Best friends Eve and Jess have just returned home to the exclusive town of Deepdene in the Hamptons after summer holidays, all geared up for their freshman year of High School. Best of all, two new boys have moved to town: mysterious, dark, and sexy Mal, and Luke, the Pastor’s kid (who’s very cute and knows it and just a little bit bad). Perfect little Deepdene is hiding a horrible secret.

Why are people being plagued by nightmares that drive them insane? And what’s with the sparks that have started shooting out of Eve’s fingers whenever she gets upset? Can Eve and Jess save the town and find out who the big bad Demon is? And will they defeat him, or will they be the next victims?

Overall, Shadows is a fun and entertaining read with plenty of humour, mild horror, angst, and love to keep you hooked. The main criticism I had was the whole ‘poor little rich kid’ drama and constant shopping and designer name dropping; but, if you can look past this, you will find well-developed characters who are mostly believable and a well thought out plot. I found the strength of the friendship between Eve and Jess very heart-warming.

Meredith’s style reminds me of LJ Smith’s The Vampire Diaries but aimed at a younger audience. It also has a Buffyesque vibe, with the whole one-girl-with-a-kick-ass-attitude-gifted-to-save-her-town-with-the-help-of-her-friends plot (but with a different twist). All in all, I found Shadows to be an entertaining read. I would particularly recommend it to pre-teen girls new to the paranormal genre, owing to its fun, mild content.

Shadows is the first book in the Dark Touch series. Book two, The Hunt, was released August 2010.

Book three of the series,  Fever, will be released February, 2011.

Shadows – Amy Meredith

ISBN 13: 9781849410519

ISBN 10: 1849410518

May 3, 2010 by Random House, Australia

Paperback, 240 Pages

Nightshade introduces us to Calla Tor, a fierce warrior, and alpha wolf of her generation of the Nightshade pack. Calla is committed to following the path set out by her masters, The Keepers, and uniting with Ren—alpha of the young Bane pack (whether she wants him as her husband or not).

Duty comes first. Her life is sent spinning when she breaks the rules and saves the life of young human, Shay. Together, they start to uncover secrets and lies The Keepers have hidden. Calla is faced with the toughest choice of her young life: should she obey The Keepers, and unite with Ren, or follow her heart?

Right from the first page, we are thrown into the thick of the action which, while attention-grabbing, did make me feel as though I was scrambling to catch up with who was who and what exactly was going on. But by the third chapter, the characters were defined and I felt embedded as a member of the pack.

Nightshade’s plot is well developed and moves along at a great pace with no real lagging sections. I found myself flying through the pages, racing along with my favourites, sympathising, laughing, holding my breath, and cheering them on. There is such a range of personality types among the characters that it’s easy to find at least one (if not more) that you can relate to. I especially enjoyed the mix of suspense, humour, magic, mystery, action and young love. I was pleasantly surprised by the way the story unfolded, and I look forward for more in this series.

Nightshade is Andrea Cremer’s debut novel and the first in the Witches War series. Book two, Wolfsbane, is due for release in July of 2011.

Looky here for the Nightshade trailer!

For more information check out Andrea’s website www.andreacremer.com

Nightshade — Andrea Cremer

October 19, 2010, Philomel

Paperback 454 Pages

ISBN: 9781907410277
ISBN-10: 1907410279

Tara Moss has long been one of my favourite adult crime authors, so when I heard she was moving into Paranormal fiction I let out a little (okay–a big) fan girl squeal. And Pandora English certainly doesn’t disappoint; she is such a delight.

Pandora has always been labelled the weird kid, seeing things and knowing things she really shouldn’t; and, in a small town like Gretchenville, doing stuff that gets you noticed for all the wrong reasons. Pandora sets off to follow her dream of working as a writer at a fashion magazine in fabulous New York, thanks to a generous offer from her Great Aunt Celia to come and stay. The only thing is that there’s something weird going on: for an elderly lady, Celia sure does seem young and spritely– and what’s with the veil she constantly wears? Also, the suburb they live in doesn’t appear on maps and no one has heard of it. Unfortunately, no one has explained the family history to Pandora, let alone the fact that out of a line of gifted women, she’s extra special.

The Blood Countess has a little bit of everything to get your heart pumping: crushes on century old ghosts, vampires with an obsessive need to count, villains guarded by zombies, and the unconfirmed goblin neighbourhood grocer. This is all backdropped by Pandora trying to make it in New York, and the conspiracy surrounding the latest greatest skincare product to hit the market.

I had trouble picking a favourite character from the two mains: both are well developed and very believable. The plot line flows along at just the right speed, leaving you holding your breath from chapter to chapter as the action and mystery unfold. Quite honestly, The Blood Countess has made it into my top 5 across all genres for the year; it’s fun, fresh and gripping, dark without any over-the-top morbidity. It’s a great good-versus-evil tale, and the fact that we are finding out the truth that hides in the darkness of night at the same time as Pandora made it all the more enjoyable.

The next book following Pandora’s adventures, The Spider Countess, is out 2011. All I can say is write fast Tara!

The very mysterious trailer

Tara’s website.

The Blood Countess – Tara Moss

1 November, 2010 by Pan Macmillan

Paperback, 394 Pages

ISBN:
9781405040143

17 year old Leslie is trying desperately to find a way to feel in control of her life. Her mother’s shot through, her father’s a drunk who is never around, and her brother quite happily uses her in any way he can to support his addictions. She’s broken, scared, and tormented; and, unbeknownst to her living on the cusp of the faerie world–one of her friends, Aislinn, is a faerie queen and the other’s half fae.

Leslie finds solace in the thought of getting “inked”, but little does she know that this will tie her to the dark court king, Irial, and that she will once again be be used for someone else’s gain. At the same time, she finds herself being drawn to Niall, a fae who is addictive to mortals.

Ink Exchange is the second title in the Wicked Lovely series, but the storyline is easy to grasp if you’re a newcomer to Marr’s work.

The characters are richly woven and easy to visualize. And the scenes are written in such a way that make you truly feel like you’re there and that, if you look out the corner of your eye, you might just see the fae hiding in the shadows. The tattoo scenes had me feeling as if it was my own skin being marked; I could almost smell the ink and feel the needle.

Ink Exchange gripped me from the beginning and didn’t let go. At times, I found myself holding my breath; at other times, I found myself wanting to jump through the pages and throttle both Irial and Niall. I just wanted to protect Leslie and find her a solution.

There are another three novels in the series, Wicked Lovely, Fragile Eternity, and Radiant Shadows, as well as a short story collection: Stopping Time parts 1 and 2 (which focuses more on Leslie’s continued journey).

Fans of Laurell K Hamillton’s Merry Gentry series will also enjoy this novel.

Ink Exchange – Melissa Marr

April 29, 2008 by HarperCollins, Australia

Hardback, 336 pages

ISBN: 9780061214684