Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
How I got my hands on this book: Borrowed from the library
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
First Sentence:
I’d always welcomed war, but in battle my passion rose unbidden.
Andrea Cremer does not waste any time in this 400+ page novel. The reader is thrown into the action right away, meeting alpha female Calla Tor as she fends off a grizzly bear in order to protect a human boy who has already been badly mauled by the bear. As this action is occurring, the reader learns that Calla should not be saving this guy, that it is forbidden, but something draws her to him and she not only keeps the bear away from him but she also gives him her blood to heal what would have otherwise been irreparable damage to his body. The problem is that she had to shift from her wolf form to her human form to do this, revealing her secret. Once he is healed, Calla knocks him out, finds his truck, and sits him in it. She leaves, shaken, but confident that the situation is over. Her second and best friend, Bryn, knows about the human boy, but will keep it quiet and protect Calla so the rest of their pack, the Nightshades, will never know what happened.
Now she can go back to worrying about her impending union with Ren, the alpha of the other young pack, the Banes. She has reservations about the sacred union, but she is definitely attracted to Ren and has some feelings for him. But everything gets complicated again when Shay shows up the next day at school and Calla and Bryn realize he is the boy who was attacked by the bear.
The reader soon learns that the wolves are called Guardians and that they are looked after by the Keepers, who can be simply described as witches. They have a common enemy in the Searchers, a group who is trying to steal the power of the Keepers.
I loved jumping right into the action from the very start. I thought it was a great device. Instead of getting to know Calla and her world slowly through a lot of setup, the reader is just jolted into her world. The reader is curious and has questions and is loving every minute of it. Nightshade is a definite page-turner. Cremer revealed enough little tidbits to keep the reader super interested all throughout the novel and by the end, a lot is revealed but there are still uncovered mysteries left over to ensure the reader comes back for the next novel. The whole structure of the novel was excellent.
As for the characters, I really like Calla. She is a bad ass female, the leader of her pack, and stuck in this love triangle. She has intense emotions for both Ren and Shay and the attention she receives from both guys is not completely unwanted. She is definitely torn between the pack and the path that has been chosen for her and the choice she never knew she had. I know a lot of people have split into teams but at that point, I honestly really like both Ren and Shay. Shay, of course, represents the mysterious and the unknown and as such, he is forbidden, which makes him all the more attractive. Ren is charming, confident, and has the bad boy thing going on which is the perfect complement to Calla’s bad ass persona. But Shay brings out another side of her, though, that is new and unexplored.
As for the rest of the young Nightshades and Banes, I really enjoyed the interactions between them and the pack dynamic. Both young packs have always been sort of enemies even though they really are on the same side, but they start to come together since they will become one pack after the union of Ren and Calla. Most of them get along much better than expected, but there are still a few problems. I want to say the character I enjoyed the most out of the young packs besides the main characters was Ansel. He is Calla’s younger brother and he is just so sweet and adorable and romantic. He is probably the best little brother anyone could have. He and Calla are friendly siblings as opposed to the sort who are always getting under each other’s skin.
What a fabulous start to what promises to be a fabulous new series! If you enjoy Young Adult books with paranormal themes involving wolves, mystery, and a bit of romance (well, actually a little more than a “bit”), then you will definitely enjoy Nightshade.
Also, the cover is absolutely beautiful!
Andrea Cremer is a history professor at a liberal arts college in St. Paul, Minnesota. She wrote Shadow Days: A Nightshade Novella which is a prequel to Nightshade. Near the release date of Nightshade, Amazon.com customers were invited by email to read the prequel. It is available as an eBook in PDF format. Wolfsbane, the second novel in the Nightshade series, is set to be released in Summer 2011. Book 3, Bloodrose is set to be released in Spring 2012 and an untitled Nightshade companion novel is set to be released in Fall 2012. Cremer is also working on a Young Adult Steampunk series. The first book in that series is called The Inventor’s Secret and is still in progress. She currently lives in Minnesota with her husband.
Official Nightshade Facebook Page
Official Shay Doran Facebook Page
Read the prequel to Nightshade, Shadow Days: A Nightshade Novella here!*
Read the first chapter of Wolfsbane here!
*This is an Amazon.com link. I am NOT an Amazon Associate and I will NOT receive any compensation if you click on the link. The link will take you directly to the PDF file of the novella.
