Saturday, September 8, 2012

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 (GoodReads).

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready was at the top of my summer TBR list. The good: Scottish accents. Yum. The bad: I am not a band groupie. I get awkward around live music. Why is the bass always so loud? Anyways...on to the official review criteria....
  • Originality: cool world building and the Shift every creates a neat kid v. adult gap. Also I want to know more about the government conspiracies and agents following Aura and generally creeping on kids to work for them. What caused the shift? What does the government want? What will be Aura and Zach’s role in all this?
  • Absurdity: 9, for YA love-triangle un-believability. OUCH this is bad news bears. Ghost-seer and ghost. Not to mention the romance is not convincing with Logan. He is kind of a jerk. And then the dreaded love triangle, in which we are given zero reasons why Zachary would be so head over heels over Aura. GEEZ I feel like Zach and Jacob Black would totally get along.
  • Level of Paranormal Romance: 6. “Love ties them together. Death can't tear them apart” I die! But on the plus side, these teens actually talk about sex and don’t just make eyes and share fairy powers. So that is slightly redeeming.
  • Level of Harry-Potterness: 4. The story never seemed to gain momentum toward a definitive plot climax. I was interested but never dying to find out what happened next. 
So from my review you might think I disliked this book. Not true! The mystery of the Shift is well done and makes me want to know more. Bring on Shift!

1 comment:

  1. I haven't read these yet and I still haven't decided if I'm going to... but.... "I feel like Zach and Jacob Black would get along" OMG. hahaha.

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