Thursday, December 2, 2010

Book review: Nightshade(Nightshade #1) by Andrea Cremer



My summary:
Calla Tor is an alpha of The Nightshade wolves, she is the leader of a pack of young and faithful wolves. Calla is ready for Blood Moon and her upcoming union with Blood Moon with another young(and sexy) alpha named Ren Laroche. This union has been destined almost since they both were born. 

One day while Calla is patrolling the forest she breaks one of the ancient laws to save a human boy. Calla discover things that forces her to look at the laws and history of her people, is it all a lie? Calla and her friends and family is Guardians, it is part of their duty to follow the Keepers commands and guard the sacred sites.

The book trailer:

My thoughts:
Although I enjoyed reading Nightshade and I finished it rather quickly I do have some issues with it. Mostly it has to do with character connection, it is not often that I can say that I like the minor characters a lot more than the main character, but in this case I can. I enjoyed reading about the different pack members, they all made the story come alive, but when it came to the MC, Calla, she didn't quite feel real to me. I mean I've been a teenager with hormones and I've been in love so to a certain point I should be able to relate, right? If say my life where in imminent danger I, personally, would have focused all my energy on surviving, not stopping to do some very passionate kissing..

This is a paranormal romance and one cannot escape the love triangle, so we do of course have two beautiful and sexy boys that both loves Calla. We have Shay, the intrepid human, and we have Ren, the possessive and jealous werewolf. Calla shares her kisses with both of them and of course her behavior brings out the best in Ren. If one of my friends had a partner with Ren's unhealthy character traits I would have advised them to find a good guy but alas this is a novel and I feel for Ren. Since the romance is in focus here I'm a bit disappointed to say that I couldn't feel the chemistry, sure it was there on the page but I just didn't feel it. To me it was just words. 

The world Cremer has created in Nightshade is interesting with its mythology and the politics of the Guardians and the Keepers. Cremer can write, that must be obvious since I continued with the book even when I wasn't to keen on the romance part or the main character. I want to read more, and I want the sequel but I'm not desperate for it.

Nightshade is entertaining but it is also predictable and sadly there were no huge surprises or suddenly and unsuspected twists to the plot. I do love the "I did not see that one coming"-feeling when I'm reading. I did enjoy the plot a whole lot more than the romance part, it just didn't work for me as a YA paranormal romance. 

The cover:
I love my hardcover copy, it is so so pretty. I like the way the pages have been cut, it looks like you hold an ancient book in your hands.

My rating of this book:
3 stars out of 5

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:
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Add Nightshade to your Goodreads wish list.
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Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
Published: October 2010
Pages(hardcover): 454
Publisher: Philomel
ISBN:
039925482X (ISBN13: 9780399254826)
Full disclosure: 
Purchased 

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and on-line book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store does by the way have free shipping to about 100 countries.  

8 comments:

  1. I'm not sure about this one, I've heard mixed reports. I'll probably end up reading it out of curiosity eventually, but it's not super high on my list.

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  2. This is on my TBR pile. I've also heard mix reviews about it which is why I keep putting off reading it.

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  3. Ugh, it does seem that I would have issues with it too. I do need a heroine I can relate to, or like, and the infernal love triangle, sigh. Still will read it one day

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  4. Sounds like it could be okay, but I'm more into vampires. :)

    Also, hope you are having a great holiday. Stop by my Blog for a chance to win some of my favorite things! http://xsherix.blogspot.com/2010/12/sheris-favorite-things-holiday-giveaway.html

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  5. Great review! Refreshing after reading so many reviews saying this book is great! :P

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  6. I am currently reading it so I just skimmed your review and saw the words issues and 3 out of 5 stars. I findit superb so far, hope that doesn't change. Didn't you have problems with deciding on which team you are( if you chose teams:))?

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  7. Thanks you guys :D

    Miss Page-Turner: I kind of liked them both, but that is kind of always the problem with me and literary love triangles. I want to write a story where the girl gets both boys and they live happily ever after LOL

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  8. I've heard mixed reviews about this. Still have my eye on it though. And I really like the cover and also the cover of the next book in the series. Art department did a dynamite job =)

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Thank you for sharing your thoughts =)