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Denied (Shadowed Love, Book Two)

by Kinley Baker (Goodreads Author)

4.2 of 5 stars 4.20 · rating details · 10 ratings · 6 reviews

When invaders brutally massacred the women and children of the Varner, Caleb witnessed loss and destruction on a scale few can comprehend. As the leader of a race on the brink of extinction, his only hope for survival is gaining acceptance into the Shadow Shifter Kingdom. Struggling with new customs, he meets Tabitha, a woman who challenges his limits.

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280 pages

Published July 2nd 2012 by Crescent Moon Press

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Jan 02, 2013 VampireRomanceBooks ThatsErotica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Denied is a Shadowed Love Novel. Caleb is now the leader of the Varner people. He is seeking to become part of the Shadow Shifter society to save his race. He sees Tabitha, a Shadow Shifter with a warrior spirit. He knows right away she is the one for him.

I really liked the story between Caleb and Tabitha. He is dealing with the loss of his society’s women and children, and trying to find a way to help his people thrive. Tabitha dreams of being in the royal guard, and she is fighting to do somet...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Wendy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Denied opens with Caleb, the leader of the alien tribe that is currently squatting near the Shadow Shifter’s castle, meeting with King Valerian. Caleb wishes for his displaced warriors to be accepted among the Shadow Shifters, but there’s a snag. The Varner warriors are the only people to attack the kingdom. Ever. So, Caleb’s offer to help protect the Vale’s kingdom from invasion falls a little flat. Vale is a man who thinks several steps ahead. His gut tells him that Caleb is trustworthy. At th...more Denied opens with Caleb, the leader of the alien tribe that is currently squatting near the Shadow Shifter’s castle, meeting with King Valerian. Caleb wishes for his displaced warriors to be accepted among the Shadow Shifters, but there’s a snag. The Varner warriors are the only people to attack the kingdom. Ever. So, Caleb’s offer to help protect the Vale’s kingdom from invasion falls a little flat. Vale is a man who thinks several steps ahead. His gut tells him that Caleb is trustworthy. At the same time, he knows his people’s collective gut will not unless Vale can say, 100% convinced, that the Varner have been accepted by their Ancestors. So, after Caleb assures the king that the Varner men will not be kidnapping village women, Vale gives the Varner warriors a good faith task to complete.

Caleb breaks his promise to Vale almost immediately when he comes upon a woman practicing with sword. He feels a change within him that he’s been waiting for all of his life. The Shadow Shifter woman is his aroha, and she is dropping her left arm. He steps in to correct her form. When he tells her that he will never allow her to see battle, she takes his words as supreme arrogance. She tells him her name only to keep him from kissing her.

Three days later, Caleb stands in a town recently abandoned by the kingdom’s neighbors, the Gaspar. All that remains is a body being picked apart by birds and a Varner sword lying nearby. Needing Vale’s trust, Caleb decides to take the body and blade back to the Shadow Shifters’ king, even while knowing that telling the truth could ruin everything he’s working for if Vale doesn’t believe him.

Author Kinley Baker played with cultural taboo in her Shadowed Love series’ first novel Ruined, when she put reluctant King Vale under the spell of a woman his people considered a disastrous match. In Denied, she sets ambition and desire at odds, gives both a pistol, and orders them to start walking. The reader has about twenty paces to guess which of our fated lovers—Tabitha or Caleb—has the faster draw. The answer may surprise.

Souls in the Shadow Shifter kingdom are born with one of four gifts by their Ancestor gods: warrior, healer, seer, or sensitive. Tabitha was born with a warrior spirit, but being a woman, social mores demand that she ignore her calling. Her father set up a fruit stand to give her a feminine occupation. She is expected to marry and have children. Tabitha rejects being swaddled and stuffed into that box. She wants to serve on the king’s guard. Her best friend Max is not the best of swordsmen, but he helps her prepare for the day she’ll fight to earn her place.

Caleb is an open-minded guy. Although he clings to the traditions of a dying race, he is willing to make sacrifices for the bigger picture. A series of unfortunate events revealed that the Varner can successfully mate with Shadow Shifter women. Caleb prays to the “gods in the sky” because his men are at the mercy of King Vale’s superstition and judgment. With Tabitha, he beats down the voice inside that says she shouldn’t handle weapons because he knows she will not accept him as her mate unless he accepts that much about her. And still she denies him.

A common trait of sentient beings, be they mortals, Varner, Shadow Shifters, is a tendency to paint our opinions—informed by our upbringing and experiences—over whatever scene lies before us. This is a huge factor in Denied. It fills in the shadows of every level of the novel, but it wreaks havoc on Tabitha and Caleb’s relationship. Her continued rejection of Caleb’s claim to her is bolstered by her father holding her back, by the teasing of fellow villagers, by her gut reaction to men who recognize her skill yet still dismiss her for being a woman. Caleb is different, which is part of why she loves him, but his words and actions accidentally offend her chafed self-esteem. At times, he seems to view her as fragile, and at others, property, all without consulting her about what exactly what they are to each other.

Tabitha frustrates Caleb because she doesn’t respond the way a Varner woman would to his claim. She should be happy to have found her one true mate. Having lost every woman and child of his race, he sees her ability to protect herself as a bonus, because maybe if the Varner had taught their women to fight, their people would be on the brink of extinction. She should be grateful to lay down her weapons, to let him care for her like the precious gift that she is to him. But, Tabitha insists that someday she will fight in battle along with the Shadow Shifter guards. He doesn’t understand why she would want to. He doesn’t mean to be possessive, but she’s the only woman for him. When he says he won’t let her fight in battle, what he means to say is that he can’t risk losing her.

Perhaps, if the two had sat down and given the other long enough to explain their positions, they would have sorted things out way sooner than they did…but, what fun would that have been?

Readers who liked Ruined will love Denied. I would also recommend the novel to fans of paranormal romance.(less)

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Aug 01, 2012 Tien rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: blog-tour, fantasy, romance

This book is set approximately 9 months after the first book, Ruined. Caleb, of the Varner, finally approached King Vale with the request to join the Shadow Shifters Kingdom. We met Caleb in the first book where he was revealed as a giant ‘alien’ warrior. He and his men escaped their world when their women and children were slain and hope for a new world where they may settle. Not only just to live but also to survive as a race. To find women who can bear their children. This is a weighty burden...more

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Nov 19, 2012 A.R. Von rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: rr-2012-challenge

Another great read by Kinley Baker! She created another beautiful touching story about two souls coming together as one after many trials, tests and acceptances. Get ready to be sucked into these pages, pages that all paranormal and romance readers will enjoy :)

Tabitha is one strong, determined and impressionable woman that many judge because of her choices in life. They really aren't horrible choices, she just choices to use her honed warrior skills to become a guard to help defend the king, qu...more Another great read by Kinley Baker! She created another beautiful touching story about two souls coming together as one after many trials, tests and acceptances. Get ready to be sucked into these pages, pages that all paranormal and romance readers will enjoy :)

Tabitha is one strong, determined and impressionable woman that many judge because of her choices in life. They really aren't horrible choices, she just choices to use her honed warrior skills to become a guard to help defend the king, queen and all of the people in their realm. But it’s unheard of for a female to be in with the guards and virtually impossible. Well at least that’s what everyone says. But she's determined to prove them wrong and prove her worth. No matter what it takes, even if she must ask for help from another.

Caleb was introduced to us in Ruined and I loved him from the start. A very intelligent, reasonable and respectable male that only wants what’s best for his people, to survive and prosper after losing all of their woman and children some years back and feeling nothing but guilt and remorse ever since. He’s hoping that staying where they are will allow them to find the one(s) that are the other part to their soul’s, to become complete by finding the one and only woman that each Varner is destined for, only one chance to experience a true mating with their perfect female and only one chance to prove their worth.

Once Caleb and Tabitha lay eyes on each other they are almost inseparable, the chemistry between them jumps off of the pages it's so intense. Tabitha is not sure of what is going on with the way she feels about Caleb but does know she’s never desired another as she desires him. Caleb knows exactly what is going on, but dares not try to explain to his beauty of a woman for fear of startling her away from him. That he could not bear. The two of them together is a force to be reckoned with. They are one intense team!

We are visited from the main characters in the last book and introduced to some new ones. Each added their own perfect touch that made this story a complete and satisfying read. You will laugh, cry and sigh from all that happens and be left wanting more from these amazing characters :)
(less)

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Aug 15, 2012 Simone rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is book 2 of the Shadowed Love Series, the story opens with Caleb trying to prove his people worthy of residing in the Shadow Shifters kingdom. He promises that he and his men, the only survivors of his kingdom, will leave the Shadow women alone until they have proven themselves honorable…Then he finds his ahora, the woman he is to be with. I loved this story, although a work of fiction, exemplifies how different cultures have different ideals and religious beliefs. As in the story, Caleb w...more

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Dec 22, 2012 Teresa D. rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Shelves: blog-review, book-tour, received-for-review

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Shelves: wishlist

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Shelves: coming-up-reviews

Aug 16, 2012 The_Book_Queen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, romance, paranormal, e-book, own, fantasy, mages, magic, virgin-hero

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About Kinley Baker

Kinley Baker has a terminally tender heart and an inconvenient sense of humor. She loves puppies and cries at celebrity weddings. Kinley believes that romance novels are the keys to world peace, because if you're holding a book, you can't be holding a gun. Kinley supports all supernatural lifestyles and believes "happy ever after" isn't only for the normal. Her books Ruined, Denied and Freed are a...more

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Denied (Shadowed Love, Book Two)

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