The anniversary of the death of Gaby’s twin brother is drawing near. Despite living in a new town, sunny Pandanus Beach, and having her house-mate, Maggie’s friendship and support, Gaby isn’t healing. Every night she has increasingly violent dreams of fighting hell-beasts. During the day everything reminds her of her brother, Jude.

Then Rafa shows up, achingly familiar, and knowing more about Jude and Gaby than she does and Gaby begins to question everything she remembers.

Having read quite a few young adult novels dealing with angel mythology, I was worried that Paula Weston’s Shadows wouldn’t be able to break away from its predecessors. Angels have been done beautifully in Halo, tragically in Fallen and quirkily in Hush, Hush. What more could Shadows have to offer?

The answer, I’m pleased to say, is plenty. Unlike many Young Adult novels out there, Shadows doesn’t get bogged down in backstory. It moves along at a good pace, throwing some big revelations out in just the first few chapters while leaving others up its sleeve for later.

It quickly becomes apparent that Gaby’s memories aren’t real. She’s as lost in this new world of angels and demons as the reader, and going along on the book’s journey, making all of the discoveries alongside her is one of Shadows’ pleasures. I found myself measuring my reaction against Gaby’s every time a new piece of information fell into her lap, finding it amusing when our world views measured up and thinking she was wrong when they didn’t. Despite the fact that every protagonist makes discoveries with their readers, this is one of the few books where I really felt like I was there for it.

The supporting characters made Shadows for me. Gaby had her morals in the right place, but I couldn’t warm up to her. There were suggestions that she was an incredibly strong fighter, but I felt she lacked that strength in her character. The events in Shadows unfold because of Gaby but she is not behind any of the decisions necessary to drive this book. The one major decision she does make does nothing towards helping her meet her goals. There’s a lot of room for her character development and I’ll definitely be looking for that in the next book, but for this book, the characters around her propelled the story along. One thing that I loved about Shadows is that Weston wrote in some amazing female friendships around Gaby, making them complicated and real rather than something to force the story forward.

While this book is aimed at young adults, it is certainly not for the tweens and young teens. The characters in Shadows fall into the legal-age demographic and the writing reflects it. Swearing is used sparsely and there are more sexual references than an average teen novel. For an adult who likes YA, this was refreshing. It adds maturity to the actions and ideas in Shadows without jumping straight into the adult reading pool.

With a steady pace and an entirely new approach to fallen angel mythology, Shadows is a great new read with a conclusion that will leave you hungry for more. Given the way it is written and the overall atmosphere, I’d recommend it to any Cassandra Clare enthusiast out there.

Shadows – Paula Weston

Text Publishing (July 2, 2012)

ISBN: 9781921922503

N.B. Marianne’s launched Paula’s book at Riverbend bookshop recently. It was a wonderful evening and Paula sold bucket loads of books. Paula will be appearing at the Logan Library SciFi finale day on a panel with Marianne, Cory Daniells, Trent Jamieon, Louise Cusack and Kev Webb. Come along an meet this exciting new author.

Paula Weston is a Brisbane-based author and co-owner of a two-woman writing/design consultancy. She is an avid reader and blogger, a huge fan of Australian literature andfantasy/paranormal stories, a closet comic reader and TV addict and is borderline obsessed with the Foo Fighters. She and her husband share their home with a retired greyhound and a moody cockatiel. Shadows, the first book in the Rephaim series, is her debut novel.

1. Congratulations on the release of Shadows (Rephaim Book 1). This series centres on ‘love, nightmares, angels, & war’. Paula, what was the inspiration behind this theme and what interests you most about creatures from other worlds?

Thank you. The initial idea for Shadows sprang from my interest in exploring the relationship between a girl and guy with a complicated history that only he remembers. I knew there were paranormal elements in how she had lost her memory, and that the two of them were part of a conflict in a much bigger context. As I researched ideas, I realised the best fit for my story was the fallen angel myth. And then as I fleshed out the plot, the themes of ‘love, nightmares, angels and war’ naturally arose.

With creatures from other worlds there are fantastic possibilities of where you can take a story – as well as challenges to make the world you create believable and engaging. But in the end, the paranormal, fantasy, sci fi or dystopian elements only form the broader the context; the thing that will hook and keep readers is the characters and their journeys.

2. Do you believe in angels, and which of the angels from ‘traditional’ lore intrigue you the most?

That’s a deceptively profound question! My thoughts on angels are based on traditional Judeo-Christian concepts (of which warrior angels play a role). When I started researching fallen angel lore, I found the story about Semyaza and the two hundred in the Book of Enoch.

It’s a real document that was considered – and rejected – for inclusion in the official Christian canon. Regardless of whether or not the account of fallen angels is true, it’s a fascinating premise for a story. Why did this group of angels feel so strongly about human women they were prepared to fall from heaven to be with them? Would they regret the decision? How would they feel about any offspring from those relationships? What would happen if they got their freedom back? What would be the consequences of being a child of the Fallen? Fertile ground for a story!

3. What initially attracted you to YA fiction and to what do you attribute your ability to create stories for young adults (not that, as we know, they are read strictly by this demographic).

Interestingly, I didn’t set out to write a YA novel, but was very comfortable when Text Publishing felt the Rephaim series was YA. I read eclectically, but some of my favourite books and writers are YA. I think some of the most creative and innovative writing is happening in YA, where there is often greater freedom to push boundaries and tackle sensitive topics.

As a young adult, I had a wide range of experiences (read: misspent youth), and vividly remember the emotional ups and downs of that time of my life:  the confusion, the freedom, the frustration, the anger and the heartbreak. It’s very easy to slip back into that mindset when writing – and obviously I did just that on a sub-conscious level when I wrote Shadows. 🙂

4. Which of your fictional characters Burns Brightest in your mind and why?

It would be easy to say Gaby because Shadows is told through her eyes, but in truth it’s Rafa. He’s fun to write, but he’s also complex and on a very interesting journey, knowing what he does about his history with Gaby and not being sure how to deal with it – or her. He’s got one of the strongest character arcs in the series, and I’m looking forward to how it unfolds.

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment

Release Date: May 15^th 2012, Price: €59,99

Ratings: BBFC: 15, ESRB: M, GRB: 18+ (Real Money Auction House removed), USK: 16

Blizzard is known for making their fans wait. It took twelve years between StarCraft: BroodWar and StarCraft II, just as it took another twelve between Diablo II and Diablo III. Often, people wonder if Blizzard’s games are worth the wait. StarCraft II was well worth it, but was Diablo III?

Before I begin, I just want to say, go ahead, laugh! Laugh as much as you, as loud as you want, and as hard as you want. Because even though I didn’t want to admit to it back when I broke my arm, it’s true, its kind of a funny story.

About six years ago, when I was around eleven or twelve years of age (is that how old you are in the sixth grade? Who knows!), my dad promised to take me out; not exactly sure for what, but I remember being excited and couldn’t wait to go!

So I did the usual things, showered, brushed my teeth, did my hair, and got dressed. I know I don’t remember what we were going out to do, I do remember it must have been pretty important and meant a lot to me, because I recall wearing my ultimate favorite pair of jeans (which were only for very special occasions, and which I hate more than anything now!).

My was dad rushing and constantly asking me if I was ready yet, and telling me to come downstairs so we could finally get going – he had me stressed! When I got to deciding on what I wanted to wear and putting it on, I just grabbed and random shirt, my favorite jeans, and quickly threw them on…maybe too quickly!

I can remember this next part, crystal clear as if it happened ten minutes ago! I grabbed the jeans, while walking to my door, slipped in one leg, and was in the process of doing the same to the other leg, until I lost my balance, causing me to fail. Human instincts told me to lean or grab onto something but, with both legs trapped inside of my pants, my right wrist hit the door frame, followed by my bum hitting the floor.

At that moment, nothing hurt, not my butt nor my wrist, so I just went on about my business and practically ran down the entire set of stairs.

The next thing I remember, is our ride home. Whenever I tried to turn my wrist, even the tiniest bit, a sharp pain would shoot from my wrist all the way up to my elbow. I told my dad, that my arm was hurting. With not much medical expertise my dad explained to me that I would be fine. But he did make a detour to the pharmacy to pick me up some bandage wrap and Icy/Hot to relieve the pain. Basically what any military man would do, when something “wasn’t broken”.

Finally getting home, my dad explained to my mom what took us so long, and why I had a wrap around my wrist. She didn’t believe it was broken either, she thought I was only doing it to get attention. Thanks mom!

A week or so later, my wrist was swollen to about twice the normal size, and I couldn’t move it at all. Knowing it was broken, I begged my dad to take me to the emergency room, and he did – all the while my mom was still claiming I was doing this for attention.

Sitting in the emergency room, my suspicions were proven correct. While getting my cast put on, I could do nothing but glare at my dad, for not believing me and not taking me to the hospital earlier. After leaving the ER, my dad took me out for ice cream, just as a sorry for not get my arm checked out by a doctor earlier. At that age, ice cream made everything better.

Even til this day, over six years later, my mom still accuses me of doing it on purpose. I don’t blame her, because all kids break their own bones for attention right? School wasn’t too bad, I didn’t have anyone who carried my books from class to class, and things didn’t really change. But of course I didn’t tell my friends that I broke my arm putting my pants on. I told them all kinds of cool stories like I was rock climbing and fell down a cliff, I was doing back flips on the trampoline and landed the wrong way. Breaking your arm putting your pants on, wasn’t exactly a cool story!

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading another one of my Life with Lisa’s!!! 😀

I have had a really long love affair with the books written by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I adored the first two books in the Chronicles of Nick series and I feel book three, Infamous is the strongest book in this series to date.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on an audio book copy of this novel and the narration is done beautifully by Holter Graham. I got a completely different experience with having the book read to me rather than reading it to myself. If you have the means I wholly recommend allowing Holter to woo you with the book. Anyway, let’s cut to the chase.

Nick found out the truth about his ‘uncle’ Ambrose and is having a bit of a John Conner, Terminator moment. He has enough on his plate with the 2 jobs, school, his mum and his virtually nonexistent social life – but to then find out your older self has come back in time to try and get you to fix your life so you don’t turn into a heartless evil monster; is a little more than even Nick can take.

To add insult to injury, some loser is targeting people at school, telling secrets and doctoring explicit photos. Not to mention making up vicious lies. Nick is caught up in the maelstrom of hate and it will take trust, willpower and the best efforts of Nick’s friends, to keep him from a fate worse than death.

I now know why Nick feels so awfully henpecked throughout this series by his overly protective mum. I hope all mothers don’t sound like that when we are in the throes of a stress attack over our children. Even I wanted to yell at Cherise for not letting her son explain himself. Funnily, when reading in my head, she never sounded quite that manic.

We still have the cheeky repartee that is typical of Nick, but I was surprised by a certain scene with Kody that had me doing the ugly cry. Battling your personal demons isn’t easy for anyone, and Sherrilyn approached the subject with dignity. The monologue was beautiful and I’m sure if more people had friends like Kody in their lives, the world would be a different place.

Your jaw will hit the floor with some bits and for the most part, this is a book that should come with a choking warning, Talon sounding like a Valley Girl, need I say more.

I tell you it is going to be a really hard thing to wait for the next installment of the Chronicles of Nick with the book, Inferno not due until March 2013. That’s an eternity away!

If you’ve read Infamous, please, tell us what you thought.

http://www.sherrilynkenyon.com/book-series/chronicles-of-nick/

Audio Book Info

ISBN 1427214891 (ISBN13: 9781427214898)

Macmillan Audio Narrated by Holter Graham

Book Info

Paperback, 358 pages

Published March 13th 2012 by Atom

ISBN 1907411550 (ISBN13: 9781907411557)