So it took me a little while to get into this story. It wasn't the typical world building or even the introduction to multiple wolf packs.

it was the love triangle. UGH! It makes me want to pull my own hair out!! and then slap all parties involved.

The back story about the world was pretty indepth and pretty cool. But, werewolves aren't my typical genre - and this is not my typical kind of book. But I didn't mind it in this one. There wasn't a lot of lore, just enough to keep the story interesting.

If it weren't for the last few chapters, I wouldn't keep reading (the love triangle! UGH!!GRRR! just pick already!) but the action started and people were forced to make some tough decisions.

I'm curious to see where the story goes from here.

I was really glad that I read [b:Shadow Days|9537565|Shadow Days (Nightshade, #0.5)|Andrea Cremer|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1336046406s/9537565.jpg|14423778] before this one. It helped me understand Shay a little better. And Shay's Facebook page helped me picture him better too! ( )

Going into this book, I wasn't sure what to expect. Part of me, for some reason, thought I might not like it. But another part of me was excited about the book because of all the buzz floating around the time it came out. After reading it, I find myself right in the middle in terms of how I felt.

Calla is alpha of her pack, the Nightshades. Her pack will soon be merging with another pack, the Banes, by a union between her and the Banes' pack leader, Ren. She has always known what she was meant for, and who she was meant to be with. But when she saves a human boy named Shay from being attacked by a bear, her feelings about her certain future begin to change. She starts to question why her future is written out for her, and why she has no say in it. She also starts to feel things for Shay that she's never felt about anyone else, even the boy she's supposed to be with.

If you've read the little prequel for this series, [b:Shadow Days|9537565|Shadow Days A Nightshade Novella (Nightshade Prequel)|Andrea Cremer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1287510083s/9537565.jpg|14423778], then you'll notice that this kind of starts off right where that one left off. Only it's in Calla's POV rather than Shay's. I liked that because the prequel leaves us pretty much hanging, so it was good that it jumped right into that. I also liked the world that was created here. It seems very unique to me and it's still kind of mysterious, even after the first book is completed. There's still so much more to learn about this world, and so many more answers which we will hopefully get in the future books.

What I didn't like most about this book was that it was pretty dry. It just seemed to drag for most of it and, quite honestly, I think a lot of it could have been edited out and made shorter. I also found myself feeling extremely sorry for Ren, and I thought that Calla was extremely cold and mean to him. I honestly didn't see what she saw wrong with him. In fact, I liked him a lot better than Shay. In the prequel I liked Shay, but in this book he just seemed whiny and disrespectful of others. Ren was constantly trying to make things work with Calla and I could genuinely see that he cared about her. But she just didn't seem to even want to give him the time of day. The only times that he would do something a bit jerk-ish was when she hurt him in some way, which was understandable to me. It just sort of seemed like she only liked Shay because of him being so forbidden.

Overall, I wasn't too impressed with the book. It has a solid world there that I'll be interested to see develop in the future books. But I was just disappointed with the two main characters. I found Calla to be cold and uncaring and Shay to be immature and ignorant, making rash decisions before thinking them out. I hope that their characters come into themselves and mature in the future novels, and that I will start liking them better as a couple as well. ( )

Summary: Meet Calla Tor, a guardian werewolf tasked with protecting her pack from supernatural threats. When she's forced into an arranged marriage with a fellow werewolf, everything goes haywire faster than a squirrel on caffeine. Secrets unravel, alliances shift, and Calla must navigate the tangled forest of love, loyalty, and lycanthropy.

Pros:
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Book RANT: For those unfamiliar, there are occasions when I'll read a book that SOUNDS perfect for me, and may indeed include details that suit me quite well, but SOMETHING ruins the entire thing for me. That's when I rant about my unhappiness and the injustice of it all.

Please note I will rant, rave and curse the gods for the author's writing and the book's content. I will never attack an author on a personal level and I do try to remain constructive.

Today we have Nightshade a Young Adult Paranormal that had me literally gnashing my teeth.

Since this book rant has spoilers, I'm placing the majority under a cut.

What I liked:
I really enjoyed the world building of this book. It was something different; you have the Guardians (the werewolves), the Keepers (the ones they protect, who keep the world in Balance), the Searchers (the 'enemy' the Guardians protect the Keepers from) and than the regular old humans who are stuck in the middle. The Guardians don't see any reason to keep themselves under wraps, as long as they don't go shouting to the humans 'hey we can be wolves!' all is good. The Keepers meanwhile are doing pretty much the same thing, just they don't turn into wolves. All that undercurrent tension makes itself very apparent to the humans who segregate themselves pretty far away.

I liked that the Keepers were obviously power-tripping maniacs, who did bad things (a lot) and probably would win sociopaths of the year if anyone so cared to make that award. They had their own little clans (in this book its the Nightshades--Calla--and the Banes--Ren) they oversaw, had some fighting, but by in large they treated the Guardians the worst. There wasn't a single redeeming feature for them and for that I found them entertaining to read about.

I felt that the way Cremer handled the Guardians was refreshing. They don't so much as become wolves as they are always both, but never at the same time. Just depends on which body they want to walk around in. They retain some of their wolfy-ness as humans and vice versa. I also liked that the Banes and Nightshades may have been rivals, but they make a good effort to be more of an integrated group when the time comes. Calla and Ren's idea to begin melding the group before it was necessary was important and I thought clever.

I loved Ren. He was a playboy, and arrogant and pushed Calla, but he also respected her wishes. He tried to make things work between them, he took her advice and didn't sneer at her. He respected her as an equal Alpha leader--maybe he didn't agree with her decisions, but he didn't try to undermine her or take away her power. Was he a bit of a jerk and bully at times? Yeah, but he also showed real emotional turmoil when discussing what was happening in his own Pack.

What I did not like:
CALLA. No seriously. I was kind of intrigued with her in the beginning chapters, when it was obvious she was trying to mold her own future and do what was best for her Pack. I was kind of irritated with how standoffish she would be with Ren, than what a tease, than standoffish, than outraged...sure they couldn't 'consummate' their union until the actual ceremony, but for crying out loud! She was such a tease! She'd tell Ren they needed to stop, but would cave pretty quickly, only to get angry at herself (which quickly became anger at Ren) and start the cycle all over again. Then also she was something of a two-faced hypocrite. On the one hand she was planning her upcoming union with Ren, making him believe her whole heart was into it (well as much as he was, they were both kind of doom and gloom twins at times) and on the other it was 'Oh Shay...he makes me feel so wibbly wobbly'.

The Calla that was a good leader, and a strong alpha and who I wanted to read about would suddenly become a lovestruck idiot, flaunting common sense and authority. I understand that there is something fishy about the whole business of the Keepers and Shay, but Calla lost all sense when with Shay. Ren was bending over backwards to do whatever she asked of him in regards to their relationship and the upcoming Union, but she repaid him with lying and falling in love with another guy.

Which brings me to SHAY. Oh ye gods above. Half the time he was very milquetoast--worried, distracted and doing his level best to put himself into suicidal situations. The other half he was pushing Calla to flaunt tradition, get rid of Ren, love him more and trust him more. Some of Calla's very serious and very reasonable objections--like I don't know, the entire fate of her people?--just breezed past him. Let me say this once: love does not conquer all. If a person says something along the lines of 'we need to tread carefully because my masters have no compunction about killing us all if we are caught' the reaction should not be 'run away!'.

He didn't take her responsibility to her Pack very seriously I don't think. Or he chose to ignore it in favor of doing things to get himself killed.

I skipped around for the last two hundred plus pages of the ARC and unless I was missing all the dramatic shifts of character in the passages I wasn't reading, not much seems to change. In fact I think the end, where I thought Calla was going to do the right thing and finally trust Ren, and stop treating him like an unwanted stalker, she goes and does a very stupid thing. Karma kicks her butt for it though. And I won't lie I kind of rooted for it. Maybe, just maybe, in the second book she'll weigh her options a little and realize 'going this alone is the worst possible idea I've ever had'.

And god help her if she hurts Ren (emotionally speaking) some more. I'll invent a way to climb into this book and beat the snot out of her.


As you can see I had some very...strong...feelings about this book. Its not very often I'll come across a book that I want to enjoy with every fiber of my being, but can't because the main character makes me want to shoot her. But this is my purely bias'ed opinion. Around the blog-o-sphere the book seems to be quite popular, so maybe I'm just missing something. ( )

This is a young adult book about werewolves, a genre I would not normally read. I was pleasantly surprised by it and look forward to reading the next book in the series. ( )