Ariana Nash doesn't disappoint with her new foray into M/M urban fantasy set in London, where magical artifacts and those who would do harm with them are hunted by the Kempthorne & Co. Artefact Retrieval Agency. The atmosphere is eerie and scintillating; it's a world where magic can be both very dangerous and alluring. I really liked the aura/light world building of this Xmen world. But the details about it are few and sometimes confusing. I hope future books explain more about the powers, types of abilities, and nearly everything about Latents. Joe has one of his viewings and sees from Lucy's perspective exactly what happened to Tommy. She was angry with Tommy for being a bad influence on her brainiac son. Gus now spends all his time boxing and plans to quit school. Tommy also pesters Lucy and foisted himself on her. When he grabbed her, she pushed him over and Tommy banged his head on a toolbox. It was self-defense, but she wasn't about to reveal her role in his injury. It shouldn’t matter that Kempthorne’s world is full of deadly secrets. It shouldn’t matter that the billionaire is sexy as sin, and it really shouldn’t matter how there’s an American agent stalking Dom, an American who knows more than he should about Dom’s case, including the real reason Alexander Kempthorne hired Dom. Overall, I found this an excellent work of historical fiction. I feel that aside from a riveting political thriller, Andrew Taylor effortlessly captures a sense of life in 17th Century London portraying characters from a variety of social classes. I look forward to whatever comes next for James and Cat.

There's Kempthrone, his boss, who seems to have his own agenda. And who has secrets that get unravelled bit by bit. Very intriguing, hot, and straight (?).

Summary

Joseph was desperate to save his sister Amy who disappeared when he was a teenager. Her disappearance was the catalyst that destroyed the happy life his family once knew. He always believed that if he could just rewind time and change history that everything would be perfect again. It seemed that it would be at first. Then he realized that altering time has consequences. Changed events change the trajectory of people's life, people's personality, and so many other small things.

With a mixture of real and fictional characters, this tale of intrigue and power imbalance is well up to standard in a series that has set a benchmark for this historical mystery fiction.” - The Guardian In a London that's littered with dangerous, magical artifacts, and latents who can use them to boost their own magical powers, tensions run high, and someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes. Someone or some thing is lurking in the shadows... and has Dom in their sights.For the first quarter of the Shadows of London I was adrift, not really enjoying all the people and gruesome events. It all seemed to chop and change. The thread, if it was there, was tangled but not in an enticing way like most thrillers. Then it improved, the stakes became clearer, the confusion dwindled, and a really exciting historical tale unfolded. The parts with a new mistress for Charles II didn't really add much to the plot even though it's linked to the missing men. All these huge changes and it’s sometimes the smallest details that are the hardest to get your head around. Yeats was caught up in one of the craziest moments in this secret society's history. At a meeting headed by the poet in London in April 1900, a former member of the Golden Dawn named Aleister Crowley burst into the society's premises in Blythe Road, threatening members with knives and attempting to take over the building. The resulting chaos led to the police being called and matters being taken to court. This didn't put Yeats off — he remained a member of the Golden Dawn until the 1920s when the society splintered into a number of different organisations. As always after the main text, Andrew Taylor provides details about the historical figures and events that informed the novel. I was somewhat familiar with Louise de Keroualle from Anthony Capella’s ‘The Empress of Ice Cream’ and it was interesting to see her story told from a different perspective.

So yes, love Dom, but my favorite character (so far) is Kempthorne. I ALWAYS fall for the flawed anti-hero, the one with trauma and secrets and lies and wheels within wheels. The one who isn't sure who he is, but he always tries so hard to do the right thing. Divine🔥. The world-building was excellent. There was no excessive info-dumping, so it made for a smooth read. It was all easy to understand so this new world made a lot of sense to me. Molly the antique shop's manager made tea for Other Joe with plenty of milk and sugar, but Joe was a coffee man and couldn't stomach her sweet and milky concoction. His boss, Alexander Kempthorne, is an enigmatic billionaire with a closet full of secrets, not to mention being very easy on the eye. He never seems to keep any kind of romantic company, and Dom is curious why. And whether maybe he'd be in with a chance. If Kempthorne wasn't his boss. And totally unobtainable. Latent are humans with special/magical abilities. Artifacts are objects that hold a kind of magical charge (psychic burn) due to traumatic events linked to them: a knife used to kill someone could become a powerful artifact, a doll belonging to an abused child, etc. The more horrific the event, the more powerful and dangerous the artifact is. If a latent gets his hands on an artifact, they can use it to amplify their own power, and they can also use it as a weapon. The strongest artifacts are like beacons for latents, it’s calling them and it is very hard for a latent to resist the call of a strong artifact. If a latent gets its hands on one of the strongest artifacts, the pull is often too strong, the latent loses control and it results in an explosion of power, killing the latent and destroying everything in the direct vicinity.One of the things that I really enjoyed in this book is the picture it paints of John Evelyn, the writer and diarist, bibliophile and horticulturalist. He was a contemporary of Samuel Pepys. His diary covers the years from 1640 to 1706 when he died. And now I want to find out more about him. I guess he wasn't done traveling yet. But, who is W.P. Brown and why does he need Joe to solve the mystery of 1962? Kempthorne’s real smile melted all the leftover ice in his glare. “I simply meant you’re worth more than any man there and you needn’t have felt uncomfortable.” Cat and Marwood find themselves in the centre of a murky world and I must say Marwood must have a very tough head after the amount of times he is set upon in this novel.