Shadowglass

The Shadowfae Chronicles #2

by Erica Hayes

Welcome to secret world hidden behind shadowy fairy glamour, where thieving spriggans rob you blind, beautiful banshees mesmerize you with their song, big green trolls kick heads at nightclubs and vampire Mafiosi rule the streets. Here a seductive magic mirror lies hidden deep in a demon’s lair, with a simple warning: don’t stare at the glass…

Ice is a light-fingered fairy who can’t resist a look at the powerful mirror. She and her fairy friends run confidence games, pretending to be fortune tellers and bedazzling customers with their glamour. But Ice longs for more—she wants a real life, a respectable job and something to strive for. The mirror offers her a chance to achieve everything she’s ever dreamed of. But when she pilfers it, she discovers that its power comes with a price: the mirror is a gateway to obsession and madness. . . and it will take every trick in her arsenal just to survive.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Fae, Adult

342 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2010

About the author

Erica Hayes was a law student, an air force officer, an editorial assistant and a musician, before finally landing her dream job: fantasy writer. She writes dark paranormal romance, urban fantasy and romantic science fiction, and her books feature tough, smart heroines and colorful heroes with dark secrets.

She hails from Australia, where she drifts from city to city, leaving a trail of chaos behind her. Currently, she’s terrorizing the wilds of Northern Virginia, USA.

Reviews

[Tez · Rating 3 out of 5]

In debt to Melbourne's paranormal mob, waterfae Ice steals jewels and other shinies, then pawns them for cash. She's also screwed-up when it comes to relationships - she's jealous of her friend Azure, who's secretly in love with their other friend Blaze, who has a thing for Ice, and she's kind of into him, too...All very daytime soap opera until the prime-time bitchiness comes out. Ice acquires a magic mirror of sorts, which communicates with those it meets. Squidgy, as Ice affectionately names it, gives its owners the courage to live out their secret desires, whether that's picking a fight with a bloke on the tram, or shagging the bloke with whom your BFF is in love. This is the more interesting plot.

And then there's Indigo. He's metalfae, which means it's difficult to discuss him without snark. Even his hair is "sharp", and bleeds Ice when she rakes it. The LSD-like descriptions are evocative, and don't cross the line into purple prose as often as one might assume. But when the time comes for Ice and Indigo to shag...the logic-fail really pulled me out of the story. Remember, Indigo is metalfae, but while his wang may be hard, it's still flesh. It's not a Wang of Steel. Indigo is not Iron Wang. It's a human wang, with real feelings.

Urban fantasy does require a reader's suspension of disbelief, but face it: Don't give us a metalfae's wang and tell us it's not an iron rod. Seriously.

But enough wangst about wangs, and onto the heavy stuff. Everyone has their period in this book, even the men. Not in those words, but it's evident in the characters' behaviour. So is the mirror really evil, or simply surfacing the owners' secret desires? It could be the latter, because everyone's a bitch.

On another psychological front, a major character is often possessed by a darker being. It's an interesting concept, but would've been much more powerful had the possessed character instead actually had a real split personality. Often that's the trouble of urban fantasy - the paranormal is used to distance characters from real life, and thus the reader has to dig deeper to get the crux of the matter. It's a valiant effort, but it comes across a bit shallow.

Shadowglass remains shiny, from the hallucinogenic descriptions to its vivid friendship dramas. And though shallow on the surface, there's greater depth behind the colours and sparkles.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even the cover tells of a cheapo B category novel that doesn't require much thinking, but whattehell, another flimsy little nothing for night-shifts.

Ok, so ended up better than what I expected, despite the garish cover. The imagery was excellent and at times it was surprisingly funny and fresh.
The POV character is likable enough, despite the slight Mary-Sue thing going on for her - she views herself as a silly little klutz, oh-so-boring, oh-so-random (is it just me, or is this thing really overused in novels with 1st pers/sing female protagonists?) while everyone else around her is rapt with her beauty and general awesomeness (definitely overused). All the hot guys are falling for her, but (while shagging everything that moves) she only falls for hot guy no.1, who seems to be spurning her first. But that's only because he wants to protect her and doesn't deem himself worthy of her!!!
In the end (could you guess?) she ends up with hot guy no.1 (he gave me fits of yawn, and being a schizophrenic didn't make him any more interesting. Not a bit.)
The sex scenes spun a bit out of control, I mean pages and pages and pages of stuff going on, and it still goes on and still, and he still hadn't stuck it into any of her openings and I catch myself groaning inwards 'God, will this ever end??' A bit of editing wouldn't've hurt.
All the faeries have fascinating, exciting, dangerous lives, are stunning with supermodel/dancer bodies, are oozing color and glitter as they flit around on flimsy, sparkly wings. The humans in contrast, are murky shadows looming awkwardly in the background, with their dull, grey jobs and dull, grey lives, yet for some obscure reason they are supposed to be in a superior position? Based on what, exactly?
Also, vampires. Please, just... leave me alone with vampires already!!

The author abuses the adjectives sticky, wet, sweaty, sweet, dirty, to the point where I wanted to rub my hand that held the kindle on my pants.
All in all it was better than how it sounds (but picking apart mistakes is so much more fun), yet I think Erica Hayes is not gonna be my guilty pleasure.

[Alejandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kane, demon lord, has requested Indigo to steal a mirror. When said mirror is stolen by Ice after spending the night at Kane’s, it alters her reality along with her friends’. The mirror brings everyone’s dark side to the light, and in an attempt to get rid of it and its effects– Ice, Blaze and Azure make a huge mistake that brings even more people to the hunt of said mirror and Ice herself. Both good guys, bad ones and good/bad guys join the quest. Love brings along confusion and jealousy; and all sorts of twist and turns that will keep you glued to its pages until you finish. But who is actually Indigo? And who is Ebony? That is what Ice must find out, and also who she is and who she loves.

Like in Shadowfae, Shadowglass is also filled with darkness and sexiness mashed together, creating this enticing fast paced plot that will keep whoever is reading in a constant state of anxiousness [the good kind at that:] wanting to know what is happening, what is going to happen, and how is everything going to be solved. And at the end Ms. Hayes does not disappoint. The world she created in the first book was magnificent and we get to see even more of it from different perspectives.

In the Shadowglass there is a variety of characters, all well rounded and full of surprises. We have our lovely and going insane fairies: Ice, Blaze, Azure and Indigo. Love triangle, jealousy, confusion, tension and all sorts of emotions are raised between them thanks to the magical mirror. We also see more of Kane, the demon lord who still has no idea of what real emotions and feelings are. This makes him naïve and adorable at the same time; not to mention terrifying when furious. But also, we meet more new character and old ones make an appearance as well. Ice, the water fairy, was our heroine this time. At the beginning I was not sure if I was supposed to like her, but I could definitely relate to her at some level. She is shy, clumsy, funny, and after coming across with afore mentioned mirror something inside her changes—she is not so shy afterward. She has become more daring and is not afraid of what people think of her any longer. Along with Indigo, a love/hatred relation, full of tension and lust is starting to develop…

Once again, Ms. Hayes fills my reality with a nerve-racking and exciting fictional world that Shadowglass is, and kept me reading from beginning to end in just one sitting. I just love the way she writes and how she changes POV’s without confusing the reader at all. The characters are easy to follow and also to love and/or hate. I was really not expecting many of the surprises that came up as I read and made me scream at the book, or clap joyfully or cry. It was seriously a dark, sexy and extremely enjoyable reading that leaves me on my knees begging for book #3 to come out soon [pretty please with a cherry on top? *grin*.:] I really cannot be more pleased that what I am right now, or happier.

[gigi pryce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here is what Amazon.co.uk says about Shadowglass:

Welcome to a secret world hidden behind shadowy fairy glamour, where thieving spriggans rob you blind, beautiful banshees mesmerize you with their song, big green trolls kick heads at nightclubs and vampire Mafiosi rule the streets. Here a seductive magic mirror lies hidden deep in a demon's lair, with a simple warning: don't stare at the glass...Ice is a light-fingered fairy who can't resist a look at the powerful mirror. The mirror offers her a chance to achieve everything she's ever dreamed of. But when she pilfers it, she discovers that its power comes with a price: the mirror is a gateway to obsession and madness...and it will take every trick in her arsenal just to survive.

Oh me oh my I wanted to like this more I really really did. I loved shadowfae and even though this wasn't a continuation of Jade and Raj's story I was okay with that. Take me back to this crazy world where things are topsy turvy and all the rules don't apply I'm cool with that. It just wasn't that good.
It was an adult novel but it read like a YA book at best and it didn't hold my attention. I found Ice and Indigo's romance to be Immature and almost angsty. I found Kane's involvement while extremely minimal really the only highlight. He actually had some good one liners and highlighted the bazzarr structure that is Erica Haye's Fae Underworld. Delilah I just found once again to be annoying. Joey and Mina were also extremely annoying and inconsequential. Overall I won't be going back I don't think at least at this juncture. What I'll probably do is wait a while read a couple of books in between and then visit it again with a fresh perspective. Overall though not that impressed.

[Darcy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a train wreck, or like a really, really bad reality show, one where you are laying on the couch watching and want to change the channel, but the clicker is across the room and you are too lazy to get and get it.

It seemed like all the people were interested in were screwing, anything that walked, didn't matter the gender or who was around or the place they were, stealing anything that wasn't locked down, and throwing back drinks like water and they had just ran a marathon.

If you enjoy a book where people have no morals and are not likable at all, where the sex scenes are vulgar, and frankly some of the grossest wording I have come across, then feel free to check this one out.

[Stacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't get into it. Not as good as the first book in my opinion

[Netta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The beginning is too slow. The middle is weird. The ending is too short. Not really sure if I liked it. It's wildly entertaining but also strange in a lot of ways and I can't tell if it's good or bad. Too many details to really like it or not. It's mostly just strange.

[Lyn Mckenzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this even more than the first book!!! Brilliant story!!!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the different take on angels, demons and fae. At times however the descriptions are hard to visualize. But over all a vividly imaginative book with an awesome adventure.

[Paschalis]

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[La La · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ice is a water fairy who along with her friends, a fire fairy, and wind fairy, steal jewels and money from unsuspecting humans to pay off their debt to the vampire crime boss. Indigo, a metal fairy, whose also a professional thief steals the shadowglass for Kane, the demon lord, from Delilah, the wannabe demon queen. After spending the night with Kane Ice can't help but case his house for something worth taking, which is the shadowglass. The shadowglass is a mirror once looked upon brings out your darker half and has you act out your deepest desire. The mirror affects almost anyone who looks into it. Because Ice doesn't like the way the mirror makes her feel she pawns it hoping to get rid of all the negative feeling it brings. Now everyone is on a quest to get the shadowglass back.

This book didn't grab me the way Shadowfae did. I found the story a little slow and the heroine to be a lot ditzy. I guess some of that was to be expected since she is a fairy and fairy are known for being happy, flighty, creatures. She kept saying she was the level headed one of her group but it seemed like she was the one always doing reckless things, even before she looked into the mirror. She says she will sleep with anyone that gives her the time of day, especially if she is drunk enough, that seem kind of reckless to me. She stole the mirror away from the demon lord who can send her to hell with a thought. That seem kind of reckless, also. I found there was no real chemistry between her and Indigo (the hero) especially since for the first ten chapters of the book they really had no face time. When they finally do get together it seems so insincere since Ice has already slept with two other poeple in a span of a day. It was a little gross that as a water fairy every time Ice was excited her whole body dripped water leaving puddles in her wake. It kept making me think of sweat. This books was also extremely violent, which I didn't mind, but it seem like the heroine always wanted to have sex after someone smacked her around and she gets smacked around a lot. By the end of the book she is all cut up and bruised and her wings are bent and torn. The erotic parts of the story didn't really come across as all that erotic to me. She dislocates her hips to make room for the hero between her thighs. Yeah, that's doesn't sound sexy to me.

The thing that bugged me most about the books was the fact that Hayes went a little prose happy. I love how descriptive she is in her books, but sometimes you can get a little over descriptive. Every sentence seem like she was writing poetry and at times I found myself reading the sentence again just to make sure I understood what she was saying. I had to take a break a few times because I started getting a headache.

What I loved about the book is that we get to meet Kane again and finally see what Jade meant by having sex with Kane was great but after it was over you wondered why you did it. I hope Kane gets his own book. We also meet the most unlikely of villians, Akash, a dangerously curious angel out to destroy Kane and learn what power he holds over the city of Melbourne. I love Hayes sense of humor. In her world everyone is a "bad" guy and but he or she can be a hero too. I plan on reading the next book in the series as Hayes has left us with a delicious ending that make you wonder what's going to happen next.

[Kimberly · Rating 1 out of 5]

For waterfae Ice, just surviving in Melbourne’s paranormal underworld is a lot of work. Ice is a thief and a con artist, but she can barely make ends meet and she’s overdue on protection payment to the local vampire mafia. So when Ice has a one night stand with the demon lord Kane and spies a magic mirror, she steals it. Unfortunately for Ice, the mirror isn’t just a shiny showpiece; it possesses a powerful magic, one that threatens to drive her mad.

Metalfae Indigo is the one who stole the mirror for Kane and now he’s in a bind. He has to steal the mirror – again – return it to its owner, and kill Ice, or face a fate worse than death. Indigo can’t bring himself to destroy the fairy he desires above all others. But with demons at their back and mirror-induced madness at their front, it’s clear that the clock’s ticking for both Indigo and Ice.

Erica Hayes has a dark, gritty, wonderfully imaginative idea in Shadowglass that – like its predecessor in the Shadowfae Chronicles, Shadowfae – falls flat in execution. Reading Shadowglass is like being in an all-night rave…for weeks on end. It’s bright, loud, shallow, and just too much. There’s very little depth to be found in any of the characters, which makes sense for the fairies on some level because of their nature (though it doesn’t explain the one-dimensional nature of the non-fae characters), but it makes it hard to become invested in the story. After finishing the story, the most I could really remember about Ice as a character was that she whined a lot in the beginning about being completely unattractive and no man wanted her so she got the leavings of her beautiful best friend…which I remember mostly because every major male character – except for the hero of the third book – wanted to have sex with her.

What I also struggled with while reading Shadowglass was the fact that everyone seemed to need a shower, detox, and an attitude adjustment. There is so much drama between Ice and her two best friends that I felt like I was back in high school. Part of this can be explained away by the mirror’s powers, but not the majority of it. The romance between Indigo and Ice seems to be almost a token element in the story, especially since Indigo seems to fade into the background for most of the book. There’s a lot of sex in the story, but it’s no spoiler to say that much of it involves Ice and not Indigo. Though there was probably more sex in the first book, unlike in Shadowfae, the sex scenes in Shadowglass felt excessive and started to get on my nerves. Furthermore, the shifting narrative, from first person to third person point of view in Shadowglass added to the somewhat disjointed feeling of the book as a whole.

Shadowglass is erotica meets urban fantasy, but though the bones of a great story are in there, it just didn’t work for me. And after reading the interactions between Mina and Joey, the hero and heroine of Poison Kissed, the next installment of the Shadowfae Chronicles, I think I’ll pass on reading more of the series. That is, unless Ms. Hayes writes a book for the fantastic demon lord Kane. I do think Ms. Hayes has some truly unique ideas and if she ever decides to write a book that is not part of the Shadowfae Chronicles, I’ll definitely give it a try.

Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed.

[Wendy Hines · Rating 3 out of 5]

He has to kill her, his life depends upon it. Her life depends upon his choice. Will love complicate everything?

Ice is a waterfae and a petty thief. She and her friend Blaze steal shiny baubles and sell them for cash to pay the Valenti mob for protection. She's also jealous of her beautiful friend Azure, who thinks herself in love with Blaze. Ice has always had a secret crush on the dark and handsome Indigo, but he won't give her the time of day.

Indigo has noticed Ice, and although she captures his attention, he always shakes himself back into reality. Indigo does not have girlfriends, period. He meets with a demon to deliver a cursed mirror at a party when Ice literally falls into his lap. Clenching his jaw, he bids her to go away.

But the demon Kane notices the young and pretty fae, and expresses his interest to Indigo. Jealous, Indigo tells him to mind his own business before he stalks out, their business concluded. But the Kanes's interest won't be curbed, and Ice soon finds herself deep within the dark demons chambers. Kane warns Ice not to stare into the glass, but she can't help it. She takes the mirror, thinking that it might be the way out of her two-bit life. But, the longer she has the mirror, the more the madness overtakes her.

Indigo is sent after Ice to destroy her and bring the cursed mirror back to it's rightful owner. If he fails, he loses his own life. But the two of them can't ignore the sizzle of passion between them, and as the curse of madness begins to take hold of Ice and Indigo, his determination to save her increases.

SHADOWGLASS, the second installment in the SHADOWFAE CHRONICLES is even better than the first in the series, SHADOWFAE. The passion is hotter and the thrills are faster. Readers will be hooked from the first page of this dark and dangerous urban fantasy.

*Courtesy of Romance Junkies

[Archer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Plot Summary:

Ice is a water faerie with a predilection for shiny baubles and late nights at the club. She years for a literal man-of-steel, a metal faerie named Indigo who constantly brushes off her advances. After a wild night spent in a demon lord’s bed, Ice filches a magic mirror that poisons everyone it comes into contact with. After behaving even more wildly out of character than usual, Ice realizes that she must get rid of the wicked thing. Indigo is charged upon pain of eternal torment to get it back, and he manipulates Ice’s attraction for him, but along the way he falls for her intoxicating personality.

The Review:

The best way I can describe Shadowglass, is like one big psycotic break after another. I enjoyed parts of it dont get me wrong, The conversations between Blaze and Ice and Azure most of the time were a real trip. But everyone was so freaking whiny in this book.

Shadowglass is dark, gritty and sexual. That I think the person who is reading it better be in a good mood, if not this bbook might drive you to depression. I'm really hoping that Poison Kissed is better..

[Barbara ★ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I absolutely loved the cover but the book itself is crap. Jade isn't in it and Kane has only a minor role. So no real connection to the first book in the series other than sex and there's plenty of that. As a matter of fact, there's more sex than plot to be honest. It took a long time just to figure out who the main characters where since there were so many people and plots. The story is very disjointed (kinda like this review) and told from multiple points of view. For the most part, I found it confusing and annoying as hell.

This isn't a YA novel but Ice, Blaze, Azure and even Indigo act like a bunch of angsty teenagers. Boy was it irritating. Basically this is a novel of ugly freaky monsters (unseelie fae) getting shitface drunk and screwing everything in sight. The plot is almost non-existent and pointless. I won't be continuing the series.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was so annoying to me I almost stopped reading it. I didn’t though because I have the next two in the series. I also loved the first one, so I figured I'd muddle through it. After finishing it though I felt like A.) I wasted valuable days of my life, because it took me forever to read B.) It put me in a book funk and C.) That it was utter crap, and didn't advance the series in any way. It came over like a YA book filled with very adult content (gratuitous sex, booze, and of course drugs). None of the characters in this book were very captivating, and all of them acted as if they were broken lost 16 yr olds. I prefer if I’m reading an Adult book to have it angst free. You have been warned read at your own risk.

[Derna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story develops at a frenetic pace, with trippy fairies Ice, Indigo and Blaze reacting to almost any situation in a rather sexual manner. I found myself skimming over the fairy porn bits to get back to the story of hunting down the demon mirror.
As with Shadowfae, none of the characters are perfect or good, they all seem to be victims/survivors of their circumstances. At the moment, Kane, the überdemon in control of Melbourne, is the most consistent (and sexy in a nasty kind of way) and I do hope that at some point in the series, he finds some happiness.

To be honest, I'm not sure how much I enjoyed it. Definitely not as good as Shadowfae, but not bad enough to put me off reading the next book, Poison Kissed.

[Jodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I enjoyed this one, I did not like it nearly as much as I did the first one in the series. For me there were way too many characters juggling way too many things in the beginning of the book.I love the main couple and their story. They are two very interesting characters.
I love the world that Erica Hayes has created. I love that you are dropped into that world and the writing style is simply vivid. You can almost smell the clubs and the streets that the characters walk down. Sometimes the constant sexual references can distract from the storyline when just the characters themselves would be enough of an entertainment.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just can't get in to this series, and I don't fully understand why. The writing is good very descriptive paints a picture in my mind. Story was good one fairie stealing an object of power from a demon that quite a few characters are seeking adds lots of action to the book. But I have never been a fan of reading about the people/creatures at the bottom of the food chain I get no pleasure from other peoples misery. I prefer stronger characters who attempt to improve themselves throughout the story not choose to stay mediocre. I think I'm finished with this series.

[Hennypenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably I won't finish this. It looked like Urban Fantasy from the cover, but it reads like erotica crossed with a thriller. I don't like any of the characters, they don't like themselves, the sex is angry or mechanical (not badly written, that is the actual way the characters are feeling about the sex). Three uses of the word juddering. The first use was jarring because I have only seen the word once, but that was fairly recently. The second and third use made me lose track of the book in favor of "why this word?"

[Carly · Rating 3 out of 5]

well hot and steamy is how i like em, and this one sure did give me that, but i think the first book was just a little bit better! At first i was really confused by all the characters and what they had to do in the story. it kind of made sence towards the middle and i felt that was just a little too late to explain when i was reading (although i do sometimes take a while to get the point...). But non the less, this book was a good read.

[Eleni Konstantine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Really enjoyed - graphic, descriptive (Hayes has a very descriptive way), and liked the POVs.

What I love about the books is that the characters are very flawed but they make do with what they have. I mean two thieves as the protagonists - not what you call 'white hat' characters but they are both loveable because of their flaws, and you have to take their world into consideration when you hear the word 'thief'.

[Donna Siebold · Rating 1 out of 5]

I convinced myself to give book two of this series a try. My hope was that the characters from the first book would be developed into creatures of interest in the second. But, too few of the characters travel forward into this book and those that did were at least as unlikeable a second time around as they had been in the first one. There may be more titles in this series, but I won't be giving them the good-old college try.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing in this book was five stars, creative, interesting, it was amazing but just the strangest journey. I think I ruined this book for myself because I was waiting for something else and built this up in my head and just wasn't in the mood for fairies and strangeness that was presented to me and so it was not very good but if I had been in the mood for fairies, demons, angels etc then this book would have been creatively ingenious.

[Nicole Williamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I found this book very confusing and I couldn't tell which character was talking but then as the book progressed I started understanding who all of the characters were and who was talking. It was a lot better once I understood what was happening but this really isn't what I usually read and is a lot more descriptive than I'm used to but overall the book was good. But I probably wouldn't read it again.

[Debi Slaughter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm trying...really I am! About 30% done and Cannot find a reason for so much graphic sex! Okay, I love a great sex Scene as much as any red blooded woman, but when it has no direct Correlation to the plot? Uh huh, not my cup of tea. Bordering on tedious and self indulgent, this one is going in the back burner.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the inventiveness of the world. It's relatable to ppl that have lived that less than ordinary life style. I could see that ppl are giving it harsh reviews, probably ppl that live tht humdrum life. Yes there's sex, but tht doesn't make it erotica...I like the take this author put on things & feel it's a book for twenty something bar crowd

[Josephine B · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book and maybe it would have been better if I had read the first book in the series prior to Shadowglass, but I just couldn’t get into it. The characters were shallow and remote and the story seemed to lack overall structure. The “world” however, was intriguing…

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another beautiful cover, another interesting plot, and another enjoyable story. Erica Hayes has made another fine addition in the Shadowfae Chronicles, and yes, more hot scenes! Haha. I can't wait to read the third book coming out this year.

[Iyanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought that this would be a new storyline,but I was mistaking,another tortured soul,another selfless sacrifice, almost the same ending.I wish that she would pick a better ending and not with the women giving up everything