Shadow series
Sapphic love, intrigue, secrets, and spies.
Available in eBook, paperback, and audiobook narrated by Abby Craden.
She fell for the wrong woman ... now it's going to cost her.
In the Shadow of the Past
(Shadow Series Book 1)
In the Shadow of Love
(Shadow Series Book 2)
In the Shadow of Truth
(Shadow Series Book 3)
In the Shadow of Victory
(Shadow Series Book 4)
New Shadow Series Companion Coming Soon!
Sometimes, when writing an epic love story like the Shadow series, important scenes don’t fit the conventions of the genre. Unfortunately, they become the dreaded darlings a writer has to kill. I had a big one in In the Shadow of Victory (Shadow Series Book 4), so I condensed it and folded the key parts into the final manuscript to satisfy reader expectations. The book went on to win a Golden Crown Literary Society award for historical fiction, so I don’t regret the choice, but readers wanted more of the time period I’d compressed. That longing is how Lingering Shadows came to be. It's Kathryn-centric, so if Kathryn Hammond is your book crush, this book is for you. I don’t like telling readers what to do, but you must read all four Shadow books first, or you’ll miss the full depth of Kathryn Hammond’s struggle and journey toward love and healing.
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About the SERIES
Welcome to the Shadow Series
In the shadowy world of 1940s New York City, a sultry spy falls for the one woman she shouldn't.
Befriend the girl. Get the intel. Get out. For nightclub singer and OSS spy Kathryn Hammond, it’s her last chance at redemption. Sent home from the war a shadow of herself, she’s desperate to return and finish what she started. Standing in her way is a sassy, infuriating, beautiful blonde reporter who’s blurring every line she swore she’d never cross. Suddenly she's thinking about ridiculous things like love, hope, and a future.
Jenny Ryan has a simple plan for justice: get close to her father’s murderer, trap him in his own lies, and watch him fall. She’ll expose the city’s corrupt golden boy and prove she’s more than just a fluff columnist at her uncle’s newspaper. When her investigation leads her to a sultry chanteuse with a voice like sex and sin, she’s not prepared for the dizzying trail of unanswered questions and deadly secrets that follow—or the slow, sensual burn that ignites between them.
As their desire deepens, so does the danger. Caught in a web of lies, betrayal, and wartime espionage that threatens their lives, Kathryn and Jenny must put duty above all else in a world ravaged by war. Will their love survive? Will they?
In the Shadow of the Past is the first book in the sapphic historical fiction Shadow series. If you enjoy slow burns, forbidden romance, secrets, and WWII spies, you won't want to miss this noir-inspired tale of love and redemption.
Start the Shadow series now and lose yourself in Kathryn and Jenny’s epic love story, where the greatest threat might not be the enemy but the longing in their own hearts.
Buckle up … it’s going to be a deliciously bumpy ride!
About the author
J.E. Leak is the Golden Crown Literary Society award-winning author of the sapphic noir-inspired Shadow series. An antiques conservator by trade, she has always been fascinated by history and the stories objects could tell if they could speak. When she isn’t bingeing 1940s noir films, she’s writing or photographing nature on the spring-fed azure rivers of Central Florida. She has an Associate of Science degree in graphic design and is a devoted night owl.
J E Leak
Upcoming books
I’m delighted to reveal an exciting collaboration with award-winning author Jo Havens! This novel promises a riveting blend of suspense, romance, and the supernatural.
Here’s a little teaser: In a ghostly tale set between the roar of the waves and the whisper of the wind, two women breathe life into an old lighthouse and unwittingly find themselves entwined in a timeless curse.
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