Crimson Shadow: Forbidden Dance by Nathan Squiers

Xander promised Estella everything would be okay. And depending on how you want to look at things, I suppose everything is. Unfortunately, that's not Estella's view on things. She's one very unhappy witch and not in a forgiving mood.

While Estella is struggling to learn how to live with her new reality, Xander has found a home of sorts living in the woods with a pack of therions. Now he finds himself searching for Estella every chance he gets, trying to assuage his guilt and writing letters to her. In addition to all this, he gets to explain Christmas to the pack leader. As if they needed another excuse to throw a party.

But we all know this wouldn't be a Squiers book if Xander didn't have new challenges to face, and he provides them in plenty. A ragged looking group of mythos finds their way to his "doorstep." Exhausted and terrified as they try to stay ahead of a pair of killers out to annihilate every member of their house. Life may not be looking up for Xander, but he's been handed a new purpose, and just maybe a new family. If they survive what's coming. The concept the Odin clan was founded on may rise again if Xander can get his act together.

This book has so much more packed into it than any that came before. We're given a look at Joseph Stryker's vision for the mythos community at large. Xander has lost everyone who mattered to him and must struggle to build a life from ashes. How he does that could only have come from the pen (or computer) of Nathan Squiers.

This is more than just a fantasy world of mythos and paranormal love gone awry. In this one book, we don't just find a way to escape our own reality and immerse ourselves in a world of another's creation. We are given subtle examples of how to go on when our own struggles become overwhelming, though I seriously doubt that was Squiers intent when he wrote this book. Am I reading something into it that isn't there? Possibly. (I blame my English lit instructor for that perception.)

Forbidden Dance is a beautifully crafted work of art. Squiers continually rounds out both new and old characters and gives them a depth that only the finest wordsmiths can achieve. He truly is a Bard in his chosen genre. Well written, perfectly edited. I was gifted a beta copy of this story in exchange for an honest review. 5 stars

This book is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.