyes of doctors and scientist, they will unlock psychic abilities that was laying dormant in his brain. Well things were going well until they started to treat Ryland and his men like animals, because what do you do when the thing you created becomes too powerful, you try to destroy it. Well Ryland is having none of that, he is gonna get out of his cage and rescue his men. The down side, since the opening of their minds they are more receptive to emotions and pain and that is making them hard to live. Until Lily Whitney walks through the medical doors, and bam Ryland has found his true love and maybe a way to finally live.

Lily Whitney lives for the next experiment until she does a favour for her dad. That favour becomes the deciding point in Lily’s life. She is about to be thrown into a game of cat and mouse that she never expected. Plus she has this unbreakable psychic connection with the very sexy Ryland Miller, from their first meeting he has become apart of her. Lily is thinking that this connection might be unnatural or some how modified by her fathers experimenting ways. What’s real is that she wants him and denying the attraction is very hard to do, but with all this lovey dovey stuff there is a real threat. Someone wants them dead and its only a matter of time before they strike.

So now it’s a race to figure out how to help Ryland and his men live an ordinary life, make them able to control the abilities. I really enjoyed the flow of the book, a little long and drawn out in some places but it had a bit of something, that always intrigued me. Ryland I thought was sexy but…. He just didn’t get all my juices flowing and Lily was a bit annoying with moments of likeability. Together they meshed well, but didn’t really bring the house down. There was a whole lot of if I dont have you I cant breathe, and my life was a dark night until you brought the sun and daylight in to it. You know the mush fest that goes with falling in love. Was semi-sweet at times.

I did enjoy the other characters and it was a great way to set-up for future books, the easiness with which they got along was a definite high point in the book and it had me laughing. A bit drawn out, but it’s the first book in a series and they tend to go on forever. Will I continue the series, still very undecided at this point. If you are person that enjoy a little mystery and a well plotted story line then this book might be your cup of tea.

Also no swearing, and dirty words “huh”, very rare in books. I am unsure if I liked that or completely hate it.

[Tilly Slaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Game series is a neat and new adventure that really grasps ahold of you and sucks you in.

Captain Ryland is a strong and dominant leader of a unique “GhostWalker” group that has psychic powers. Volunteering to undergo tests and possible enhancement by Doctor Peter Whitney, they received more than they bargained for.

There is no other team like us in the world, we can enter an enemy camp completely undetected. We function in total silence. We’re GhostWalkers, Lily, and Higgens wants to succeed at any cost.

Doctor Lily Whitney, Peter’s daughter, is incredibly intelligent as well as extremely sensitive to those around her. Always avoiding touch and closeness of others, she finds herself drowning in nightmares. Alone.

Peter Whitney introduced her to Ryland as a special “lab rat” and observed the reactions that Lily and Captain Ryland had.

He wasn’t particularly tall, but he had wide shoulders and a muscular build. His hair was think and so black it was nearly blue. His eyes were ice cold, the color of steel. Merciless. Slashing. Eyes so cold they burned. His jaw was strong, his sculpted mouth tempting. He moved with fluid grace, power and coordination, a hint of danger. He was pure magic to her, he had been from the moment she had laid her eyes on him.

Doctor Peter Whitney’s sudden death leaves Lily unsure of whom to trust. Surrounded by loved ones, she suffers through nights, unable to sleep, or falling into Ryland’s arms, erotic dreams filling her with need.

Christine Feehan has created a new world of sexy men and women that fight the consuming passion whether or not they choose to acknowledge it is a different story. Conspiracy, and unknown enemies await for Lily or Ryland’s team to make one little mistake that will bring their plans shattering until they all die.

I recommend this book to anyone in need of a change in paranormal romance. There is moderate but tactful sexual content and unusual violence. I do not recommend this book to children or immature adults. ADULTS ONLY!

If you’re interested in this book, please make sure to read my Book of the Day post for this book .. the first chapter is displayed for your reading pleasure

Until later ..

~Happy reading

[Crista · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Xara Niouraki · Rating 1 out of 5]

One more dropped book for 2017. This hasn't been a good year for me so far. I seem to be choosing books I end up disliking...

Shadow Game could be the one and only book I dropped at 5%. It's that bad. The story seems interesting until you start reading. The writing isn't good enough and the author seems to be all over the place.

An example of a detail I found really annoying is the following. The main character is a marine black ops with psychic abilities (he can read minds). Enter the beautiful young woman, who is like ice but will fuck the main character at some point. She can read minds too of course. So, the logical thing to happen is that the black ops marine, the member of an elite force, who according to the writer looks at you and you pee yourself, thinks that his maleness is strongly attracted by her femaleness. That was the point I wanted to barf. I tried to read some more but then he kept on thinking about how hard he is and how much he wants her and how he wants to protect her femaleness (barf again). They had met for five minutes.....

Also, the author thought that it was logical for the enemies of the main character to stand in his cell and start arguing about him and about their secrets. In front of the deadly human machine who can read your mind and you believe that he wants to kill you. Logical...

To make matters worse, I had to reread paragraphs because when the main character thinks, it's not clear what the woman is able to read from his mind. Sometimes she can read everything, sometimes what he can let her read. Whatever suits the writer best at each point....

I don't think I will read this author ever again. I enjoy a good romance novel but I need a plot and a book which doesn't insult my intelligence.