GuestReview: Shadow Cat - Reena Jacobs

Genre: Paranormal romance
Pages: 368
Published: February 2011
Review by Lis

Eric Randall’s plan is simple—fix the mess his researchers have created in Malaysia, experience the pleasures the country has to offer, and return to the comforts of America. All it takes is one beautiful aborigine, and Eric finds himself stranded in a world of Malaysian myths and legends. A novice shaman amongst her people, Berani is free and independent. Yet all is not well in her homeland. Demons prey on her people, pushing them to extinction. When a strange speaking man invades her forest, she has one more worry to add to her already troubled life. Attraction or no, she will fight Eric tooth and claw to maintain her freedom. But will she destroy herself in the process? If Berani wishes to save her family… if Eric wishes to reclaim his old life, they must stand together against the threats of encroaching wehr-tigers and bloodsucking demons… or perish.

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Mmmmm, tropical and exotic locations, hot steamy man, passionate sex scenes that make your screen melt and a kick-ass heroine. Sounds like the making of a good paranormal romance? Right? We’ll see.

Shadow Cat is about Eric and Berani. Eric is a hot shot CEO of a pharmaceutical company. He’s in Malaysia to solve the mess his team made while looking for the next big cure. Berani is a shaman and a weretiger. She lives with her tribe in the wilds of Malaysia. Their first meeting doesn’t go to well, but they soon get very well. Very well indeed. In fact, they can’t seem to stay away from each other. Well most of the time. She doesn’t like the research expedition so much and there is nothing she would do to see them gone. Well that is until she meets a certain hot shot CEO. But there is trouble looming on the horizon in the form of the very nasty Penanggalan. Yes, try to say that without breaking your tongue. Google is your friend and they are the Malaysian version of Vampires.

Shadow Cat  left me fence sitting…which, I might add, is not very comfortable. It’s a book I wanted to like, especially because it’s something different, but it didn’t give me the high I expected. There was no real click. This could be because there was too much sex. Eep! Yes, I actually said ‘too much’ but after a while I got bored.

Then there was the love through comfort/care. It’s a trope that is very very very common within romance and a deus ex machina to get characters together and I found that it didn’t work for me in this instance.

I did love the world building. Reena Jacobs paints a vivid picture of Malaysia and I loved that the setting was for once not America.

The monster or the big baddie in this book was both something new and familiar. I loved it!

The characters were well done, but I did miss a bit of depth in both. They were not stereotypes, but I missed the real insight into the characters. Berani is the obvious strong woman type who cares for her people and is willing to do anything to protect them, but I didn’t find out what made her tick.

Eric is the typical rich CEO who comes with a money hunting girlfriend who wants to get married. Like Berani he’s not a stereotype, but I missed insight into his character. Both characters are polar opposites, but their attraction is raw and wild.

I loved the role of Bryan, a secondary character. He was the glue between the two. Overall, I liked this story but it didn’t draw me in. Maybe you have better luck with it.'