Review for NIGHTSHADE by Andrea Cremer

NIGHTSHADE
By, Andrea Cremer


Details: published October 19th 2010 by Philomel
Hardcover, 464 pages

Placement In Pile: Reaching New Heights

Summary: While other teenage girls daydream about boys, Calla Tor imagines ripping out her enemies’ throats. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. Calla was born a warrior and on her eighteenth-birthday she’ll become the alpha female of the next generation of Guardian wolves. But Calla’s predestined path veers off course the moment she saves the life of a wayward hiker, a boy her own age. This human boy’s secret will turn the young pack's world upside down and forever alter the outcome of the centuries-old Witches' War that surrounds them all.

Review:

This was an easy, quick, engaging read. The world Andrea builds is interesting and left me excited to continue to discover what lies ahead. I do wish she'd explained even more; hopefully in the next book. (One question I had is how does the rest of the world outside of Colorado function - just normally as we all know it? or differently like this unique school and town Calla lives in? Based on the ending of this book, I'm assuming we'll find out more in the book to come!) Speaking of the end... be prepared for a major cliffhanger. That's all I'm going to say.

The love triangle was also interesting, as well as the dynamics of the two different "packs," and Calla's reactions to things since she is an "alpha." I wasn't too surprised by some of the twists (but then again, I'm usually not - it takes a pretty sneaky author to take me totally by surprise). There was a lot of kissing, which is always yummy. Ha ha. With two different boys, which can be aggravating (or also yummy, depending on how you feel about triangles). ;-) I'm definitely curious to see how this series turns out, and if the boy I'm leaning towards will win out.

After I finished, I was frustrated to realize it would be well over a year before I got to read the second book, since this won't be published until October (and I assumed book #2 WOLFSBANE would be published one year later). I was pleasantly surprised to find out it actually comes out next summer. Yay! So keep your eyes out for this one. YA paranormal romance is still going strong.