Nightshade (Nightshade, #1; Nightshade World, #4) in Team Vampire!!

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Nightshade (Nightshade, #1; Nightshade World, #4)

Andrea Cremer

Start date: November 1, 2011

Finish date: November 30, 2011

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Dec 29, 2009 Rachel (The Rest Is Still Unwritten) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I was very disappointed with this book. I鈥檇 been looking forward to it being released and having heard such raving reviews I thought I鈥檇 love it. I didn鈥檛! I have very mixed feelings about this book. I found the writing style to be beautiful, I can鈥檛 fault it at all and the author has a very good eye for detail, but there was just something about this book that I didn鈥檛 like.
Storyline was interesting enough, although I found it confusing at times and it took me a while to be interested at all. I was very disappointed with this book. I鈥檇 been looking forward to it being released and having heard such raving reviews I thought I鈥檇 love it. I didn鈥檛! I have very mixed feelings about this book. I found the writing style to be beautiful, I can鈥檛 fault it at all and the author has a very good eye for detail, but there was just something about this book that I didn鈥檛 like.
Storyline was interesting enough, although I found it confusing at times and it took me a while to be interested at all. Throughout the whole book I kept waiting for a moment to make me think, 鈥淎hhh, this is it, this is brilliant, this is why I鈥檓 reading this鈥� but that moment never came. Often I felt the story dragged on and it bored me at times. I actually ended up taking a week long break from reading it where I read other books, so that鈥檚 saying something. Usually I hate reading more than one book at a time.
Gah, for the most part I did not like Calla. I鈥檓 not even quite sure why. I think it was her inability to know what she wanted. One minute I got the feeling she wanted Ren and then the next she wanted Shay. It was like she couldn鈥檛 make up her mind and if there鈥檚 one thing I don鈥檛 like it鈥檚 a heroine who doesn鈥檛 know her own mind. I understand in books that sometimes a girl can be attracted to and have feelings for more than one guy, but to me there has to be a reason for that. And I didn鈥檛 feel like there was one in this. Usually in books I鈥檓 all for the forbidden love. I love nothing more than seeing someone willing to risk life and limb for someone who makes their heart race....someone they love. I like seeing them go up against their family if it鈥檚 how they feel.

Calla was always meant to mate with Ren, and yet she never really knew him at all. Shay just popped into her life and from the beginning she wanted him for no real reason. Other than the fact that she didn鈥檛 really have any kind of control over her own life and he was something she could have some control over, I never saw a reason for her to be interested in Shay from the very beginning.
I mean he was boring. That鈥檚 the simplest and nicest way I can put it. Shay was boring. There was nothing interesting or special about him.
Ren on the other hand I actually liked. He was feisty and funny and I actually believed that he cared about Calla, although I have no idea why. I think Calla made the wrong choice about who she should be with. Honestly, I hope Ren finds a nice, actually cool girl to be with and just lets Calla have boring old Shay.
One of the very few things I liked about this book was the pack relationships. I liked how they all interacted and how they cared about one another. The loyalty was wonderful. I thought Ansel and Bryn were cute though. I鈥檇 have liked to see more of them. They were more interesting than Calla and Shay.

Now I don鈥檛 know if I will or won鈥檛 read the sequel....I鈥檓 thinking probably not, but if by some off chance that I do, I won鈥檛 be racing out to get it.
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Dec 25, 2010 Catherine rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, ya-pnr-supernatural, shifters, reviewed

I admit I didn鈥檛 have high expectations for this book. With the amount of YA paranormal titles out there, I expected this book to simply blend in with the rest of its genre as just another typical werewolf story; enjoyable but forgettable. For me, the beginning of the book was as I anticipated. None of the characters really stood out for me, especially Shay, who is the hero of the book. From the start, Calla was fascinated with him but I couldn鈥檛 understand what it was about him that drew her at I admit I didn鈥檛 have high expectations for this book. With the amount of YA paranormal titles out there, I expected this book to simply blend in with the rest of its genre as just another typical werewolf story; enjoyable but forgettable. For me, the beginning of the book was as I anticipated. None of the characters really stood out for me, especially Shay, who is the hero of the book. From the start, Calla was fascinated with him but I couldn鈥檛 understand what it was about him that drew her attention. The author failed to convey to me the qualities that Calla apparently saw in him, so for the majority of the book, Shay鈥檚 character didn鈥檛 really have an impact on me.

Ren, on the other hand, I alternated between liking and wanting to smack. He seemed a bit of a womanizer and it was hard to tell at the start whether he really liked Calla or was only with her because it was expected of him, but at the end of the book, I really came to like his character.

There鈥檚 not much I have to say about Calla other than I liked her, and I liked the way she saw herself as a warrior rather than a damsel that needed to be saved. One of my major flaws is that I always end up focusing more on the sexy male characters than the females, but I am a hot-blooded female myself so what can I say?! :D

The dynamics between the characters, especially the hierarchy between the different species were very interesting and what made Nightshade unique from the rest of the YA paranormal genre. Usually, I don鈥檛 like books that randomly merge different supernatural elements; I prefer to keep the different paranormal species separate from one another unless they鈥檙e battling each other, but in Nightshade, I enjoyed reading about the mix of wolves, witches, succubus and wraiths working on the same side...supposedly. Who knows what鈥檚 going to happen in the next book!

The first half of the book was quite slow and wasn鈥檛 much different from a lot of other YA paranormal titles, because it focused largely on the love triangle, but the pace of the story picked up towards the middle of the book when the history of the keepers, searchers and guardians were revealed and the hierarchy of the characters were clearer. The plot became more interesting when it became apparent that this was more than just the average werewolf story where the wolf girl falls for a human boy, and the whole book revolves around the issue of forbidden romance. Of course, there is a little bit of that here, but what makes this book stand out from the rest is the conspiracy that plays a very large part in the story. The author keeps you guessing at who the good guys are and who the villains are, and by the end of the book, there is still a lot of unanswered questions. But there is definitely a lot of mystery and suspense involved, as well as a love triangle between Calla, Shay and Ren, so there鈥檚 a bit of everything for everyone!

The ending of the book definitely made toiling through the first half of the book worth it, as a lot more is revealed and the conspiracy thickens. Some of the twists were quite obvious and the ending was pretty predictable but the book ended in a very good cliff-hanger that has me itching to get my hands on the next book. Too bad it doesn鈥檛 come out until next July. Shay鈥檚 character makes more of an impression, as does Ren, so for the time being I can鈥檛 decide who I think is better for Calla, but it鈥檚 obvious who she prefers.

All in all, Nightshade exceeded my expectations and I would certainly recommend it to YA paranormal lovers. The characters and world the story is set in is very interesting and intriguing, and once you get past the first half of the book, the rest of it keeps the pages turning.
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Nov 10, 2010 Dia rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

WOW!! blown away!!! this book is soooo frigging amazing!! puuuh... i can't wait to know what will happen next (in the 2nd book)!!!

Sorry for all the Shay lovers... but I'm sooo team Ren (*sniff* I still want her to end up with Ren)!!! <3 ...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Lynn rated it liked it · review of another edition

I really enjoyed reading this book, yet another quick fun read. There were some parts that left me wondering though and it ended on a pretty big ciffy, can't wait to read the next one. ...more

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