I’m not as familiar with boilerplate plotlines in paranormal romance as I am with other subgenres, so I can’t say that Delaney’s Shadow was unusual with that much authority; however, it was unlike anything else I have ever read.

When Delaney Wainright was a toddler, she fell into a pond and nearly drowned. She was rescued by John Maxwell Harrison, a young boy who lived nearby. In saving her life, Max forged a psychic bond with Delaney, and through their childhoods, Max was her “imaginary friend,” and Delaney’s mind was where Max escaped the reality of his abusive stepfather. Eventually, Delaney decided she was too big for imaginary friends, and their connection severed.

Years later, both are back at their childhood homes: Delaney, recovering physically and emotionally from the car wreck that killed her much older husband and nearly killed her, and Max, to conquer memories after spending years in prison for attempting to kill his stepfather. Delaney remembers nothing about the night of the accident, but is trying desperately to put the pieces together. This is even more important when her husband’s vengeful daughter sues her for wrongful death. The nightmares still haunt her, and while trying to escape them, her mind reconnects with Max’s. Max understands the bond they share, and doesn’t want anything to do with her– he believes she abandoned him years ago when she stopped opening her mind to him. Delaney, however, is convinced Max is a figment of her imagination that has reappeared either as a coping mechanism or as a symbol of her weakening hold on sanity. It becomes harder to believe he is imaginary, though, when renowned artist John Harrison comes into her life, looking exactly like the adult version of her childhood friend.

The connection between them is a strong one, despite their differences; they are like two opposites, light and dark, optimist and cynic– but instead of separating them, their differences complement each other. She sees straight through his armor of coarseness and cruelty to the kind heart within. He’s a jerk sometimes, but with Delaney’s insight and trust, the reader feels for him, too.

The suspense part of the plot kept me guessing, but I felt disappointed with the ending. It felt anticlimactic and rather than tying things together, it separated the knot of the plot into multiple strands, right at the end. It isn’t that there are a lot of unanswered questions; it was more that the story just lacked the cohesion I had hoped for.

There’s a dark tone to this novel that I enjoyed. The themes and overtones were reflected in the descriptions of Max’s art, which added another element to the atmosphere. The story woven by Ingrid Weaver (pun intended?) was one I had a hard time putting down.