It began with a blood oath.It ended in bloodshed.When twenty-one-year-old Lyric is told by her father, Gabrian, she will be crossing into the Otherland as payment for a favor he owes the Shadow Lord, she thinks her life is over. In truth, it is just beginning. Years of training as a soldier and an uncanny ability to learn pretty much anything give Lyric the tools she needs to survive her new … to survive her new reality—and it totally helps that her new lord and master is sex incarnate.
Draven has long awaited Lyric’s arrival, and not just because he needs her to track a powerful weapon stolen by an unknown adversary. He believes he has everything firmly in hand, despite the subterfuge he foolishly agreed to some twenty years back. When Draven’s enemies and lies of omission both threaten the fragile bond he and Lyric are forming, he refuses to allow anything to stand in the way, not even the razor-sharp blade of Lyric’s favorite sword.
WARNING: This novel contains tons of bad language, the occasional smackdown, and a good deal of inappropriate humor–sometimes all at once.
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Shadow’s Lyric by C.A. Worley is a wonderful story that I have read. This is book number one in this wonderful start to a brand new series written by a brand new author for me to read. I highly recommend this story to everyone who loves reading about romantic comedy, romantic suspense and paranormal romances.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was a fabulous introduction to this series and I absolutely recommend it if you enjoy reading about a heroine who happily stands up for herself. Lyric is half demon and has always been at odds with her father who takes being distant to a whole new level ! Lyric powers through any challenge set her and relishes the fighting techniques that have been drilled into her. She might carry weapons but to be blunt Lyric is a weapon herself so why does her father so callously send her to the Shadow Lord and just what will Lyric find there ?
This moved at a rapid pace that certainly was very entertaining. Lyric is a hoot and I fear some might shake their heads at her potty mouth but boy does she know how to make a comeback ! The plot was intriguing and the supporting characters added enough humour with their knowing attitudes to make everything flow quite nicely. I do have to give special mention here to a baby gargoyle who had me laughing out loud. As for the Shadow Lord Draven is this hunk who has Lyrics inner slut just jumping up and down so be prepared for steamy times ahead. I wanted to rate this higher but unfortunately the explanation for her father’s attitude didn’t convince me. Had he been aloof or hard much like his brother I would have believed everything but to be told he had broken her finger for no apparent reason meant to my mind that he honestly didn’t have any warm feelings for Lyric. Still that little explanation aside I really enjoyed this book and will certainly look for more by this author.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair
OhEmmGee! Shadow’s Lyric was AMAZEBALLS! It started out a bit slow and I honestly didn’t think I was going to get into the story and enjoy it. But then Lyric crossed over into the Otherland and I was HOOKED! Lyric is strong, sassy, and everything I enjoy in my female leads. Same goes for Draven but change sassy to sexy. Yumm! I just couldn’t get enough of Lyric’s interactions with all the characters and her lack of snark filter had me laughing so many times. Her blades aren’t the only thing that was razor-sharp, and I just couldn’t wait to see what she would say next.
The story itself was action packed and full of surprises and secrets. All the characters are great and the worldbuilding in this book was outstanding. There’s just enough heat between Lyric and Draven to keep things interesting without through the whole story into Smutland. Remember folks, they are fighters, we don’t need the lead heroine to get all weak in the needs when she’s been trained to be a kicka$$ fighter her whole life. Usually, I’m trying to guess the big Aha! ending but in this case, I was just enjoying all the ensuing kerfuffles as they came along. And that ending and all those secrets – WOWZA!
It’s been a while since I’ve gotten excited about a new to me author and their series. Consider me screaming in excitement. Author C.A. Worley has created something amazing here with her Crossing Daggers series. Consider me a new fan because I was halfway into the book and already checking to see if Ms. Worley had more titles. YAY! I see there is and hopefully they will keep me entertained while I wait for the next book in the series to come out. Can. Not. Wait.
Stars: 5
I received this book from Netgalley. I was not compensated for the book other than the entertainment it provided. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Full review appeared at Reader’s Edyn on 6/23/20
Lyric is one helluva bad@$$ thanks to her father’s relentless training. A honed weapon, reliant on no one but herself. Not one prone to showing or even having any emotions, her father made sure that she was battle-ready. He was beyond hard on her, oftentimes inflicting the lessons and the pain that went with them himself. He promised a weapon and a weapon he will deliver in the form of Lyric. But despite the difficult conditions she grew up in, Lyric has maintained a fire inside her, and equaling her mad weapons skills is her penchant for snark. In fact, her mind often conjures up some of the most inappropriate images and she isn’t always able to keep her mouth from spewing out her thoughts. Complicating matters is Draven’s ability to read her thoughts. Crud. Given the way her mind darts off in several directions simultaneously, he’s constantly treated to one heck a show. But being from completely different worlds, he doesn’t always understand her references. One thing she absolutely cannot hide is her fierce attraction to Draven. And what the heck is that all about anyway? He’s supposed to be a feared being capable of all manners of evil – yet she experiences none of that with him. The more time she spends with Draven, the more she realizes that she’s never been enlightened about the truth of anything. And it figures that Draven is unable to give her certain details; literally because of a fricking blood oath made when she was an infant. Of all the asinine things. Struggling to wrap her head around the truth as it reveals itself, Lyric is forced to quickly decide how she will process the information. She might have been bad@$$ to begin with, but her potential now is beyond anything she ever thought possible. First things first though – she must recover the missing weapon then deal with this tangible attraction between her and Draven. Anything beyond that will be dealt with as it comes.
Draven has been waiting for Lyric for a very long time. He’s been patient until this past year. Upping his time frame for her arrival when a precious weapon goes missing, he is filled with a deep need to claim Lyric in every way possible as soon as she steps into his realm. Her new home. And he’s never letting her go. But she isn’t yet aware of that fact. However, he has the upper hand because he knows the truth of everything while Lyric is only getting bits and pieces at a time. Had he understood what kind of he[[ this gag order within the blood oath would be, he would have never agreed to the aggravating conditions. But there are loopholes to be found if one knows where to look. He wants to tell Lyric everything but realizes that she will need time to assimilate her truth and the lie that is the life she’s led up to this point. But no matter what it takes, Draven will help her along and bring her round to his side of things. He may be feared by all, but patience is how he plans to win Lyric over. He knew she was magnificent, but once he had her in front of him, he realized just how insignificant a word magnificent was for her. Lyric was everything he could have ever wanted, everything he never knew he wanted or needed, and the best thing that ever happened to him whether he deserved such good fortune or not. Yeah, he really has no other option but to coax her along and help her to see just how perfect they are for one another. Because his future was nothing without her.
Oh, mah Gawd! I absolutely adored this book! I seriously did not put it down until it was finished. I was completely captivated from the start and never once lost interest. Not even a little. This book begins strong and never eases up as it progresses. It’s action all the time and the mystery surrounding Draven and Lyric is crazy. As the lies of omission are unraveled and the true character of some people is uncovered, I began to see just how tangled a web Lyric was caught up in. Some people, who I had made my mind up about, ended up having reasons for doing what they did that I didn’t see coming. Reasons that had me quickly backpedaling and reassessing my initial impressions.
Draven – yum – was s3x on a stick! I immediately liked him and couldn’t wait for him to be able to come clean about everything with Lyric. His immediate acceptance of Lyric and his fascination rather than irritation at her odd antics won me over immediately. In truth, he seems more entertained by her thoughts and behaviors than annoyed. While he did have to put his foot down in a few instances, his deep love for her was obvious. And Lyric is a gem. This girl could be my best friend. Her snark and sass are off the hook. The most entertaining character I have come by in quite some time, I am hoping to get more time with her as the series progresses. Her wild and chaotic thought process sometimes sends the mind reeling, but never in a bad way. She was always presented as quirky and entertaining. I appreciated this quality because it could have easily crossed the line into aggravation, but Ms. Worley did a fantastic job of balancing Draven’s serious with Lyric’s whimsical. They paired together perfectly. And their chemistry together – yikes! So dang hot! But while I loved this book and eagerly await the next installment, I do have a few questions.
Potential slight spoilers – if you don’t want to know, skip this paragraph! You’ve been warned! I found Draven’s shock at Gabrian’s tactics somewhat contradictory. He mentions at one point that he knew he would be a junk father, but then says he’s shocked at his lack of affection toward Lyric – or even giving her the slightest thought for a special occasion such as a birthday. Also, what the heck happened when Draven ghosted with Cree? It wasn’t really explained other than the result was one Draven did not wish to repeat. Then nothing. Details. Details would have been nice. And what’s with the giant white head that was coming out of the water? Draven’s instinct was to flee while Lyric felt no danger. So was it some sort of animal? Do animals just come to her to seek her aid? Can she communicate with them? There was only that one instance and then nothing came of it later on. I felt like that could have turned into something much bigger but it came off as a new power and then disappeared. Odd. Then there is the fact that Draven is stupid powerful, yet his abilities are barely touched upon. By his own admission he keeps himself reigned in, but if he let loose, what could he actually do? Does he have any limitations? Would his people fear him more than the fear his reputation provokes now? So many questions! And I do love me some epilogue, especially when it helps to round out the end of the book and add a bit more as to what is going on with the main characters. Bummer that it was completely predictable given the huge flashing sign of a hint provided earlier in the book. That said, I did like the way Ms. Worley went about writing the epilogue even though I already knew what was coming. It was still endearing to read. I wouldn’t call any of those complaints though. Just curiosities left lingering. What I did take issue with was the junk formatting. It could have been something that happened between downloading from NetGalley to my device, but several of the words were jumbled together which took a slight amount of time to decode. Also, there are two places in which the sentence abruptly cut off. What I believe happened is that the words jumbled and for some reason appeared out of order. If I picked those two paragraphs apart, it made sense when rearranging the words. Hopefully, this was something only I had an issue with. While it slowed my reading progress just a bit, I still remained deeply connected within these pages.
You guys, the snark is on point! For those of you who enjoy paranormal romance with a crazy amount of snark, you’ll instantly love this book. A kick-@$$ heroine who can give a whooping to anyone without the slightest bit of hesitation. An intriguing hero known as the Shadow Lord – yes, he actually turns into a shadow – how cool would that be? A web of deceit and lies that must be unwound for the truth to be realized. A love so deep it would make anyone envious; crossing time, realms, and species. I came across this book during a book tour and was immediately caught up in the blurbs. If you read my chosen excerpt and highlight and are intrigued at all, then definitely grab up a copy of this book. The blurb doesn’t hint to how fabulous this book truly is, but the snippets I included in my full review will give you a good taste to determine if this book is a good fit for you. Lovers of weirdos who embrace their oddities are sure to enjoy this captivating read set briefly on Earth and then largely within a demon realm. If you aren’t a big fan of fantasy, this just may be the author to bring you over to the dark side. And all my fellow people of snark – you know who you are – you will easily immerse yourself into this sexy romance with little to no effort. One thing I can guarantee – if this writing style is typical for Ms. Worley, I will remain a fan forever.
Kindle version provided by Xpresso Book Tours/Author in exchange for an honest review.
I thought this was a really great book. This is book 1 of the Crossing Daggers Series. Such a great start for the series. I loved the storyline and characters. Both are well written and developed. I really look forward to more books by this author and would recommend reading.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The story line was great, the character work was terrific and the book had a fairly smooth flow to it. This was a great way to start a series. I was hooked from beginning to end. I look forward to seeing what happens in the next book.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Nice read with good development between the two main characters as the plot unfolds. I voluntarily received this book for an honest review.
This is the second book I have read by this author and this one was again a five star read for me.
I really enjoyed this a lot and managed to complete this in one sitting.
Genre-wise this is a paranormal/fantasy romance probably more heavily slanted towards the fantasy side as this mostly takes place in a demon realm in another dimension.
We are only on earth for the beginning of this here and we don’t really experience anything other than the compound that Lyric grew up in.
lyrics father is the head of a demon family and she has been raised by her father and uncle to be tough, self-sufficient and to rely heavily on herself.
Her father totally deserves the crappiest parent of the year award.
He is the gatekeeper of the portal to the demon realm and unbeknown to Lyric she has been promised to the lord of shadows as a weapon when she turns twenty-eight.
Events occurring in otherworld push forward the timeline and Lyric discovers just who she has been promised to on her twenty-first birthday.
So this was fabulous and such an easy read I adored how bad-ass Lyric was she really was the whole package.
Courageous and stubborn and all sorts of quirky with a spine of pure steel while at the same time still managing to retain her compassion and overall integrity I found her a breath of fresh air.
I especially adored her inner monologue she was such a weirdo and totally owned it.
I was also equally impressed with Draven.
Not only was he a wet-dream walking he also had a list of redeemable quality’s that just made him extra delicious.
Alpha and totally in control he was not afraid to show his softer side to Lyric while still completely retaining his street-cred and total bad-assery
He knew what he wanted and went for it no games and I really appreciated his honest transparency in regards to his new mate.
He had so much patience with Lyrics skittishness and was completely loyal and prepared to settle for what she could initially give him.
He hated that he had to withhold information but his hands were tied in this and all he actually wanted was to reveal all.
The characters here were all really well developed and this had such an easy flow to the whole story.
There were surprises and reveals and this managed to retain my attention right to the finish.
If your looking for a good fantasy romance where the female is encouraged to be all that she can and not tethered in any way then this is your story.
Draven actually appreciates and revels in every one of Lyrics many abilities and qualities.
This also had a rich cast of secondary characters and excellent world-building.
This gets a big thumbs up from me it was fabulous.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of Shadows Lyric.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
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