Have you ever had one of those days where you wish you could start over or at least change a couple of things. That is exactly how trauma surgeon Kate Marshall feels in BLOOD ORCHID when she finds herself on the run with hunky ex-Army doctor Jason Nolan. She had only planned to yell at him him for not being on duty and causing her to be the target of of an irate, grieving mother. Instead she gets shot at, comes face to face with a shadowy group that are suppose to be be the good guys and almost gets blown up ... twice. Oh and she keeps getting warnings from this old lady who disappears ... just your everyday occurrences ... if you live in an altered universe and not California.

BLOOD ORCHID is Shadows, book 2 by author Jenna Ryan and it follows closely the format of BLACK ROSE, book 1. The action is instantaneous with just enough time to catch your breath before the next volley. The Crucible is back, he was the head guy in the previous book, because the answers in BLACK ROSE don't completely satisfy the Shadow and so the action continues.

In BLOOD ORCHID, we have Drs. Jason Nolan and Kate Marshall on the run, but it looks like they have been "running" from each other for a long time. As you turn the pages, you will find they have been fighting an attraction for each other. He believes she deserves better, and she fears he is too volatile for her taste, even if he is gorgeous and sexy as all get out. He has a past that has left him troubled and cold-hearted, and Kate prefers safe. Or does she?

The action is twisted in an intriguing way, with so much happening there is no time to put the book down let alone breath. To be honest in the beginning I wasn't sure I liked the good doctors, but as I continued reading they grew on me, with their interesting quirks and strengths and determination to see this end so they can get back to their, if not happy, then satisfying lives. When they do finally give in to what Nolan says is "lust" it is explosive, well written, and you just know is going to lead to more than temporary. BLOOD ORCHID is better than the first and though this one is set in California, there is still that hint of the Louisiana bayou, voodoo, superstitions and "ghostly" help. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next of Ms. Ryan's Shadows.

Book Summary

She saved one life…now she could lose her own.

Shadows, Book 2

It takes more than an ominous warning to scare trauma surgeon Kate Marshall into hiding. The patient who just died on her table had connections to a crime lord with a vicious reputation for revenge. However, when a ghostly figure appears right before bullets start whizzing past her head, Kate is forced to admit she’s stumbled into a Twilight Zone of trouble.

Ex-army doctor Jason Nolan should have been on duty at the hospital, but ghosts from his past drove him to numb his burned-out soul in the back booth of a waterfront bar. When the tall, leggy, Grace Kelly lookalike tracks him down to give him a piece of her razor-sharp mind, he figures he deserves it.

But Kate doesn’t deserve to be stalked by a shadowy serial killer with a motive that extends all the way to the Louisiana bayou and ties to a past Nolan would like to forget. Only Nolan can help Kate navigate the terrifying path that lies ahead. A path riddled with voodoo, superstition and death.

Warning: Contains shadowy voodoo curses, ancient death traps and passion that sparks and burns as the danger escalates.