Monday, July 19, 2010

REVIEW: Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

Love ties them together. Death can't tear them apart.

Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan's band playing a critical gig and Aura's plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend's life. She never thought it would be his last.

Logan's sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He's gone.

Well, sort of.

Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and hear ghosts. This mysterious ability has always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan's violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.

It doesn't help that Aura's new friend Zachary is so understanding--and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.

As Aura's relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura's heart...and clues to the secret of the Shift.

Oh, WOW! I loved this one. You know those books where you just have to finish the book RIGHT NOW even if it means you read and read and read until the early hours of the morning even though you know it's going to be hell for you the next day but it doesn't matter because you just have to finish it? Shade was that book for me. I really loved it. The premise, the characters, the love triangle, the way in which information is slowly trickled down to us. I was wondering how it would work, Aura's boyfriend dies and then there's another boy around that she starts to be interested in ... but it works. It does.

It's an interesting idea, that everyone born after the Shift can see and speak to ghosts. It was interesting the way in which the ghosts are portrayed in Shade, that the ghosts are limited to places they went to during life, that certain colours put them off, that they look and are dressed as they were during their happiest time during life. The idea of ghost-lawsuits and everything was a little confusing at first, but I figured it out in the end. There are also many questions about the Shift that are brought up - how did it happen and why and how is Aura's mother involved? Some questions are answered and maddeningly some we'll have to wait for!

Let's talk about the death scene. My heart absolutely wrenched during Logan's death. Aura's already feeling a little uneasy about her relationship with Logan, his band is on the brink of signing with a record label and she thinks he'll be famous and jet off to cool places and she's not sure that she'll be in the picture for much longer. But Aura wants everything to work out between them and sp she decides on the most ..memorable.. event she can think of for her and Logan. And oh, poor Aura. I cringed all the way through that scene that I don't even want to think about it anymore. Logan dies and it changes everything. They don't want to move on and away from each other, but there's a lot that Logan is hiding from Aura...

And that brings us to the love triangle. Zachary is the cute Irish boy who's new to school. He teams up with Aura on a school project and do some really romantic stuff, like staring at the stars at night in the middle of a field. He's interested in some of the same things as Aura and she can talk to him, but he's still hiding his own secrets. And he was born pre-Shift. What I love about this Logan-Aura-Zachary triangle is that I'm still currently rooting for both boys. I love them both in very different ways.

Very fun and engaging read that will keep you up at night. Kind of a cliffhanger ending and I'm super excited to read the next installment!

Thank you to Simon Pulse for sending this book to me!

3 comments:

  1. Yaaay. I never knew it's that nice, so excited to read this! I hope it's out soon, you made me want to read it RIGHT NOW! Awesome review Clover! :)

    -Dwayne (too lazy to log in)

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  2. Fab review, Clover! I finished this last week, and you've got everything spot on, I really enjoyed it (your review and the book)! :)

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  3. Oh wow! I sooo want this book now. Fantastic review. Definitely one to add to my list.

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