Pure passionate perfection.  Delaney's Shadow is hauntingly poetic, heart rendering and beyond incredible.

In Delaney's Shadow, Ingrid Weaver crafts a story that will leave the reader mesmerized within the pages and the lives of the characters.  Many layers are blended together to create an incredibly unique and memory-staying tale of love, loss, mystery, intrigue and indestructible bonds. 

Delaney Wainwright and John Maxwell Harrison were given an amazing and miraculous gift when Max saved Delaney from drowning as a toddler.  Delaney believes this gift of mental communication is nothing more than her mind making up an imaginary friend.  Years later, as she recovers from a devastating accident that claimed the life of her husband and left her badly burned, she once again conjures up imaginary Max to help her through.  Max, however, has had a difficult time of life, after being wrongly accused of attempted murder, doing time in prison and establishing a fairly satisfying life, once he is released, the reappearance of Delaney is anything but welcome. 

Max wants nothing more than to erase his abusive past from his mind, while Delaney is dead set on recovering her memory of that horrible night of the accident.  With the mindset of making Delaney “grow up” Max attempts to tell Delaney that he is actually a real person, rather than a figment of her imagination.  Instead of believing this, however, she continues to question her sanity.  It is when their grown-up games become games of passion and sensuality that all the rules begin to change. 

Will Max be able to convince Delaney that he is, indeed, real and that her past is better left in the past before it is too late?  Or will Delaney be able to reach into Max's soul to allow him the freedom to love and have faith in another human being?  Can the strong and unbreakable connection of two battered minds and souls overcome and find strength in the physical?

Delaney's Shadow is written in such a way that I was quickly and easily absorbed.  The story begins with Delaney arriving back at her Grandmother's house and her hometown of Willowbank.  Vivid and heart wrenching nightmares plague Delaney as she tries to recover from her extensive stay in the hospital and burn treatments.  She also suffers amnesia and knows that she must fill in those gaps, before the car accident, to rid herself of the nightmares.  Ingrid Weaver does an excellent job of weaving these recaptured memories throughout the story.  For me, this added another vivid dimension, as did the mental meetings of the characters Max and Delaney.

Ms. Weaver seemingly effortlessly crafts a story that is amazingly sensual, emotional, realistic and  gripping with Delaney's Shadow.  I have to say that, for me, this is one that will stay with me for a very long time.  I loved both characters passionately, felt their pain, felt their sensuality, and wanted them to finally find peace and happiness.  This is a story that not only captured my heart, but also my soul.  I truly cannot recommend Delaney's Shadow highly enough.  I eagerly await more works by Ingrid Weaver.  At the end of this story, there is a sneak peek into a follow-up, which has left me deeply yearning!

~ April