Title: NightshadeAuthor: Andrea Cremer
Series: Nightshade #1
Pages: 452
Date of UK Publications: 28th December 2010
Source: Bought
Synopsis from Goodreads:Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything--including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?
My Thoughts:
I've had Nightshade for a long time. Well, a few months, but still, it's been sitting on my shelf for a while. I was so excited to read it, but I hadn't got around to it, and I kept putting it off. Probably because of all the hype that was surrounding it a couple of months ago, I was hesitant to read it in case it didn't live up to my huge expectations.
But it's okay, it totally did live up to the hype. In every way. I read the whole thing in a day, all 452 pages of it. I loved every minute of reading it.
Calla Tor is a Guardian. She's known her whole life that she will become the female alpha of a new pack of Guardians, and she's always known that she will be mated to Ren, the male alpha of the new wolf pack. And she's never questioned it. Until she, perhaps stupidly, saved Shay from almost certain death. Now, she's torn between the boy she's known all her life she's going to end up with, and the boy she's only just met. And to make things worse, she's not even sure that everything that she's been told about her life can be trusted. What is she going to do?
The world and characters that Cremer has created are wonderful. The world is so detailed and thought out, that it's easy to imagine, though sometimes it is a little confusing. The characters were complex and seemed real despite the fact that they can shift into wolves at any time. I especially liked the way that all the positions in the pack were written, how it was obvious which rank each person was. If that makes sense.
My favourite character was Ren, so obviously, I'm Team Ren. I loved the way that he showed his love for Calla, the subtle way at the beginning and the more apparent at the end. Even though at times he seems to not care for her or even like her, you can see if you look a little deeper that he loves her so much, yet he doesn't know if Calla returns the feelings so he's afraid to show it. And he is SO sweet at the end, but I won't say anymore, in case I spoil it for you!
My only complaint was the ending. It felt rushed and a little bit like Cremer had got a little bored with the story... I don't know, I still enjoyed it, but it just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the book. Don't get me wrong, it was still awesome, just a little weird. Overall though, a fantastic debut novel from Andrea Cremer, and it's definitely worthy of my 5 Feet rating. :D
My Rating:
I give it 5 Feet!
Challenges:
2011 Paranormal YA Reading Challenge #17
2011 100+ Reading Challenge #22
Great review! From what I can remember (it has been far too long since I last read this book, must reread it soon) I really like it too! I can't wait to see what Wolfsbane has in store for us!
ReplyDeleteGlad this lived up to the hype for you! It did me too =)
ReplyDeleteWhile I had an emotional time reading this book, that only means that I am very attached to the characters. They affect me and I struggle to watch them go through such pain. Andrea did a fabulous job developing these characters.
ReplyDeleteI'd write more but I think the less said the better. This is a book to just pick up without much foreknowledge, so you can be swept away trying to figure out what the heck is going on.
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