• Home
    • Contact Me
  • Reading Challenges
    • Pondathon II
    • Completed Challenges
      • CannonballRead 13 Bingo
      • SpringIntoLove Bingo
      • SnowInLove Bingo
      • JingleBooks Bingo
      • FallIntoRomBingo 2020
      • 2020 Ripped Bodice Summer Read Along Bingo
      • 2018 Romance Roundabout Challenge
      • Read Harder 2018
      • January – March 2018 Quarterly Challenge
      • Title Hunt Quarterly Challenge: January – March 2018
      • Cover Hunt Quarterly Challenge: October – December 2017
      • October – December 2017 Quarterly Challenge
      • Ripped Bodice Summer Read Along Bingo
  • Reviews
    • Reviews by Author
    • Reviews by Title
    • Reviews by Series
    • Reviews by Year
      • 2017 Reviews
      • 2018 Reviews
    • Reviews by Rating
  • Rating System

Llama Reads Books

This llama reads - mostly romance, fantasy and science fiction

Reviews

Review: Shadow’s Messenger – T. A. White

May 5, 2020 Leave a Comment

Review: Shadow’s Messenger – T. A. WhiteShadow's Messenger
by T.A. White
Series: Aileen Travers #1
Also in this series: Midnight's Emissary, Moonlight's Ambassador, Dawn's Envoy
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: August 23, 2016
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 302
Source: Kindle Unlimited
My rating: One StarOne StarOne Star

Coming home from Afghanistan was supposed to be something great. That ended when I met tall, dark and handsome in a bar and wound up in a dumpster sporting a nice set of fangs and my life flipped on its head.

Now I'm a messenger for Hermes Courier Service trying to make enough to support my ice cream habit while staying below vampire radar. When this newest job of mine goes disastrously awry, it puts me on the hook to be indentured to a sorcerer for the next fifty years unless I can find a way to fix things.

What's hidden can't stay in the shadow's forever and my life will never be the same.

Amazon  Indiebound

Goodreads

3 stars icon fantasy icon werewolves


Content warnings: View Spoiler »torture, various murders and murder (including investigating a scene where a child died), heroine is repeatedly kidnapped « Hide Spoiler

“A warning. Vampires are fascinated by mysteries and will do anything to solve them.”

I discovered T.A. White through her Firebird Chronicles and then promptly started working my way through her earlier books. Her Aileen Travers series is urban fantasy as opposed to science fiction, but there’s several similarities between both series, my favorite being an attitude-filled heroine who’s dragged against her will into another society. Despite that, this had some other factors that didn’t work out as well for me.

“What I didn’t know couldn’t hurt me. Or so I told myself.
That truth wouldn’t hold for much longer. Not knowing about myself or the spooks around me was going to get me hurt or killed.”

Left for dead after being attacked by a vampire only a few days after returning from a tour of Afghanistan, Aileen has had two years to settle in to her new nocturnal lifestyle and her job with the Hermes courier company, where she cycles around Columbus delivering packages and gossip to its supernatural community. She’s mostly content to keep her head down, do her job, and keep living her life as close to “normal” as possible. But when a delivery goes wrong, she’s suddenly forced into the world of sorcerers, witches, werewolves, and vampires, with a killer nipping at her heels. Can Aileen survive both her enemy and her new “allies?”

“You’re not very smart,” Brax said, his words taking on a guttural edge.
“So people keep telling me.”

Aileen is certainly an interesting character. She’s not much more powerful than a regular human, which is ridiculously underpowered compared to alpha werewolf Brax or vampire Enforcer Liam. She’s well aware of this, so when confronted, her first line of defense is to run away, though her main super power seems to be pissing people off until they act rashly. At times, Aileen did put a toe over the “too stupid to live” line. She admits that she deliberately made the choice to not seek out more information about being a vampire, despite working with the paranormal community. She knows that the vampires would make her cut contact with her family and basically control her life – and she had enough of that in the military. As the book continues though she realizes that her ostrich act was not helpful. What information she does have she uses smartly, though, and through downright annoyance and manipulation she manages to save the day.

“Petty, I know, but sometimes you just had to allow your feelings to rule or end up regretting it years down the road. It was good for them to realize I wasn’t a doormat. That I had teeth, even if they were small, baby ones.”

Aileen’s got a bit of a chip on her shoulder, and doesn’t even really get along with her own family, who are convinced she either is an alcoholic or has PTSD. Her mother thinks she isn’t living up to her potential, so tries to find her own ways of controlling her. And that’s a theme through the book. Most of the other characters are textbook alpha holes, convinced they know what’s right for Aileen without ever really checking in with her or explaining anything to her. Everyone wants to control her in some way, and for the most part Aileen is powerless to stop it. She’s smart, though, and somehow usually finds a way to wriggle out a situation. The mystery plot was interesting and did its job of introducing the reader and Aileen to the cast of paranormal characters in Columbus. The world building was also decent, though there wasn’t much about it to distinguish this book from the majority of other urban fantasy series.

“The young these days are less likely to have the strength of will to cling to life after it has faded.”
“Okay, grandpa. I get it. My generation is the source of all ills in the world.”
“You are truly an irritating individual.”

Overall, this is a decent first entry in series, and I’d give it around 3.5 stars. I’ll definitely be picking up the next book just to see more of Aileen sassing way above her weight class.

Related Posts

  • Aileen Travers Series
  • By T.A. White
  • Same Genre
Moonlight's Ambassador
Review: Moonlight’s Ambassador – T. A. White
Twilight's Herald
Review: Twilight’s Herald – T. A. White
Dawn's Envoy
Review: Dawn’s Envoy – T. A. White
Midnight's Emissary
Review: Midnight’s Emissary – T.A. White
Twilight's Herald
Review: Twilight’s Herald – T. A. White
Midnight's Emissary
Review: Midnight’s Emissary – T.A. White
Dawn's Envoy
Review: Dawn’s Envoy – T. A. White
Threshold of Annihilation
Review: Threshold of Annihilation – T.A. White
Review: The Prince’s Poisoned Vow – Hailey Turner
Deadly Sweet cover
Review: Deadly Sweet – Lola Dodge
Thornbound
Review: Thornbound – Stephanie Burgis
Moonlight's Ambassador
Review: Moonlight’s Ambassador – T. A. White

You might also enjoy

Project Hail MaryReview: Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir
Review: Switch-Hitter – E.M. Lindsey
Dater's HandbookReview: Dater’s Handbook – Cara Lockwood
Previous:
Review: Ruthless Pride – Naima Simone
Next:
Review: Midnight’s Emissary – T.A. White

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About Me



READING LLAMA

Hi, my name is Lauren, and I’m the Reading Llama! I love reading books. My favorites usually include a female protagonist with at least a little bit of romance.

Twitter    Goodreads    RSS    email

Follow

Currently Reading

May Reviews

The Stardust Thief  by Chelsea AbdullahSomething Wilder by Christina LaurenJust Like Mother by Anne HeltzelForged in Flames by Ali WilliamsA Show for Two by Tashie BhuiyanUnder Fortunate Stars by Ren HutchingsIf You Want Me Close by Skye KilaenBlame It on the Brontes by Annie SerenoThe Prince's Poisoned Vow by Hailey Turner

Recently Read

Goodreads Challenge

2021 Reading Challenge

2021 Reading Challenge
Lauren has read 7 books toward her goal of 250 books.
hide
7 of 250 (2%)
view books

Reading Challenges

CBR13 Bingo

CBR13 bingo
July 1 - October 31

hide
12 of 25 (48%)

Badges

25 Book Reviews Reviews Published Professional Reader Frequently Auto-Approved Romanceopoly 2019 Participant

Latest Tweets

Tweets by llamareadsbooks

Archives

Currently Reading

Wanting a Witch Wanting a Witch by Lauren Connolly
Legends & Lattes Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree

Archives

  • Ghosts, a secret library and magic collide in a dystopian Edinburgh. Highly recommended!
  • This month’s sticker from the #RomStickerClub is super cute and SHINY!
  • Finished up my ARC of Jackie Lau’s His Grumpy Childhood Friend (out this Tuesday) and I loved this quote! “Practice”
  • Starting off with a quote from one of my favorite books, Charlie Adhara’s The Wolf at Bay, second in Big

Categories

  • Book Tour
  • Challenge
  • Cover Reveal
  • Excerpt
  • lol
  • Most Anticipated
  • PondathonII
  • Reviews
  • Sunday Update
  • TBR
  • Uncategorized
  • Wrap-Up

Copyright © 2022 · Dreams Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in