You can find this review here: Ja čitam, a ti?

What Glass thought about it...

This is sweet story in which will enjoy younger readers. Magic, Hogwarts-like boarding school, nymphs, castles and secret royalty. I'd be honest with you guys. The Shapeshifter's Secret has its ups and downs. Some parts left me frustrated and some made me swoon. Beginning is little bit too fast and there are lot of things left hanging loose. I wasn't really "convinced" by love story between Julia and Terrence but I'm gue More...

Yes, I did give my novel 5 stars. As the author I'm allowed to do that, right? But honestly, thank you so much for your interest in The Shapeshifter's Secret. I really hope you enjoy it!

This review is also available on my blog, Qwerty

This e-ARC was provided to me by NetGalley and Cedar Fort Publishing.

I hate bashing a book by a debut author, but dear Heather Ostler, my feeling after I finished your book is identical to the feeling I got after I had been Rickrolled.

Oh, that famous ankle-dancing simply melts my heart

Like, if I were to pull a prank on an innocent victim, I'd tell that person to read this book because;

This fast-paced action-adventure story is packed with humor, ro More...

You can find this review here: Ja čitam, a ti?

What Glass thought about it...

This is sweet story in which will enjoy younger readers. Magic, Hogwarts-like boarding school, nymphs, castles and secret royalty. I'd be honest with you guys. The Shapeshifter's Secret has its ups and downs. Some parts left me frustrated and some made me swoon. Beginning is little bit too fast and there are lot of things left hanging loose. I wasn't really "convinced" by love story between Julia and Terrence but I'm gu More...

When the first sentence in the book starts with "Julia thought of how completely and utterly complicated Caleb glyndor really was", I pause and think twice about reading it. It is sad that not even through the first chapter I realize that I should have listened to my gut feeling and stopped reading right there, but alas I went as far as 21% and I can't continue any longer.

In the fist chapter we meet the insta-love (apparently it's not the case according to other reviewers, but it sure felt like More...

(I was given this book for free on a read-to-review basis, as part of the ‘The Shapeshifter’s secret’ blog tour.)
15-year-old Julia lives with her over-protective dad, and thinks that she is a normal teen. She’s wrong. She’s recently been having some issues with anger, and she really begins to panic when she throws a desk against the wall in her English class, and scares her class and teacher silly.

The problem isn’t anger though, the problem is that she’s Shapeshifter royalty, and as she nears he More...

I really wanted to like this book, but I spent most of the reading experience being really angry with the book. I'm not really sure how to explain it. I don't know if it was the writing or the story itself - or both.

I didn't feel this was a complete book. I'm sure this is going to be the first book in a series, but there were too many incomplete series and too many things left unanswered. First, I don't know what's the connection with the water people with this book. We see a lot of things throu More...

Did not finish. I tried my hardest and managed to get halfway through, but I just couldn't keep going. The characters seemed to all be stereotypes, the relationships were all a tinge off and the book didn't read very well. Just not for me!

Yay! Thank you NetGalley & Cedar Fort for sending me this!

The cover is beautiful. <3

This is another story about a teen with an absent parent and powers she knew nothing of until something strange starts happening. In this case, start turning into a werecat.

However, after we get over the oh-no-not-again groan, it’s quite a good addition to the young adult fantasy genre, one that crosses over from our world into a different reality. Julia discovers that not only is she a werecat, but in this other world, she’s a kind of royalty and her mother … I can’t let on, except to say that More...

I’m going to be blunt, because there’s no other way to say it: I did not like “The Shapeshifter’s Secret.”

When I first came across the book a few months ago, the cover caught my attention. I liked the animal markings on the girl’s face, and hoped they indicated an exciting story. I was excited to read a book about shapeshifters, as they’re not something I have read a lot of.

Julia is a normal teenager, one with an extremely overprotective father. But when she starts having rages that go beyond More...

The Shapeshifter's Secret by Heather Ostler is a young adult novels scheduled for release on June 12 2012. Julia thinks that she is a fairly normal teen. At sixteen her father is overprotective and her mother is not in the picture. However, lately when Julia gets upset she starts feeling a little out of control. When secrets start to come to light, Julia and her family go on the run. She learns that she is much more than she appears; but so is her father, favorite uncle, and the new boy from sch More...

This is one of those books that ultimately left me confused. Not because of the plot or the premise, but because, although it had a lot going for it, and I liked it….I didn’t love it. I’ve been sitting on this review for a while, trying to gather my thoughts and make sure that I do it justice. After all, I did enjoy many aspects of the book and I see it’s potential. The problem for me is that, overall, I was left with an uneasy feeling, like I just needed a little bit more in order to really enj More...

A Bookcase to Heaven™ review.

*

This review is long overdue since it took me quite a while to figure out what exactly I was feeling.

Because, you see, The Shapeshifter's Secret is a novel that grows on you. I didn't realize that until I was on the last page when suddenly, my brain processed what my heart was saying: Whatever I had disliked about the book had melted away into a pool of caramel somewhere in between the covers. I have to say, from skimming through the words initially to being grabbed More...

Julia's a normal 16 year old girl, or so she thinks. Her dad is really overprotective and that makes her do crazy things like sneaking out of her window at night to go to her friend's parties. That all changes when the new boy at school hears that she's been sneaking out. Julia thinks that he told her dad, because right away her dad installs bars on the windows of her room. Julia gets so angry at her dad, and then she feels really weird, but she's uncertain why and her dad doesn't seem to want t More...

First things - how awesome is this cover? I love the colors that are used, the cool design in her hair and in the background, and the stripes on her skin! This book was a breath of fresh air for me in the YA paranormal reading world. There aren't many books right now that deal with shapeshifting, which in and of itself is pretty interesting. Ostler's novel has characters that were easy to relate to, especially the heroine Julia. She goes through the normal angst of teenage life and then has this More...

Being sixteen can be hard enough for the average girl, but Julia soon finds herself hidden from a secret world at the edge of war. For some sixteen year olds the right of passage does not include growing furs and claws. The Shapeshifter's Secret brings itself into a whole different class with an intense plot and a fast moving storyline. Julia is our furry heroine who finds her world turned inside out when she is whisked away to another world called Ossai where her family is fighting each other More...

The Shapeshifter's Secret
By Heather Ostler

“Julia is finally discovering WHAT – not who – SHE IS...”


Caleb Glyndor is the talk of all the girls, but to Julia he is a mystery. Somehow he is familiar to her, but she's not exactly how.
Julia's father Lancer Levesque insists on taking her to and from school every day and he doesn’t want Julia out at night.
One day Julia comes home from school to find bars across her bedroom window. She gets angrier at her father than she has ever been and she feels a gr More...

The Shapeshifter’s Secret is a YA fantasy by Heather Ostler and published by Cedar Fort Books.
The Story- Julia is you typical high schooler. She loves hanging out with her best friend Sierra and sometimes sneaking out at night to go to parties. Her dad, Lancer, is an over protective father who goes so far as to put bars over her windows when he hears about her evening activities.
Julia just can’t understand what’s up? Her dad won’t even talk to her about her mother, who she hasn’t seen since an i More...

Normally, I wouldn't start this way, but I am so distraught I must share. The love triangle in this book is RIDICULOUS and I am totally team Caleb. Terrence seems nice and all, but for some reason, he just doesn't do it for me. AND OMG the cliffhanger in Julia's romantic life.... NOT COOL.



Overall, I loved this book. It was a little slow going at first, and the set up for everything almost drove me crazy. About thirty pages of is going on will drive anyone insane! The adventure that follows is More...

I got this through NetGally What a wonderful find!!
I really enjoyed this book and the cover is just beautiful. I would have given 5 stars but I think Julia’s character could have been stronger, but there was room for her to grow into a strong woman and I hope to see that in book 2.

Julia thinks she’s just a normal sixteen-year-old girl, she goes to school does her homework, hangs out with her friends. Her father is a bit overprotective but what dad is not heh. Her Mother has been absent from her More...

http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2011/09...

Julia was just trying to get by in high school. Her dad won't let her go anywhere. Her mother is nowhere to be found. And her teacher really really seems to hate her.

But trying to get by in high school is nothing like trying to NOT turn into a white tiger when you're ticked, which is made more difficult when you didn't even know you could do that.

Julia just found out.

She also just found out that she's descended from an old family and an old name in an old More...

4 STARS

YA fantasy novel that starts in a regular school than her world is turned around on her.

Julia was raised by her father who is very protective of her. Gives her a ride to high school and home every day even though they live close enough for her to walk. She knows nothing of her mom even if they were married or not.

Julia is losing her temper more often. After talking one day during lunch and mentioning she sneaks out her window when she is grounded never being caught. Her window at home has More...

Published by Cedar Fort, Inc.
ARC provided through NetGalley

Rating: 3 Stars

Julia is a 16-year old teenager with an extremely overprotective father. When she starts experiencing moments of uncontrollable rage she thinks she’s losing her mind. Then she’s shot at, taken to another world through portals, and discovers she’s a royal descendant of a shapeshifting family—and realizes she isn’t crazy. But her life has become more interesting and exceedingly complicated than she ever imagined. Trust becom More...

Cheyenne has an overprotective father who has been keeping her in the dark about who she really is and where she is from. About the same time Caleb, a mysterious new student, starts at her high school, Cheyenne's dad, Lancer puts bars on her window. Cheyenne has also been having a hard time controlling her anger and has a meltdown in front of her class. After running out of school, she loses herself in a nearby park and faints. Caleb is the last person she sees. When she wakes up, Lancer, his be More...

The concept behind this book is good. I really like the whole shape shifting idea. As you can see from the cover, Julia has a bit of tiger going on! I was interested in the book from start to finish.

I have to say though, that I was left a bit frustrated. I felt like we had all sorts of "things" that were left open ended or not really explained. As a reader, a bit of mystery is good, but I felt like I was left in the dark about a lot of things.

Caleb, Caleb. Who is Caleb? I feel like he is a majo More...

This is an extremely difficult review for me to write because I vacillated between really enjoying this book and being truly annoyed. “The Shapeshifter’s Secret” has wonderful writing, great characters and world building but the plot was convoluted and overly filled with too much magical garbage to make it a truly good read.

Julia has lived a very protected life in New York raised by her single father. He refuses to tell her much if anything about her mother, and when he discovers she is planning More...

The Shapeshifter's Secret was very good. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did, but I ended up getting really into it.

So, I'm not sure this is mentioned, but the whole shapeshifter thing is werecats. Julia is a werecat. She can turn into a white tiger. Now, this is a fairly unique concept. I don't think I've seen it used before, which gives SS a few points by itself. It's actually pretty interesting. Ostler even explained some of the mechanics of transformation.

Julia is a okay character. S More...

Julia is sixteen and have some teen problems like a terrible teacher, over-protective father and anger management issues. But, she didn't expect to know that she was a warecat (also called a shapeshifter) and royalty in a secret city. When she finally learns her 'gifts', she was taken back to the castle, where she attends school for kids, who were all with some abilities. She also deals with some relationship issues - ah, men!

Nice plot! Have you seen "Sky High" movie? If you like that, you will More...

This is such a good book! The kind of book where you would do anything, ANYTHING to get your hands on the next one right then, because you can't even wait another minute to find out what happens next. I could keep gushing, but I think I will get to the actual review.

The Shapeshifter's Secret is like a mix between a paranormal and a fantasy, which is such a cool combination. I love the touches of magic too. So I don't give any spoilers, i'm going to go very general and say that Heather Ostler ha More...