Nightshade by Andrea CremerMy Author Post
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the first book in a trilogy by Andrea Cremer, and the first book by this author I have ever read. I fell into it quite by accident. I had an unused book credit on paperbackswap.com and was looking through some books, and saw this, thought it sounded neat, with only little to go on, and got it sent to me. Now of course I have had a lot going on, and it has sat in the pile for awhile, but I pulled it out the other day, and oh man am I hooked!! Amazon probably loves me right now!
First let me say, I put this on the werewolves shelf, but the story is NOT about werewolves! The Guardians are not werewolves, they are shape-shifters. They can take the form of a wolf, but it has nothing to do with the moon or night and they are still aware of being human in wolf form. Now, we can move on to the story.
The main characters are a group of teens, in the 15 to 18 year old range, so it does make this a coming of age, or young adult book, but at the same time, as a mature and older adult who has kids in that age range I still enjoyed the book.
The setting is Vail, CO; but not the Vail everyone knows. This Vail has Guardians, who are the shape-shifters, and are ruled by a class of people called The Keepers, who aren't really human. Then there are the enemies, The Searchers, and the normal humans in the middle that know nothing of these groups.
Slowly as we learn about each person, we learn about the world, and the structure of the world and society that they live in and how things work and what is going on. Right away, you find the people you like and the people you dispise.
Calla is betrothed to Ren, and yet she meets Shay and feels torn between the two. Classic story, but with a huge twist. Now I won't tell you more than that, I will say that I fell for Ren. He is such a loveable guy, acting so macho and sure of himself around everyone but Calla. He is lost, he doesn't know how to act around her, and I find that so sweet and enduring.
As the story progresses we find that maybe, just maybe everything they have been told all their lives, everything they thought they were protecting and fighting to save was a lie, and maybe just maybe, the Keepers are the bad guys and they have been on the wrong side the whole time.
This was so well written that I was pulled in and reading and before I knew it the book was done and I was screaming. Amazon probably loves me because I went online that minute and bought everything else in this series by this author, so expect to see some more on this line soon! I am hooked! I loved the characters and I want to know them and I feel for them and relate to them. Even with the age difference, I can remember my own high school experiences and relate to the story.
This is just a great read!
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