A very good book, I'm sorry I missed the first 4, probably I'm going to read them. Fei is such a good character, finally a strong woman!
Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin for the preview!

Well, oddly (considering the rest of the series), there wasn't much sex in this one. But, just as oddly, I didn't really notice it until the end. So this wasn't super smut like parts of the rest of the series has been, but it was a pretty good story. I liked seeing how Shadow was such a caring guy. He seemed standoffish and cruel and harsh, but it was always for the benefit of someone else. And Fei saw right through him. Eventually. :-) And talk about a strong woman. It must have been difficult living in that time period as a woman. But what she did to survive without giving up herself was admirable. And she was very good at thinking on her feet when she got into precarious situations. I'm not sure if this is the last one? I can't remember who is left, lol.

This was a really fun departure from the rest of the series in that the heroine isn't a helpless woman who is in need of rescue. I mean, Fei is in need of rescue, but she wields dynamite like it's an extension of herself and Shadow is just along for the ride. While the other women are all strong in their own ways, Fei can literally kill her enemies with her skills.

In the opening pages of the book, Fei rescues Shadow from execution and then offers him a life and it's super fun and interesting. Her world is precarious and Shadow is the dragon she needs to find her destiny.

I really enjoyed this one. The love story is fine, but it's Fei who makes this shine.

I think this is my favorite of the series. It has been quite a long time since I read the others and I don't remember all the details, but some of it came back to me.
***Now, I don't go into details and looking up old laws and the like, I saw someone complained in a review about not finding these old laws...I did look up the tomato thing though, because I had never heard that! ***
Anyway, I really liked Fei, she was strong and just in a really shitty position. I love Shadow and they are well suited for each other. Ida was amazing! LOVED her!

This was a great story. Loved the characters and how they changed and came together at the end.

4.5 stars another great story in a fantastic series. Shadow is one of those men.. you know the ones you just wanna reach out and slap every time they open their mouths b/c inevitably they're gonna say something stupid? yeah one of those. But thankfully he meets his match in a fiery and determined little woman.
Loved this story and was so thrilled to finally see him beat his demons.
Hope this isn't the end of Hell's Eight as i'm wanting more already!

I adore Sarah McCarty and have found that almost no one can do a sexy, erotic historical cowboy read like her. I adore almost all of her hero’s, it always seem to be her heroine’s that I’m a little iffy on. This is probably because I fell in love with one of her early heroines and I want to keep reading similar women. I really enjoyed Shadow and the gruffness of him. He’s trying to do the right thing by his family but he always seems to be going about it in the wrong way. Fei was not necessarily my favorite heroine but she won be over with her tenacity, intelligence, and just a little bit of innocence. I really liked how they meshed together and how they worked towards a new common goal. Fun, sexy continuation of the Hell’s Eight series. Can’t wait for what comes next!

Good book. Fei Yen and Shadow were both intriguing characters. Fei is in a bit of a bind. Her father has lost it mentally, leaving her unprotected. He sold her cousin to an unscrupulous man. She needs to get enough gold out of her claim to buy her cousin back. The problem is that Chinese people cannot own a claim, so she needs a man to hold it for her. She finds just such a man in Shadow, who is about to be hanged for horse theft. Invoking an odd law, she claims him as her husband and takes him away with her.

The horses Shadow was stealing were his own that had been taken from him. He's also wanted for the murder of a soldier who had kidnapped his sister-in-law. He doesn't really feel like dying yet, so he takes Fei up on her offer. Things turn out to be a little more complicated than he expected when it comes to his new wife.

I really liked both Fei and Shadow. Fei is unusual for a woman of Chinese ancestry. Because she is half Chinese and half American, she is looked down on by both sides of her heritage. She has developed an unusual amount of independence because of it. I loved seeing the way she used the men's perception of her to save Shadow from his hanging, and then had the courage to stand up to him when telling him what she needed from him. There are also plenty of times when she isn't sitting around waiting for him to save her, she steps up and takes action herself. Of course, some of those times she gets into more trouble and he ends up saving her after all.

Shadow is one of those dark brooding kinds of guys that are all tough on the outside, but have a soft center that you have to work at to find. His life has not been an easy one as a half Mexican half Native man, but has gotten worse since he killed that army man at the end of the previous book. He is a very protective man and rather than bring his troubles to his brothers of Hell's Eight he has cut himself off from them. His current situation adds another person to protect. He is determined to protect Fei not just from outside forces but also from himself.

As the days go on and they work together to save Fei's cousin there is a growing passion between them. Fei knows that any future with her father's people will be bleak and she wants to experience everything she can with Shadow. I really liked seeing the way her complete honesty about her feelings is such a turn on for Shadow. She also sees past the hardened exterior to the man he keeps hidden from everyone. I loved seeing how some of the things she tells him about himself scare the crap out of him because she's right. Shadow is so determined to protect her and everyone else that he denies himself the connection to Fei and to his family that he needs. He refuses to believe that he is worth loving. There's a great scene at the very end where the other member's of Hell's Eight show him the errors of his thinking.

There's plenty of action going on as Shadow is rescued from hanging, Fei disregards Shadow's orders to stay put and goes to rescue her cousin on her own, that rescue gets complicated and Fei brings her expertise with explosives into use, Shadow does something stupid and gets himself nearly hanged again, Fei runs away from her family and ends up captured by a bad army officer, she uses explosives again to try to save herself, and Shadow and company save the day. I loved the interactions between Fei and Shadow as each one tries to make sure the other understands their point of view and frustration frequently ensues.

This is the first of this series I have read but I definitely want to read the others, past and future.

In the past, the books in Sarah McCarty's Hell's Eight series have been a little hit and miss for me. Since I'd always been somewhat unsure of Shadow in previous books, I really wasn't sure what to expect from Shadow's Stand, but I was very pleasantly surprised.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book from start to finish. I didn't feel like it lagged along, like some of the other books. I also really liked the characters. I kept waiting for the other members of Hell's Eight to show up, so I was really happy when they finally did. This also seemed to be something of a conclusion to the story arc that began in the first book.

My only criticism is that I hoped that Fei would make it to San Francisco to offer her cousin the choice as planned. And as far as the erotic aspect of the books, this one felt somewhat tamer than the other books. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I did notice the change from previous books.

I'm curious to see whether there will be more books in the series. If so, I will definitely be giving them a shot as well.

Sarah McCarty’s fans are going to love Shadow’s Stand, the long awaited and eagerly anticipated fifth installment of her Hell’s Eight series. With pulse pounding adventure, heroic rescues and some very steamy sex, readers will finally learn more about the enigmatic and incredibly sexy Shadow Ochoa. Beginning about a year after Tracker’s Sin ends, Shadow is about to hang for stealing horses when Fei Yen Tseng saves his life with an unexpected but timely wedding. With both of their pasts hot on their heels, their marriage is off to a rocky but passionate beginning.

With his Mexican/Indian heritage and due to prejudices of the time period, Shadow is on the outer edge of society. Like the other heroes in the Hells Eight series, Shadow is deeply scarred by the brutal events of his childhood. He attempts to protect himself and those around him by keeping an emotional and physical distance. He has an immediate connection with Fei, but just like he does with his other relationships, he pushes her away when the opportunity presents itself.

With a Caucasian mother and Chinese father, Fei Yeng does not fully belong in either world. Sometimes meek and subservient but always clever and headstrong, she is a fascinating mix of both cultures. She is Shadow’s equal in every way, and she is definitely her own woman, fully capable of making her own decisions (much to Shadow’s dismay).

Of all the books in the Hell’s Eight series, Shadow’s Stand is the only novel that can easily be read as a standalone novel. Past characters make short, yet crucial, guest appearances and there is enough information revealed from past stories to make it easy to follow the current storyline.

Shadow’s Stand is a delightful addition to the Hell’s Eight series. While not as erotic as the previous novels, the sex scenes are fairly detailed and quite hot. Fei Yeng and Shadow are appealing and likable characters and the story is engaging and fast moving. The ending is heartwarming and the only question that Sarah McCarty leaves unanswered is whose story she will tell next!