Review - Shadows - By: Paula Weston

Title: Shadows
Author: Paula Weston
Publisher: Tundra Books
Release Date: September 10th, 2013
Series: The Rephaim #1
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Synopsis via Goodreads

Love. Nightmares. Angels. War. A fast-paced, compelling debut novel from a fresh new voice in YA.

It’s been almost a year since Gaby Winters was in the car crash that killed her twin brother, Jude. Her body has healed in the sunshine of Pandanus Beach, but her grief is raw and constant.

It doesn’t help that every night in her dreams she kills demons and other hell-spawn. And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who’s been appearing in Gaby’s dreams, he claims a history with her brother that makes no sense.

Gaby is forced to accept that what she thought she knew about herself and her life is only a shadow of the truth – and that the truth is more likely to be found in the shadows of her nightmares.

Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And most importantly – who can she trust?

My rating:

This book was surprisingly good! From the synopsis, I thought it'd be fairly cliche. You know, girl is in car accident. Car accident kills family member/friend. And then she spends her every waking moment moaning and groaning about the unfairness of it all and pushing everyone away. AND SUDDENLY...a boy--who is unbelievably attractive, of course--swoops into her life and fixes everything and they live happily ever after.

Go on, tell me that that's not how nearly EVERY story goes these days.

Fortunately, this was not that story. I was impressed with how it quickly picked up from it's slow start and completely engaged me. It's one of those books that you never want to put down, and for all the right reasons. Badass characters. An intriguing mystery. Intricate, masterful worldbuilding. Smexual tension galore! (Yes, I meant smexual). And a hero to swoon over.

Gaby's one of the most amusing, engaging and interesting heroines I've read in a while. She actually had a brain, guys! Halle-freaking-lujah. She perfectly balanced her grief with her sense of self, even though she didn't fully understand who she was. And Rafa. Gorgeous, hilarious Rafa. He exceeded all of my expectations. Usually, I have to brace myself when it comes to the males in this particular YA genre. Brace myself for the inevitable douchebags that try to come off as redeemable in the end but sort of just make me want to facepalm. I didn't really have that issue with Rafa. He was a smartass, but not a dick. Badass, but not unbearably arrogant.

Really, this book seemed to be set up for hundreds of cliches, but it avoided them all and turned out fabulous. Easily a 5-star-er.

**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**

Waiting on Wednesday #7

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event that is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

MY PICK FOR THIS WEEK:

Title: Sentinel
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Release Date: November 2nd, 2013
Series: Covenant #5

Synopsis via Goodreads

It's a beautiful day for a war.

As the mortal world slowly slips into chaos of the godly kind, Alexandria Andros must overcome a stunning defeat that has left her shaken and in doubt of their ability to end this war once and for all.

And with all the obstacles between Alex and her happily-ever-after with the swoonworthy Aiden St. Delphi, they must now trust a deadly foe as they travel deep into the Underworld to release one of the most dangerous gods of all time.

In the stunning, action-packed climax to the bestselling Covenant series, Alex must face a terrible choice: the destruction of everything and everyone she holds dear… or the end of herself.

WHY I'M WAITING: 

I feel like I should re-dedicate my blog to pimping out JLA's books. Really. I swear she's a lean-mean-writing-machine. She writes more books in a year than I could even think up a concept for one. The best part? THEY'RE ALL AWESOME BOOKS. I'm certain she has magical powers. There's just no other option.

Anywho, back on topic. I'm waiting on Sentinel.

Okay, not really. I'm more sobbing myself to sleep every night & trying to fill the void with other books. There's not much actual waiting involved. (I'm melodramatic. Sue me.)

Teaser Tuesdays #3

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. To play along with Teaser Tuesdays, you just need to: 

• Grab your current read.
• Open to a random page.
• Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page.
• Be careful not to include spoilers! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author too so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers. 

This week's teaser comes from Kelley Armstrong's The Gathering. Weirdly enough, Kelley Armstrong hadn't been on my radar prior to about three weeks ago. Her name had been slightly familiar if I heard someone talk about it, but I had no idea what she'd written or that she'd apparently been wildly popular from her Darkest Powers series. Which I've yet to read, but it's sitting cozy on my want-to-read pile. Anywho, here's the teaser:

Teaser :

" 'I don't think anyone put anything in your drink. I think you faked it.' "

 Synopsis via Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old Maya is just an ordinary teen in an ordinary town. Sure, she doesn't know much about her background - the only thing she really has to cling to is an odd paw-print birthmark on her hip - but she never really put much thought into who her parents were or how she ended up with her adopted parents in this tiny medical-research community on Vancouver Island.

Until now.

Strange things have been happening in this claustrophobic town - from the mountain lions that have been approaching Maya to her best friend's hidden talent for "feeling" out people and situations, to the sexy new bad boy who makes Maya feel . . . . different. Combine that with a few unexplained deaths and a mystery involving Maya's biological parents and it's easy to suspect that this town might have more than its share of skeletons in its closet.