Rating: 
Summary: What a great read!
Review: I recommend that you read "Behind Closed Doors" first. It is just as excellent and will give you a heads-up as to who is who in this book. I cannot put this book down. You kinda get involved with the characters and they feel so real and raw! The sexual energy is sizzling. I wish there were more books of Ms. McKenna that I could read. You will be more than satisfied with all of her works.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely, Positively LOVED This Book
Review: I thought Seth Mackey from Behind Closed Doors would be an extremely tough act to follow, but I was definitely not disappointed with Connor. He was a perfect follow up and I fell in love with him also.This book was SMOKING!!! Connor's feelings for Erin were so intense as to be tangible. Really, I felt as if I could reach out and touch the love, need and devotion that he felt for her. I really liked Erin, too. She realized she had a true tiger by the tail and rode him the best way she knew how. The sex was earthy and sweaty and real and it positively sizzled. I love that this was not a sweet gentle romance. This book made you FEEL. I love the intense emotions Ms. McKenna imbues in her characters especially the males. Seth and Connor were some of the best tormented heroes that I have read in a long time. In the future I will definitely buy any book with Ms. McKenna's name on it.
Rating: 
Summary: All steam and no substance
Review: I was rather disappointed in this book, which I purchased based on recommendations from previous readers. It's got a lot of really steamy sex scenes, that are pretty graphic but very well written, but it is pretty thin on plot line. I also had a lot of trouble with the author's portrayal of her "alpha male" lead character and the relationship with the female lead. Now, I like a strong male character, one that makes me blush when reading on the bus, as well as the next avid romance reader, but this guy was a little too over the top for my taste. The characters in Ms. McKenna's books, all except the female lead, seem to get off on using sex, particularly near-violent sex, as a power game, which is just not my thing I guess. I've read this one and it's prequel, "Behind Closed Doors" and found the same thing with both books. Ms. McKenna is a good writer, and I would love to read a novel with more detail on the backstory of the main male characters in both books. I was just disappointed at the lack of plot in this one.
Rating: 
Summary: It's my own fault...
Review: I was sick this wekend and decided to read this book. Give it a chance. I read the first book - Behind Closed Doors - and found it terrible.
Erin Riggs is broke and taking care of her selfish and aparently overly dependent sister and mother. All of them living down the scandal of her father being arrested. Connor McCloud, a former subordinate of her father's and one that helped to put him away, has just come upon news that an old enemy is back. As Erin was unsuccessfully used by said enemy prior, Connor feels she may be in danger. He sets himself up as her protector. All add to the fact that of course they've been in love since she was sixteen and he was thirty (he wasn't really - but he might as well have been as creepy as it is).
She is trying so hard to be independent (or something - I don't understand her motivations) she's just annoying. He's too overwhelming and stupid a lot of the time. I want a lead man I can really like!
The bad guys didn't make any sense. I couldn't understand why they didn't just kill the 'Good' characters... I was almost routing for them, sadly.
The formula followed basically that of the fist novel that SMcKenna wrote. Girl in trouble. Manly man with some hang ups to the rescue. Very 'bad' guys with some definite kinks. 'Good' triumphs. Girl and guy have some misunderstanding last chapter or so that is resolved in the last 4 pages of book. Happily Ever After. By the way I hate that final fight that the leads always seem to need to have in the worst romance novels. Not worth the read. Better to go with Black Lace novel if you like the sex and a Elizabeth Lowell book (ex. Jade Island) if you like the mystery & sex combined
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reading!
Review: If you like them hot, wild and gripping then get thee to the bk store now for this one!
Rating:
Summary: Whew!
Review: If you liked Shannon McKenna's previous offerings, you'll this one as well. It was hot and tender and tense with a lot of action. I loved it. Great follow-up to Behind Closed Doors.
Rating:
Summary: o ye!
Review: If you want a hot spicy erotic romance, this is the book...i absolutley loved it!
Rating:
Summary: The best of the best in many ways!
Review: Oh my! Whew!! Standing in the Shadows is one very steamy yet very well written book. It's not often that we see both of those important facets in the same book. We are provided with real life characters - not the paper cutouts that represent so many of the same old, same old, overwritten contemporary leads of today's romances. This couple also comes with a history - they have known each other for years and have secretly harbored an attraction for one other. That, in addition to the background created in McKenna's first romance suspense novel, Behind Closed Doors, provides the reader with a solid base and allows us to be totally immersed in the story from page one. Connor McCloud is an ex-government agent who has been badly injured carrying out his duties more than once. During the last episode, partially played out in Behind Closed Doors, Connor is so severely wounded that he will probably never be able to completely recover physically. He is now working with his brothers in their own private investigation agency. Connor is disillusioned with life, very depressed, and mourns the betrayal of his former FBI boss, Ed Riggs. Connor played a large part in bringing down Riggs and more than one of his friends died due to his boss's betrayal. But still, Connor is left feeling empty and somewhat guilty. Bringing down Ed Riggs was the right thing to do. However, Riggs left behind a family ? a family Connor had gotten to know very well over the ten years he worked with him. Now Connor is haunted by his former boss's daughter, Erin Riggs. Connor had always hoped for an eventual relationship with Erin. He has waited since she was 17 - knowing her to be too young at the time. Now that she is 26 and definitely available, Connor does not believe Erin can ever be interested in him after his active involvement in bringing down her father. But not all the bad guys from Behind Closed Doors stay conveniently imprisoned. When the meanest villain around, Novak, escapes prison, Connor instinctively knows he will come after both him and Erin Riggs. Connor approaches Erin for the first time since her father's betrayal to inform her that Novak has escaped and that she needs protection. Erin is living on a very tight budget and laughs at the thought of replacing the locks on her doors much less paying for protection. Connor gives her no choice in the matter and sets himself up as her bodyguard and protector. Both Erin and Connor are ecstatic to be near one another. Neither blames the other for her father's downfall. Soon, they have acknowledged their attraction to one another and the fireworks begin. The verbal interaction between the two is vastly entertaining. Connor is basically a gentle natured guy - you think - but has this really big alpha male hidden beneath his gentle exterior. He is a considerate man and very sexual as well. Connor and Erin's relationship is a huge battle of wills at times but the alpha male always ends up holding the edge over the forthright female. The sensual scenes are interwoven throughout the story and are every bit as erotic as many other interviewers have stated. They rate a solid 5.0 out of 5.0 (see More About Me for rating guidelines). It is some delicious reading as we see the leads' relationship mature further as friends, develop as lovers, and progress to commitment. Connor is lovingly overbearing at times. He wants Erin for his own and makes no secret of it. Erin has a couple of TSTL (too stupid to live) moments that make you want to shout "Think! Don't be so foolish!". But overall, both characters are very likable. This is not a book that relies on the misunderstanding theory of romance writing. The leads are too truthful with each other - if anything. The secondary characters are interesting reading - not just there to fill the holes as seems to be so often their fate. The villains are a little too mean for my comfort level and a few of the scenes were too gruesome for me to do anything but skim over them. This is Shannon McKenna's second novel. The first, Behind Closed Doors, was a tremendous hit and is the prequel to Standing in the Shadows. Both can be read as stand alone books but you will probably enjoy them more if you can read them in order. The two books are very entwined and I would not be surprised to see another book or two added to this series. There are at least two single guys left from this group of mighty men. Although others have said it - I must as well comment on McKenna's talent. Her writing abilities are superb! She has the ability to combine many lusty scenes with very well rounded characters and even writes the suspenseful portions skillfully. It is difficult to find an author that can master all four of the following components for such a tremendous reading adventure:
1. Good flowing story line.
2. Well-developed characters.
3. Detailed sensual scenes that are an intricate part of the plot.
4. Suspense situations that warrant the substantial pages given to them.
McKenna has a rare talent that blends all of these elements into such a well-written book that you will remember long after you have sadly finished it. This is a definite book to keep and read again if there ever was one...
Rating:
Summary: Whoa!!! HOT!!!
Review: One of my favorite things is finding a new author!!! A great storyline, a hunky hero, a fiesty heroine and sensual love scenes make for a great book. I will be looking for the next book by Shannon McKenna!!!
Rating:
Summary: Very mixed ...
Review: One star or five, I really can't decide. Unlike the other 2 "erotica" books I've read, this one has a plot, realistic dialogue, and 3-d characters. But I didn't really like it, in fact, it's a compliment to the book that I kept on reading! The book is classic romance (boy meets girl, they fall in love, and live happily ever after). The book is classic romantic suspense (hero saves girl from a stalker with evil intentions), but the resemblance to usual romance ends there. First, there is the language. I'm not a prude, but when "bad" words are used as normal conversation, the author can't use them for emotional punch when needed. And then there was the sex, the book would be half the pages without the graphic sences. Again don't get me wrong, I knew what I was buying, but these are not a beautiful expressions between two lovers, there is a lot of anger here. (In short, I want fantacy in the books I read, not real life!) Bottom line, romance readers beware, unless you love your romance J.D.Robb style, there is a new genere out there. Instead of leaving you with a "ah, wasn't that sweet" feeling at the end, you are going to feel slightly dirty and used -- like a romance gone bad.
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