shadowland

Rating:
Summary: Daring, Original. A Must Read
Review: Having waited so long for the printed version of shadowland, I read my very own copy today. As usual with Radclyffe's stories, I was not disappointed.

Radclyffe goes outside the bounds of a traditional romance here and explores a world that may not be familiar or comfortable to us. Through this world she weaves a dynamic, thought-provoking and beautiful love story. shadowland shows us how love has the power to heal. And when we finish reading it, we realize that love can happen many ways, but that it happens at all, is the true miracle.

This printed version is very different than her other web to print stories. While the core of the story remains, it is wrapped with more description, more character development and a better understanding of a world that might not be familiar to us.She turned the web version on end to create the printed story.

Her best dialogue remains from the web version but the story is much more fleshed out. I can see now that shadowland the web version was written early in Radclyffe's writing career because the style she brings to the printed version is the style that makes her unmatched in her storytelling- gripping, descriptive and full of passionate love.

After reading this book, I truly believe this is her most important work. In a world which, especially these days, questions how we love as well as who we Should love, Radclyffe's shadowland reminds us that it is not how we love or who we love, but that we love at all is what really counts.

Rating:
Summary: Edgy Sex *and* Love - what a concept!
Review: I really liked Shadowlands a lot, even though a couple of scenes were not at all to my sexual tastes. What Radclyffe does so successfully, however, is show how much emotional connection heightens sexual tension. So much erotica out there is filled with people searching for their limits and they rarely seem to realize that risking it all emotionally, not sexually, is a powerful thing.

When you do both, as Kyle and Dane do, it can be the most erotic power exchange of all. I have liked all of Radclyffe's books but I was still surprised by the skillful way she conveyed this message of sex and love, power and healing. Very few of our authors write at this complex level.

Some readers might find some of the scenes hard going, but the overall journey, for me, was well worth it. Also, it's very refreshing that this book is about women who love women. Genderbending, to my great relief, was not a significant theme. I'm lesbian, I like erotica about lesbians and this book was right on the mark for me.


Rating:
Summary: shadowland
Review: This is an amazing story of human frailness and strength, how addicted we can be and seduced beyond the line of reality. The search for that which completes us that, under the right circumstances, either destroys us or brings us into who we really are. It is of power, and where our power truly lies. It speaks to the times in our lives when we surrender only to learn that in that act we have claimed our power, and when the line is crossed and pain inflicted, whether it be physical or mental. What is the difference when we look at the scars that remain and the power that lies within our very beings? As my partner and I looked at this deeply within ourselves the common thread was trust, and without real trust in ones' self, there is no trust of anyone or anything. And then there is love and it's many varied expressions.
This shadowland is a powerful message of the lines between power, control, surrender, trust and how all these fit into what is experienced as love, how this looks manifest and what we do to attain peace within.
KL

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating
Review: Very interesting book - I wish it was twice as long. I very much wanted to learn more about the main charater Dane. I highly recommend reading this book, I am very glad I did. I loved all the passages between Dane and Kyle. If I say anything more I am afraid to give away part of the story. I will say that the physical relationship between Dane and Kyle did not take the path I expected (what they shared was so much better) and that the end was just what I needed <s>

Rating:
Summary: shadowland
Review: What does romance mean? Love, pain, desire, trust, power, sex, lust, want, healing, need, angst, control, agony, loss, passion, joy....no definition, no list of factors, could ever contain all that the word represents.

And here's another question that has no easy answer: is physical dominance the same as power?

Over the past few years, the name Radclyffe has become synonymous with the best of contemporary lesbian romance fiction. And each of her books-from her first published novel, "Safe Harbor," through her recent forays into police procedural and intrigue/adventure in the "Justice" and "Honor" series-explores the many facets of romance, the many factors that contribute to relationships. Each of Radclyffe's stories is a love story, but each is the story of a unique relationship: in fiction as in real life, each relationship is built on different combinations of elements, and so each love story plays out in a different way.

In shadowland, Radclyffe has gifted us with yet another love story. It is the story of two women, Kyle and Dane, who must overcome past injuries and lingering pain and insecurity before each is able to allow the other to love her-to allow herself to love and be loved, to heal and be healed. But it is a love story with a difference. Whereas most romance novels are woven through the fabric of our days- where we work, how we live-shadowland is set against the nighttime world of the leather scene, where women explore sex and power and play in all their many guises. It is a world in which everything familiar is questioned and where pleasure-physical and emotional-is sought through every means possible; it is a world in which all emotion-anguish, joy, love, fear-is given physical manifestation. Kyle and Dane and the other women who populate this story explore the edges of the physical so as to learn the depths of their emotional stores. And when they love, they love fully, body and soul.

Each of Radclyffe's novels has redefined the lesbian romance genre through the excellence of her storytelling and the synapse-frying eroticism of her sex scenes. So on a very basic level, shadowland is of a piece with the rest of Radclyffe's stories. But not only is this story set in the world of S/M, but power-how it is used, how it is given, how it is imposed-is the theme that is explored in myriad ways through the various relationships in the story. Many, indeed all, of the lovers in Radclyffe's stories negotiate power in their relationships. But in shadowland, this negotiation becomes explicit. Every relationship in this story, whether between friends or longtime lovers or one-time sex partners or a Rottweiler and his trainer or a dominatrix and her slave, is framed so as to emphasize the gap between how power seems to be distributed and how things really are.

If the nexus of power and sexuality holds no allure, shadowland is probably not the story for you; choose another one of Radclyffe's stories to read or reread. But if you are in the mood for a romantic, erotic love story that explores and celebrates women in all of our weak, strong, sensual physicality, discover this very special Radclyffe novel. Come take a ride on the edge. Come to shadowland.

Rating:
Summary: By Your Leave -- a review of shadowland
Review: What does romance mean? Love, pain, desire, trust, power, sex, lust, want, healing, need, angst, control, agony, loss, passion, joy...no definition, no list of factors, could ever contain all that the word represents.

And here's another question that has no easy answer: is physical dominance the same as power?

Over the past few years, the name Radclyffe has become synonymous with the best of contemporary lesbian romance fiction. And each of her books - from her first published novel, "Safe Harbor," through her recent forays into police procedural and intrigue/adventure in the "Justice" and "Honor" series - explores the many facets of romance, the many factors that contribute to relationships. Each of Radclyffe's stories is a love story, but each is the story of a unique relationship: in fiction as in real life, each relationship is built on different combinations of elements, and so each love story plays out in a different way.

In shadowland, Radclyffe has gifted us with yet another love story. It is the story of two women, Kyle and Dane, who must overcome past injuries and lingering pain and insecurity before each is able to allow the other to love her - to allow herself to love and be loved, to heal and be healed. But it is a love story with a difference. Whereas most romance novels are woven through the fabric of our days - where we work, how we live - shadowland is set against the nighttime world of the leather scene, where women explore sex and power and play in all their many guises. It is a world in which everything familiar is questioned and where pleasure - physical and emotional - is sought through every means possible; it is a world in which all emotion - anguish, joy, love, fear - is given physical manifestation. Kyle and Dane and the other women who populate this story explore the edges of the physical so as to learn the depths of their emotional stores. And when they love, they love fully, body and soul.

Each of Radclyffe's novels has redefined the lesbian romance genre through the excellence of her storytelling and the synapse-frying eroticism of her sex scenes. So on a very basic level, shadowland is of a piece with the rest of Radclyffe's stories. But not only is this story set in the world of S/M, but power - how it is used, how it is given, how it is imposed - is the theme that is explored in myriad ways through the various relationships in the story. Many, indeed all, of the lovers in Radclyffe's stories negotiate power in their relationships. But in shadowland, this negotiation becomes explicit. Every relationship in this story, whether between friends or longtime lovers or one-time sex partners or a Rottweiler and his trainer or a dominatrix and her slave, is framed so as to emphasize the gap between how power seems to be distributed and how things really are.

If the nexus of power and sexuality holds no allure, shadowland is probably not the story for you; choose another one of Radclyffe's stories to read or reread. But if you are in the mood for a romantic, erotic love story that explores and celebrates women in all of our weak, strong, sensual physicality, discover this very special Radclyffe novel. Come take a ride on the edge. Come to shadowland.

Rating:
Summary: By Your Leave -- a review of shadowland
Review: What does romance mean? Love, pain, desire, trust, power, sex, lust, want, healing, need, angst, control, agony, loss, passion, joy...no definition, no list of factors, could ever contain all that the word represents.

And here's another question that has no easy answer: is physical dominance the same as power?

Over the past few years, the name Radclyffe has become synonymous with the best of contemporary lesbian romance fiction. And each of her books - from her first published novel, "Safe Harbor," through her recent forays into police procedural and intrigue/adventure in the "Justice" and "Honor" series - explores the many facets of romance, the many factors that contribute to relationships. Each of Radclyffe's stories is a love story, but each is the story of a unique relationship: in fiction as in real life, each relationship is built on different combinations of elements, and so each love story plays out in a different way.

In shadowland, Radclyffe has gifted us with yet another love story. It is the story of two women, Kyle and Dane, who must overcome past injuries and lingering pain and insecurity before each is able to allow the other to love her - to allow herself to love and be loved, to heal and be healed. But it is a love story with a difference. Whereas most romance novels are woven through the fabric of our days - where we work, how we live - shadowland is set against the nighttime world of the leather scene, where women explore sex and power and play in all their many guises. It is a world in which everything familiar is questioned and where pleasure - physical and emotional - is sought through every means possible; it is a world in which all emotion - anguish, joy, love, fear - is given physical manifestation. Kyle and Dane and the other women who populate this story explore the edges of the physical so as to learn the depths of their emotional stores. And when they love, they love fully, body and soul.

Each of Radclyffe's novels has redefined the lesbian romance genre through the excellence of her storytelling and the synapse-frying eroticism of her sex scenes. So on a very basic level, shadowland is of a piece with the rest of Radclyffe's stories. But not only is this story set in the world of S/M, but power - how it is used, how it is given, how it is imposed - is the theme that is explored in myriad ways through the various relationships in the story. Many, indeed all, of the lovers in Radclyffe's stories negotiate power in their relationships. But in shadowland, this negotiation becomes explicit. Every relationship in this story, whether between friends or longtime lovers or one-time sex partners or a Rottweiler and his trainer or a dominatrix and her slave, is framed so as to emphasize the gap between how power seems to be distributed and how things really are.

If the nexus of power and sexuality holds no allure, shadowland is probably not the story for you; choose another one of Radclyffe's stories to read or reread. But if you are in the mood for a romantic, erotic love story that explores and celebrates women in all of our weak, strong, sensual physicality, discover this very special Radclyffe novel. Come take a ride on the edge. Come to shadowland.