This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review. Also my tags may have spoilers in them so be forewarned before checking out full review.

Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔
Hero: 🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻
Heroine:🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖📖
Narration:🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧
Ending:🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨✨


First Impressions
Lord of Shadows is a medieval historical romance that is part of the "Executioner Knights" series and I was in the mood for a softer heroine, so I picked up one of her older books and decided on Lord of Shadows cause it had a knight rescuing a damsel type of scene and I am glad that I picked this one up. I really needed a good historical that would pull me in and I was looking for an audiobook that I could do. LOVE Brad Wills, he does some of the best narrations. This is set around the time of the reign of King John in the early 1200's. I found the premise of this story so fascinating, it has a sense of forbidden, courtly politics and some soft sweet courting. So it definitely delivered a solid story.

First Line
He shouldn't have bothered.

The Main Protagonists
The Hero: Sir Sean de Lara (Lord of Shadows)
The Heroine: Lady Sheridan St. James

Summary
Sir Sean, or also known as the Lord of the Shadows, is the right hand man of King John. He has built the king's trust for almost a decade and dedicated his life to building that trust because not everything is at is seems with the Lord of Shadows. Lady Sheridan is pulled into his magnetism when her sister almost commits suicide and Sir Sean is the knight that saves her life. Even though Sheridan is part of the group that is in rebellion against the king, she can't resist the pull that she feels for Sir Sean. Because despite his position and his terrifying reputation, when he is with her, she feels cherished in a way she has never experienced. But there are dangerous secrets about Sir Sean's true mission and those secrets could destroy the sweet love they have...

What I Loved
I found the time era so fascinating, I am not sure that I have ever read this type of court politics before and it was interesting to see how the author really dug deep into it. I really love how she implements Welsh plot lines within her stories. No other author writes them like she does. And if you want a more authentic heroine, then I definitely recommend this one here. The sweet courting between them was so endearing. I liked the dynamic of the dangerous plot and the poignant soft endearing and very romantic love story that builds. It delivered some unique elements to the story. And wow what a ending. I didn't want to put it down and I loved how it kept me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen in those moments.

What I Struggled With
Some of the pacing could have been better, but that might have been my fault as I probably had the speed of the narration too fast, I normally keep it slower but I didn't this time and I am wishing I had kept it at 1.3 instead of 1.6x.

Narration
Brad Wills is actually one of my favorite historical narrators, and especially if you want a medieval feeling narrator, he needs to be your goto! I actually adored the moments. I do think you will need to keep it slower than you normally have. Not that he has super strong accents, but he does a full cast and to get the best enjoyment keep it around 1.35x speed.

Overall View
Lord of Shadow was a brilliantly mastered historical that really showcased the time period in a authentic way. Its a tale to keep you edgy, thrilled, and swoony from beginning to end!

Book Details (also in my shelves)
Sub Genre: Historical Romance
Time Era: The Normans, The Plantagenets, House of Lancaster
Character Types: Knights, Bodyguard, Spy, Soft Heroine
Themes: Tear Jerker, Court Politics, Heart/Emotionally Touching, Couple A Courting
Tropes: Forbidden Love, Forced Proximity

Book Perspective
3rd POV

Relationship Conflict vs Plot Conflict
Plot Conflict

If you like these authors, I recommend This Book
Julie Garwood
Amanda Quick
Elizabeth Lowell

Recommendation For Reading Order
You can read as a standalone

Steam/Spice Explanations

Simmering cup of tea---soft warm touches and light intimacy
Warmin' by the fire- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments.
Steamin' up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.
Blazing fire to the building-The prime focus is the sex scenes, scorching hot, and could burn one. Less focus on the emotional intimacy to the relationship.

Narrators:
Brad Wills