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The Gifted #3
Son of the Shadows
Jean-Marc de Devereaux, son of the magical House of the Shadows and its most powerful mage, loses a part of himself when a demon ravages his soul. Though an intense union with Isabelle De Bouvard--a powerful mage--enables Jean-Marc to recover his soul, the union costs his forbidden lover her powers. And the powers of darkness still call out to him. If Jean-Marc heeds that call and kills Isabelle, the world will fall to the evil unleashed by their worst enemy--Isabelle's twin sister.Somehow Jean-Marc must learn to control his deadly impulses and restore Isabelle's memories. And the only way to do that might be impossible. For he must open himself to that most treacherous of all human emotions--love....
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 2008
About the author
Nancy Holder
355 books2,408 followersNancy Holder, New York Times Bestselling author of the WICKED Series, has just published CRUSADE - the first book in a new vampire series cowritten with Debbie Viguie. The last book her her Possession series is set to release in March 2011.
Nancy was born in Los Altos, California, and her family settled for a time in Walnut Creek. Her father, who taught at Stanford, joined the navy and the family traveled throughout California and lived in Japan for three years. When she was sixteen, she dropped out of high school to become a ballet dancer in Cologne, Germany, and later relocated to Frankfurt Am Main.
Eventually she returned to California and graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at San Diego with a degree in Communications. Soon after, she began to write; her first sale was a young adult romance novel titled Teach Me to Love.
Nancy’s work has appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, amazon.com, LOCUS, and other bestseller lists. A four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, she has also received accolades from the American Library Association, the American Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and Romantic Times.
She and Debbie Viguié co-authored the New York Times bestselling series Wicked for Simon and Schuster. They have continued their collaboration with the Crusade series, also for Simon and Schuster, and the Wolf Springs Chronicles for Delacorte (2011.) She is also the author of the young adult horror series Possessions for Razorbill. She has sold many novels and book projects set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Saving Grace, Hellboy, and Smallville universes.
She has sold approximately two hundred short stories and essays on writing and popular culture. Her anthology, Outsiders, co-edited with Nancy Kilpatrick, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award in 2005.
She teaches in the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, offered through the University of Southern Maine. She has previously taught at UCSD and has served on the Clarion Board of Directors.
She lives in San Diego, California, with her daughter Belle, their two Corgis, Panda and Tater; and their cats, David and Kittnen Snow. She and Belle are active in Girl Scouts and dog obedience training.
Nancy was born in Los Altos, California, and her family settled for a time in Walnut Creek. Her father, who taught at Stanford, joined the navy and the family traveled throughout California and lived in Japan for three years. When she was sixteen, she dropped out of high school to become a ballet dancer in Cologne, Germany, and later relocated to Frankfurt Am Main.
Eventually she returned to California and graduated summa cum laude from the University of California at San Diego with a degree in Communications. Soon after, she began to write; her first sale was a young adult romance novel titled Teach Me to Love.
Nancy’s work has appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, amazon.com, LOCUS, and other bestseller lists. A four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers Association, she has also received accolades from the American Library Association, the American Reading Association, the New York Public Library, and Romantic Times.
She and Debbie Viguié co-authored the New York Times bestselling series Wicked for Simon and Schuster. They have continued their collaboration with the Crusade series, also for Simon and Schuster, and the Wolf Springs Chronicles for Delacorte (2011.) She is also the author of the young adult horror series Possessions for Razorbill. She has sold many novels and book projects set in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Saving Grace, Hellboy, and Smallville universes.
She has sold approximately two hundred short stories and essays on writing and popular culture. Her anthology, Outsiders, co-edited with Nancy Kilpatrick, was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award in 2005.
She teaches in the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program, offered through the University of Southern Maine. She has previously taught at UCSD and has served on the Clarion Board of Directors.
She lives in San Diego, California, with her daughter Belle, their two Corgis, Panda and Tater; and their cats, David and Kittnen Snow. She and Belle are active in Girl Scouts and dog obedience training.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 31, 2023
How do I even begin to describe how disorienting this entire book is.
Granted, I came in on this series from the thrift store & there was no clear indication of others in the series, it still was not worth the dollar I spent. Every 4th words someone says is randomly french. Jean-Marc is a perfect Gary stu and def not a character I rooted for by any means. Izzy is the most annoying female protag I've ever encountered. Each time him and Izzy had sex Izzy wasn't even conscious. It's very close to rape territory, but this isn't dark fantasy, despite all the over the top "villain" themes. Their friends were entirely pointless.
Anyway I can't even describe the plot because it's painful to follow and after the first "spicy" (which was lukewarm at best) teasing scene I started blatantly skimming for any morsel of excitement I could get. Guess what? Such a painful slog from beginning to end, I just wanted out. Wish I could have that day back but oh well, at least this review exists.
Granted, I came in on this series from the thrift store & there was no clear indication of others in the series, it still was not worth the dollar I spent. Every 4th words someone says is randomly french. Jean-Marc is a perfect Gary stu and def not a character I rooted for by any means. Izzy is the most annoying female protag I've ever encountered. Each time him and Izzy had sex Izzy wasn't even conscious. It's very close to rape territory, but this isn't dark fantasy, despite all the over the top "villain" themes. Their friends were entirely pointless.
Anyway I can't even describe the plot because it's painful to follow and after the first "spicy" (which was lukewarm at best) teasing scene I started blatantly skimming for any morsel of excitement I could get. Guess what? Such a painful slog from beginning to end, I just wanted out. Wish I could have that day back but oh well, at least this review exists.
March 15, 2019
I like these books ‘The Gifted’. But I do find the heroine Izzy totally annoying. I keep shouting for her to make up her mind and not be so irritating. The concept and the writing are good but there is just something missing. After reading over six hundred pages at the end I felt cheated. It ended so abruptly I wanted to know more of what happened at the end between Izzy and Jean Marc. It was almost as though the author lost interest or didn’t know what to write.
February 8, 2026
Nice read
For some reason, this book isn't quite as engaging as the previous two books in the series. It seems a bit thin. Still love the characters, though!
For some reason, this book isn't quite as engaging as the previous two books in the series. It seems a bit thin. Still love the characters, though!
September 3, 2013
Definitely 1 1/2 stars!
The things that I like are basically the same as for the previous books in the gifted series. I definitely didn’t like the voodoo-laced, demonic worshipping aspect of this novel. The House of Blood was so stereotypically evil that it stopped being believable. The reality is that none of these Houses are as they appear. Arguably, since the mad Lilliane is the one who represented the authority of the Malcahnces and is obviously self-obsessed and self-delusional, then maybe I could make an exception, but I think the author simply wrote it this way.
Also Paul, Izzy and Jean-Marc was a weird triangle. To be honest they started reminding me of Buffy and Angel and I was hoping one of them would die to make that threesome go away. They argue and accuse and forgive and shy away then they come to (or are coerced into) an agreement to argue and disagree all over again. Very annoying.
I admit that I do like the ending and the idea of a newer and more composite alliances and that they may all be banding together to form a new House.
I'm sighing as I think it, but I’ll simply have to conclude this. Like I said before it’s a light read which can be made into light movie. Nothing more and, hopefully, nothing less.
The things that I like are basically the same as for the previous books in the gifted series. I definitely didn’t like the voodoo-laced, demonic worshipping aspect of this novel. The House of Blood was so stereotypically evil that it stopped being believable. The reality is that none of these Houses are as they appear. Arguably, since the mad Lilliane is the one who represented the authority of the Malcahnces and is obviously self-obsessed and self-delusional, then maybe I could make an exception, but I think the author simply wrote it this way.
Also Paul, Izzy and Jean-Marc was a weird triangle. To be honest they started reminding me of Buffy and Angel and I was hoping one of them would die to make that threesome go away. They argue and accuse and forgive and shy away then they come to (or are coerced into) an agreement to argue and disagree all over again. Very annoying.
I admit that I do like the ending and the idea of a newer and more composite alliances and that they may all be banding together to form a new House.
I'm sighing as I think it, but I’ll simply have to conclude this. Like I said before it’s a light read which can be made into light movie. Nothing more and, hopefully, nothing less.
March 3, 2016
Finishing this book was almost painful!
The villain is more like a cartoon character than an actual person. The only reaction she elicits is an eye roll. Holder is trying too hard here.
The heroine is tiresome. We already went through the whole these people are crazy-lying-con-artists-cultists thing in the first book. Did we really need a repeat of that? This time Pat is along, and he's annoying too. Then there's the fact that Izzy goes on and on about loving and needing Pat, but as soon as she leaves him behind in New York she realises that she didn't really love him. This just so she can have her epiphany about JeanMarc being all alone, because no one in his world believes in love. I call bullshit!
The ending was frustrating to say the least. Why did the demon Le Devourer just go away? And really more sex magic? Really? I liked the idea of a new mixed house. And the fact that Izzy is now Jean-Marc's wife strongly suggests that she recovered, I'd have liked her to be more actively present in the last scene.
The villain is more like a cartoon character than an actual person. The only reaction she elicits is an eye roll. Holder is trying too hard here.
The heroine is tiresome. We already went through the whole these people are crazy-lying-con-artists-cultists thing in the first book. Did we really need a repeat of that? This time Pat is along, and he's annoying too. Then there's the fact that Izzy goes on and on about loving and needing Pat, but as soon as she leaves him behind in New York she realises that she didn't really love him. This just so she can have her epiphany about JeanMarc being all alone, because no one in his world believes in love. I call bullshit!
The ending was frustrating to say the least. Why did the demon Le Devourer just go away? And really more sex magic? Really? I liked the idea of a new mixed house. And the fact that Izzy is now Jean-Marc's wife strongly suggests that she recovered, I'd have liked her to be more actively present in the last scene.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 26, 2010
I wish zero stars was an option...
I never finished reading this book for several reasons:
First and foremost, the start was a jumbled mess that seemed as if portions had been removed in order to make the book shorter.
Second, the book starts with a rape of the heroine by the hero. Not a 'forced seduction' but an outright blatant rape scene. Not my idea of a 'heroic act' regardless of the justification given.
A friend of mine who picked it up off my coffee table and glanced at it was also appalled by the jumbled start and the rape scene. Neither of us had any desire to finish it.
I do not recommend this book, unless you like books that seem disjointed at the start and feature the rape of the heroine.
Note: I bought this book because I'd been interested in submitting erotic romances to Silhouette Nocturne. After reading the start I'm not so sure I'd be a good fit with this publisher. Rape is not cool.
I never finished reading this book for several reasons:
First and foremost, the start was a jumbled mess that seemed as if portions had been removed in order to make the book shorter.
Second, the book starts with a rape of the heroine by the hero. Not a 'forced seduction' but an outright blatant rape scene. Not my idea of a 'heroic act' regardless of the justification given.
A friend of mine who picked it up off my coffee table and glanced at it was also appalled by the jumbled start and the rape scene. Neither of us had any desire to finish it.
I do not recommend this book, unless you like books that seem disjointed at the start and feature the rape of the heroine.
Note: I bought this book because I'd been interested in submitting erotic romances to Silhouette Nocturne. After reading the start I'm not so sure I'd be a good fit with this publisher. Rape is not cool.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 14, 2009
I must admit, this was probably my favorite of all the books in this series. As before, I appreciated the elements of suspense and horror, but enjoyed the focus on the growing love between Izzy and Jean Marc. Especially watching Jean Marc surrendor to his love for Izzy and saving her from a horrible fate. I must also mention the ending was right up my alley! If I can ever find them, I would be interested in reading Daughter of the Shadows and Son of the Sea. Of the three books, I would recommend this one to readers, but caution that reading the previous books gave me a better understandig and appreciation of the story.
Read
August 14, 2008This is the story of Jean Marc who is a powerful mage. He loves Isabelle but he becomes possessed with a dark demon. He has to fight the demon so that he does not kill Isabelle. I usually try not to say anything negative about stories since everyone has different taste. I did not enjoy this read and mostly skimmed through this story.
January 3, 2016
What a horrible ending to what was a great series!! It feels like the writer just gave up on the story and just spewed nonsense. And the ending left so many unanswered questions. Is she well? Is she in a coma like her mom? Crap ending. No resolution and feels unfinished.
Read
August 28, 2008Interesting read. I enjoyed the premise of the book and the writing style was pleasing.
August 14, 2010
I followed this series and had to look hard for it, but it was definetly worth it. It is a different take on paranormal and sucks you right in. Check them out you won't be sorry.
August 29, 2010
This was a great read. There were so many differant idea's going on that it just sparked with me and drew me completely into the story.
December 22, 2010
I wish that she'd write more in this series; but it all came together well. Sort of.
April 18, 2012
October 2008
unread
September 7, 2011After determining Nocturne doesn't agree with me, cleaning the remainders off the shelf.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews