Guest Review: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

 This review was written by my hubby - Kevin

While other teenage girls daydream about boys, Calla Tor imagines ripping out her enemies’ throats. And she wouldn’t have it any other way. Calla was born a warrior and on her eighteenth-birthday she’ll become the alpha female of the next generation of Guardian wolves. But Calla’s predestined path veers off course the moment she saves the life of a wayward hiker, a boy her own age. This human boy’s secret will turn the young pack's world upside down and forever alter the outcome of the centuries-old Witches' War that surrounds them all.

REVIEW: I thought I would read and review something outside of my comfort zone.........at least for me. Karen got an ARC of Nightshade by Andrea Cremer while at BEA and she said everyone is dying to read it, so I figured it was just sitting there egging me on.

Disclaimer: I do not represent the target audience for Nightshade but who cares. It's all about reading a good book no matter what it's about.
Nightshade is Andrea Cremer's debut novel. This werewolf tale is about love, loyalty and betrayal. The packs or "guardians" sole purpose is to protect and serve the Keepers. Calla is the alpha of her pack - Nightshade - and is destined - or shall I say it has been prearranged by the "Keepers" for her to be with Ren the alpha of his pack. Then Shay, the strange new guy comes to town with a secret that will change everything. Calla senses he is different and something about him both soothes and excites her. Now you would think that this would be simple choice but a good author can take the simple and make it complicated in a good way - Cremer does that. Granted it took awhile for these choices to develop and for me to accept them.......I'm still trying.
You can't have a developing love triangle without a little outside action and intrigue. There is plenty of action with some good twists along the way. Characters grow and you find your opinion changing as this happens - nothing is ever easy is it? She also touches on issues from today's society - some controversial like homosexuality and I thought that was a nice touch.
Now this isn't to say I enjoyed everything in the book. I thought the sexual tension with certain characters was repeated too much. I got it the first couple of times and it got to the point that I started losing my interest. Women in the book sometimes seemed to be independent and strong minded "until he touches me then I'm a sex craved bowl of jello". Hell, I don't remember any girls like that in high school, but of course, that was awhile ago, maybe things have changed. The story was long and meandered in spots.There were a few other small things that somewhat bothered me but Nightshade wasn't written for me - a middle aged married guy.
Overall, I liked it and would recommend it, but the "triangle" was on the verge of annoying to me. Lets just say if I were to pick a team it would be Team Ren. I'll give the second book a shot because I love the premise. I haven't read many YA novels before so I can only base this on my preferences, but after this I plan on delving a little more into this genre as well as others. I'm sure a few of my more more "manly" friends wouldn't be caught dead reading this but you never know.......I did.

Rating: 3.0 out of 4

Buy the book! Nightshade
Authors Website:Andrea Cremer