Book Review: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Nightshade
Nightshade #1
Author: Andrea Cremer
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Published: October 19th 2010
Review Source: Purchased
Available: Amazon
Reviews: Yara's

Summary: (from goodreads) Calla is the alpha female of a shape-shifting wolf pack. She is destined to marry Ren Laroche, the pack's alpha male. Together, they would rule their pack together, guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But then, Calla saves a beautiful human boy, who captures her heart. Calla begins to question everything - her fate, her existence, and her world and the orders the Keepers have asked her to follow. She will have to make a choice. But will she follow her heart if it means losing everything, including her own life?

Thanks to Yara, I was able to get a signed copy of Nightshade a while back, which I am so grateful for. I see that there are two different covers for Nightshade and in my opinion I like the one I have more than the other. I love the calla lilies with blood drops on them and I love, love, love, Calla’s yellow wolf eyes. I had Nightshade for a while and finally decided to read the series after Yara gave Bloodrose an awesome review. Plus, since all three books were out, I could read them back to back and not have to wait.

Nightshade starts off with Calla, the Nightshade wolf alpha, rescuing a hiker, a human boy on the mountains, from becoming a bear’s dinner. Although this is something that is completely against the rules, she felt she had to do it. She couldn’t just leave him there to die, right? Well, it’s a good thing that she didn’t cause this young boy, whose name is Shay, is more than just a boring human. If that wasn’t enough for Calla to be worried about, she also has to deal with the Keepers plan on her marrying the Bane’s sexy alpha, Ren Laroache. Then one day, Shay, the boy whose life she saved shows up at her school and her world gets flipped upside down. She is now finding herself questioning everything that the keepers have told her about her heritage, the Guardian’s heritage and their reason for serving the Keepers. She is now being torn between the love she is now starting to feel for Shay and the love and respect she feels for Ren, the mate she has always known. Would she risk everything, including her pack to save Shay, or will she stay and become Ren’s mate how everything was supposed to be?

So, what can I say about this series? One word sums it up: PHENOMENAL!!! If you haven’t started reading the series, you HAVE to read them now. Once I started reading Nightshade, I couldn’t put it down. I was all caught up in the Guardian and Keepers world from the first chapter. I read all 3 books in 4 days! Andrea has an incredible imagination and I loved the way she brought in a new twist to a paranormal romance. There was just enough romance, drama and suspense to keep me reading nonstop.