Title: Shadow Falling
Author: Rebecca Zanetti
Series: Scorpius Syndrome #2
Pages: 279
Another Vanguard male falls in love! Raze is the mysterious new lieutenant who is clearly hiding his own agenda. Vivienne was a very successful FBI profiler who was kidnapped by the President and had drugs forced upon her. When Raze rescues her everything changes for both of them.
Vivienne, aka VInnie, was a very smart and courageous heroine. She is struggling to cope with PTSD and the side effects from the drugs used on her by the President. I really loved how Vinnie just jumped right into being a part of this community and was always trying to help. Her ability to profile people was very interesting and I liked seeing her work with it. Vinnie is also dealing with the side effects of the drugs used on her which means she is now seeing the ghost of her step mother and sometimes can read thoughts. I really thought this was interesting but wish there had been more exploration into it.
Raze is a dangerous and dominant man who is keeping a secret. I liked how quickly Raze started to fall for Vinnie, even if he didn’t put it into words until the end. He tried to say it was just to keep her close because of his mission but we all know it was because he caught the feelings. Raze did get on my nerves a few times with his controlling attitude though. I also found Raze’s actions about his secret to be annoying after a while. When pushed to tell the truth he is a bit of a coward and just puts it off for days. He uses Vinnie finding his hidden letter to get the truth out, which I found disappointing for this man who is always in control.
This book provides more information on the Mercenaries group that are enemies of the Vanguard. We only get to learn a little about them towards the end but I am very interested in learning more about this group now, especially Grayson. The President is still causing mayhem in this one and trying to capture Vivienne and Lynne. There wasn’t a lot of addition information for the overarching story about finding the Bunker, but I did enjoy learning more about these communities of survivors popping up. Overall, this was a good romance and a good continuation of this post-apocalypse story.
Trigger warnings: Heroine was kidnaped, beaten, and had drugs forced upon her in previous book; panic attacks; brief mention of an aunt’s suicide and depression; death of mother by serial killer briefly mentioned; kidnapping; threat of death; injuries; death;
Previous books and reviews for the series:
#0.5 Scorpius Rising
#1 Mercury Striking
Red-Haired Ash Reads 