Shade

Shade is the story of almost seventeen year old Aura, born after the Shift: when for some unknown reason, all children suddenly became able to see and interact with ghosts. Which is a pain, of course; until Aura's boyfriend Logan dies unexpectedly of a drug overdose. Then Aura embraces being able to still see and talk with Logan, but the trouble is, Logan no longer wants to "go into the light" or cross over into heaven; he wants to stay with Aura. And that possibility means he might turn into a Shade, trapped in darkness forever. Complications also arise when her new school partner, Zachary, begins to arouse feelings within Aura...and Logan reacts.


I really wanted to like Shade much more than I actually did. It's got a terrific premise and Aura is a believable character. There's a lot going on, with Aura's family issues (her mom's dead; her father's unknown), the Shift (what is it?), and the relationships between Aura, Logan, and Zachary. It just felt as though it took a very long time to get to the action--at page 140, I felt as though I was still waiting for the book to take off. And though there was a lot happening, none of it felt very focused; were we more concerned with Logan, Zachary, or the Shift? I can see the appeal of this as a romantic paranormal tale, but I just was expecting...more. It's not that it's poorly written, but I wasn't feeling the connections. Shade ends on a cliffhanger but I doubt I'll pick up the next in the series.

~taminator40