REVIEW: Eagle’s Shadow (Witches of London) by Aleksandr Voinov,Jordan Taylor

SiriusB+ Reviews / Book Reviews / D ReviewsFantasy / m/m romance / modern pagans / reincarnation / Witches3 Comments

WARNING. THE BOOK HAS SEVERAL VERY VIOLENT SCENES.

THERE ARE ALSO POSSIBLE SPOILERS, BUT HOPEFULLY NOT MANY,

What if the new love of your life also holds the keys to your past?

When Chicago journalist Tom Welsh meets British banker Sanders Templeton at a conference, Sanders insists they have a connection, though he does not know what it is. They’ve never met before—but the strangest thing is, Tom can also feel it.

Sanders Templeton is a highflier who has it all—the money, the lifestyle and a rare intellect. Only a few chosen people know that he also suffers excruciating pain since childhood, with no cure, a mystery to western medicine.

Sanders knows that meeting Tom may be the most significant event of his life. As their relationship deepens, they learn that this is not the first lifetime in which they’ve fallen for each other. This time, true love can be theirs if they find the courage to forgive.

This is a standalone novel in the Witches of London world.

Review.

Dear Aleksandr Voinov and Jordan Taylor,

I reviewed the first book in the Witches of London series here at DA. In this second novel set in the same world, we are introduced to a British banker and an American journalist who meet at the financial conference and feel a powerful connection to each other, one strong enough for them to sleep with each other. Sanders (the banker) has an additional reason to get to know Tom (the journalist): he collects memorabilia from World War II and Tom reminds him of an American soldier whose picture Sanders owns. He shows Tom the picture asks whether he knows the soldier, whether it could be a relative of some kind. Then he invites Tom to London, offering to introduce him to people who could be helpful in making his financial newsletter bigger and better.

Surprising even himself somewhat, Tom accepts the offer. While staying with Sanders he learns that Sanders has suffered from horrible pain pretty much since childhood, and this pain is a mystery for Western medicine. His symptoms resemble arthritis, but all the X-rays and other scans show no swelling of the joints.

While staying at Sanders’ residence Tom is taken aback by the wealth that surrounds him, but he is also is getting more and more attracted to Sanders and the attraction seems to be mutual.

As in the first book the main issue (and the reason for some other issues) is a main character’s illness – here it is Sanders’ suffering from chronic pain, how he and Tom deal with that, and Sanders’ attempts to get better.

Since the blurb tells you that the book is set in the “Witches of London” world, I expected non-traditional healing to play a significant role and it certainly did. While the book is a stand-alone, two witches from the first book return here as supporting characters – Lee and Julian. Well, Julian’s part is *really* small. Lee is the hypnotist to whom Sanders goes when he feels he has exhausted any other options, and Lee suggests not only hypnosis, but doing past lives regression to see if there are clues in Sanders’ past lives.

Of course many issues show up, and a deep connection Sanders and Tom had ages ago is revealed. Unfortunately, their past lives were where my happiness with the book came to a screeching halt. Understand, please – I bought the book without realizing how much violence it would contain and without realizing that the book would have a very specific plot twist. I try very hard not to go into a new book with strong expectations of what the book will be like; I think it is not fair to the book. However, I do not see how it is realistic *to have no expectations* when expectations are formed based on the first book in a series, and for me based on the first book I had not expected, and I don’t think I could have expected, anything close to what I found. I also want to stress that these past lives are extremely important to the story and fit into the story well – after all, what happened before is the main reason why their present is a painful struggle before the issues get resolved. The story is extremely well written and well executed. Tom and Sanders are great characters with many layers, and when some of the layers are slowly peeled off it still feels like other layers remain hidden. I really enjoyed their time together in London when Sanders was not suffering from flare ups of his condition. I also enjoyed how Sanders was investing the money he was responsible for and how he was hiring people from all kinds of backgrounds. I believed in their love and when Sanders gives Tom a gift at the end, I went Awwww.

The story gets B+ for writing and execution and for the contemporary stuff. My reaction to the past lives (only my emotional reaction, I realize it was all very important to the overall arcs of the characters) gets a D. You may have much better time than I did with those scenes, but please heed the warning – the violence is described at length and with details.

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Sirius

Sirius started reading books when she was four and reading and discussing books is still her favorite hobby. One of her very favorite gay romances is Tamara Allen’s Whistling in the Dark. In fact, she loves every book written by Tamara Allen. Amongst her other favorite romance writers are Ginn Hale, Nicole Kimberling, Josephine Myles, Taylor V. Donovan and many others. Sirius’ other favorite genres are scifi, mystery and Russian classics. Sirius also loves travelling, watching movies and long slow walks.

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