Nightshade Review

Sooo here it is the first book review (also the first one I’ve ever made so I would appreciate some comments on how to improve my writing :D). Enjoy! :)

Book Title: Nightshade

Author: Andrea Cremer

Published by: Penguin(USA), Atom(UK)

Year: 2010

Pages: 454

Where I got it from: thalia.de

<-UK cover U.S. cover->

Synopsis: (taken from goodreads.com)

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?

I was really excited to get Nightshade in my mail.

First of all I looooove the cover. The UK version is slightly different than the U.S. version though (so I posted both covers), anyways I love them both.

Before each chapter of the book the is one dark page that has one phase of the moon in it’s corner, which I, personally, think is a nice idea.

The book get’s right into the action with a little fight between our Main Character Calla and a bear, which leads Calla to do the unforgivable: breaking one of her masters laws by saving Shay, a human. Calla hopes to never see Shay again, which is hard since he’s a new kid at Calla’s school. (oh OH!)

Shay and Calla seem to share an instant chemistry, well I’m not sure if I can agree with that. I mean sure it happens the same way in real life: girl sees boy she thinks is hot and instantly has an interest in him (well in some cases it’s like that), but it kinda didn’t work for me at first. One reason was Ren, who’s the one Calla is supposed to marry and who she has to lead a pack with after marriage, I mean sure sometimes he seems to be a real jerk, but then there are also times when he’s really sweet to Calla and you just have to like him. Another reason was that sometimes Shay seemed to be a little bit pushy when it came to Calla breaking her master’s laws. But in the end I must say that there were some moments where you could feel the chemistry between them and feel a little bit why Calla wanted him. I bet you know all these Love Triangles where you instantly know who the protagonist is supposed to end up with and that it’s definitely going to be that way no matter what the plot twist is *cough*twilight*cough*. I really thought, going out from the synopsis, that it would be the same way here but NOOOOO I was surprised(and a little shocked) to see that I just could not (and still can’t) decide wether I’m rooting for Team Shay or Team Ren they both have their Pro’s and Con’s and they both are ready to fight for Calla, plus there are some aaaaaaaawwwww moments with both and DANG IT! It’s just do hard to decide, so I’m really looking forward to find out more about this lovely Triangle.

As the story continues you start to wonder: What is the the truth about the history of the two main packs (the Nightshades and the Banes)? Who is Shay? Who will Calla choose? And why the heck do I have to wait till what? July???? Until I can continue reading about it?

Andrea Cremer is an amazing writer and I love her writing style. The story is written very well, and you understand the history the two packs share easily(it has to mean something if it comes from a girl whose mother language is German, right? xD).

The only two critics would be that I’m not sure if I liked one of the plot turns later in the book or not (I’m NOT going to spoil anything don’t worry :) ). I’m really torn at that plot twist because it kinda has a huge impact on everything, I understand that it was necessary but....oh who am I kidding there could’ve been another thing that would’ve been good in that situation, but I like it that Mrs. Cremer explained it really good so on one hand I can relate really good to the decision the characters make but on the other hand I’m just not sure if I’m liking it, I think everyone has to decide if he/she likes it or not. In the end we’ll see where this plot twist takes us.

Another thing I was that one of the twists was really obvious to figure out, but well as for me: I liked it to suspect this thing to happen (pretty close to the end) or not to happen? It was kinda this feeling: Am I right? Am I wrong? If I’m right what the heck will be happening and if I’m wrong what else will be going on?

With Calla, Andrea Cremer creates a great character who is independent, has her own opinions and is not afraid to do the things she thinks are right, mostly she decides things to help her pack and family, which are the most important thing to her!

All in all I loved this book, the ending was just right to leave me excited for the sequel Wolfsbane which is expected to be released on July 26th 2011.

I would rate it 4.5 out of 5 points! (Which basically means: Go read it! Buy it! Rent it from a friend/the library just go and read it, you won't be disappointed)