Master of Shadows: Janet Lorimer

Ariel's nanny always told her tales about the forest near the family's summer cottage, and about the beast that supposedly haunted those woods. Ariel is a woman grown now though, her mother is sick, and her nanny has another story; a story of a healing spring hidden deep in those self-same woods. As rational adults will do Ariel brushes off both stories but she ventures into the woods at her mothers’ insistence and finds more then she bargained for and more then most could ever hope to find in their lifetime.

Ariel McPherson was raised as a pampered society darling and was preparing for her marriage to the son of her father's closest friend until it all came crashing down. Her father disappeared amidst a scandal of gambling debts and financial tangles and Ariel and her mother were forced to take residence in the summer cottage. Her mother quickly slipped into a delusional state and began pleading for the healing water. Ariel's midnight visit to the forest would bring her face-to-not-quite-face with the mysterious being that inhabits the forest. He lets her go with a warning about the dangers of trespassing but the next day she receives an offer from him that could change her life, and his, forever. Along the way she will also learn the truth about her father, and why he disappeared so suddenly and painfully from their lives.

The story was written as somewhat of a "Beauty and the Beast" type fairytale and it was good, though a bit predictable. I confess that I had most of it figured out after the first one-third but that could be because I've simply read too much and I'm becoming jaded. It's not a terribly deep or mind-bending read but it is sweet and sweetness definitely has its place.
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Paperback: 248 pages
Publisher: Juno Books (October 1, 2007)
ISBN-13: 978-0809557820
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