I was very disappointed by the first book in this series "Touch The Dark". I found there were too many characters and plot devices to keep track of. Yet, I found myself reaching to this book anyway. "Claimed By Shadow" was much better than "Touch the Dark". While Chance adds new characters to this book, I found them to be refreshing and well drawn out compared to many from the first book. The beginning of this book also slowed things down a little bit, which I appreciated as I felt I got the chance to really meet Cassie. I loved the interplay between Cassie and Pritkin and I don't know if Chance will build this into any kind of relationship in the future but the two of them have chemistry unlike Cassie and Mercia (the vampire) she has a supernatural connection with. Also Cassie has another kind of relationship with her friend turned betrayer Tomas. I don't understand where that is going yet either. All the supernatural side characters are a hoot. There is Billy the ghost, a pair of one eyed hag magical creatures, zombies, and others. I found this book to be a lot funnier than the first one also. The tale was slightly easier to understand, but I still can't give the story more than three stars. The overall plot is still cluttered. Descriptions, especially those trips back in time, and during body possessions, are too confusing. I have to backtrack more than I ever have with any books. Overall this tale is definitely better and I hope it continues to progressively improve. However, this is not one of the better urban fantasy/paranormaal fiction on the market. ( )

i forced myself to read this because i bought it... not a fan at all! will not be purchasing any more books by this author ( )

In the second book in this series Casey has become pythia or World clairvoyant. She does not want this and she tries to avoid it but she can’t. Since she did not fully finish the full ritual to become pythia, the pythia which is a living power in a since is trying to make Casey full the ritual. It does this by making her extremely attracted to almost any guy she meets. The reason for this is that to fulfill the ritual, Casey must lose her virginity. This book was good and had many plot twists that made the story interesting. I would recommend this book to any vampire fan. Tom

Cassandra Palmer would like a normal life, but now she is heir to the Pythia, the world's cheif clairvoyant, and has more power than she ever wanted. A power the Silver Circle and the Vampire Senate want control over. Unfortunately for her, this power has a mind of it's own, and it's wants the ritual that will make her finally Pythia completed, so it's doing all it can to make this happen, and some people have never looked so good to Cassie.

Then she finds out that Mircea had a geis on her, a magical spell which has now started to make itself known, acting like a big "keep off" sign to anyone who shows any interest.

If that wasn't enough, Myra, the original heir to the Pythia, is trying to screw up the timeline to get things to go her way. What's a girl to do when everyone wants to screw up your day?

This book was so much better than the first! No breaking up of the action now the world building is done and it runs a lot smoother. However, this girl sure as to deal with a huge amount! The whole book spans only two days, but Cassie finds herself in so many life threatening situations, it's mental! Normally, I don't like it when too much happens in a book as it feels like the book is jumping around too much, but it all flows rather well in this book.

It's very exciting and your sitting on the edge of your seat wondering whether things are going to go the way she wants, and wondering who she can trust, it's great. There's a passage that stood out for me:

Once upon a time, when I was a child reading fairy tales, I'd ached to have my own adventures. Not that I'd wanted to be some drippy heroine languishing in a tower, awaiting rescue. No, I'd wanted to be the knight charging into battle against overwhelming odds, or the plucky country lass who gets taken on as the apprentice to a great wizard. As I got older, I'd found out the hard way that adventures are rarely anything like the books say. Half the time you're scared out of your mind, and the rest you're bored and your feet hurt. I was beginning to believe that maybe I wasn't the adventurous type.

I really like that passage, it just struck a chord with me. You really get an idea of how she's feeling. It was such a great book, so exciting, I loved it! ( )

I was really looking forward to this book after reading the author's debut, "Touch the Dark." However, I found it somewhat disappointing. This was especially apparent when I went to read it last week and realized I already had! I forgot I had read this one and needed to start book 3. This rarely happens as I have a very good memory for books. I quickly scanned through the book again to familiarize myself with the story and realized why I didn't remember it. Despite the length, not much happens.

Cassie's power is different and intriguing, but has become something of a trap for the author. Cassie's main adversary here is Myra, who wants to be Pythia. Because clairvoyance is not an offensive weapon, but we still want it to be cool, Cassie spends a lot of the book time traveling to the past to stop Myra from disrupting the timeline. At first, this is interesting as she meets Mircea way before she was born, and learns about events that shape her present. Only, it got old pretty quick. Back and forth, back and forth. Myra understands these powers far more than Cassie so it always seems to be sheer luck that Cassie thwarts her at every turn.

Despite this, the book does cement Cassie as Pythia and there were some well done action scenes. The new twist of a geis put on her by Mircea could be fun if she doesn't go too far. Does she love him, or is it just the spell? And what about his feelings? I like it as a tool for sexual tension, but pushed too far it will take over the story (kind've like the ardeur - sex becomes compulsive not choice). I also liked that we got more information on the mages, in addition to the vampires. Pritkin is an annoying prick, but I suspect that he'll become more sympathetic in book 3. I agree with other reviewers that I would like to see her get a solid ally besides Billy. Someone she can trust who doesn't keep her constantly guessing at their motivations.

Overall, this entry wasn't nearly as strong as I had hoped, but I enjoyed it enough to want to read more of Cassie. The world is exciting, and her political landscape more and more interesting. Hopefully, "Embrace the Night" will grab me by the throat and not let go. Otherwise, there are other vampires in the urban landscape. ( )