(Actual Rating: 3.5 stars)

Okay, I stayed up late to finish this book, and it's saying something that I am taking time out of my sleeping schedule (or whatever else I may be doing at just after midnight on a weeknight) just to write a review about my feelings for this book. And you know what I thought?

I LOVED IT.

Yes, books dealing with the supernatural are cramming up the young adult shelves in bookstores and libraries everywhere nowadays -- but Nightshade offered enough of a difference from the More...

Usually, as a reviewer of YA and one who attracts a relative amount of trolls, I get told often that someone as OLD as me shouldn't be reviewing YA books. And at the staggeringly long-lived age of 25, I might as well be on Kidney dialysis and walking around with a zimmerframe to these people.


Coincidentally, how do you like my tiara?

Usually, I ignore these people because I can easily pretend to turn off my hearing aid and go to sleep. They stop annoying me when I "pretend" to fart in my sleep and More...

This is undoubtedly the worst YA novel I've read this year. I suffered through about 50% of the audiobook, i.e. 6 long, excruciating hours, waiting for it to start making sense, but it never did. Eventually I became too annoyed to continue.

Cremer rarely bothered to explain her world, but even when she did, the Keepers and Guardians made no sense to me. ‘Sink or swim’ is how I would describe her worldbuilding, at least in the first 40% or so - the story just goes on and you either get it or not. More...

Ok, let’s start with some general stuff first. In my opinion, Nightshade was a nice and steady read. I thought the world-building was unique and the heroine easily likeable. She’s pretty, though and a little bit of a tomboy, so nothing new there, but nevertheless, I found myself liking her instantly. There are actually quite a few interesting characters in this book. Some were likeable and some just made my skin crawl. Efron and Logan? Ugh. *shudders*

As for the romance...be warned! This book is More...

Reason(s) for DNF:
-Shay's character rubbed off on me the wrong way. Though I've only read 119 pages, I did not see what made him so alluring to Calla.
-Did not enjoy how Calla seemingly dropped everything for a random human. It might have worked if Shay left more of an impact on me.
-Did not like how the love triangle felt forced. Again, going back to how I disliked Shay's character. (I'm sensing a theme here...)

Despite my distaste for a character or two, Andrea deserves credit. Why? Because I t More...

I had a really bad day yesterday.

That rainy Monday began with another agent rejection for my query. Exasperated, I went to class and decided to forget about it. When I got to class, I discovered that my teacher was not there, therefore no sculptung would take place. When I went for lunch, I ate pineapple, and it made my stomach hurt because it was brown. Then I walked home in the rain, found that the three had fallen off my house number sign, and my dog peed on the mat at the back door. Then I t More...

See more of my reviews on The YA Kitten!

Alpha female Calla Tor knows what is expected of her: to remain chaste until her eighteenth birthday, when she will mate with the other wolf pack's alpha male Ren and rule the new pack together. Then she goes out on day and saves Shay Doran from death for a reason she can't explain. A few days later, Shay starts at her school and the Keepers who dictate what she and the other Guardians do say to keep Shay safe. What is the purpose of this human boy staying More...

When I first read the description for this book, I thought "Here we go with the werewolves again." We're werewolves. We like to run. We like to hunt and we like to kill vampires. Thankfully, there was pretty much none of that in this book. No vampires? Amazing!

Recently I've been in a bit a of a rut, and despite picking up some really interesting books, nothing lately has been holding my attention. I find my mind wandering to other completed series. Hmmmm, I wonder what Peeta is doing right now. More...

If you're thinking, "Oh no, another paranormal book involving werewolves": stop. And read. This book is more than that. It's smart and well-crafted, and there is something really powerful and authentic about the way Calla slowly realizes that what she has always known and embraced is not necessarily accurate or right-- and her character (strong, but flawed), her struggle, and the group dynamics Cremer examines really carried the book for me. Although the writing and the chemistry among all the c More...

I really liked this book. I think people who like my series will most likely enjoy this one also. She ends the book on a cliffhanger similar to my style and she has layered in a lot of pieces which means she's got many things yet to reveal. It's exciting and makes me want to reach for the next book immediately. There is also a nice bit of romantic tension.

The verdict is still out on “Nightshade”. I’ll begin with the positives.

Pro: I burned through it in about three hours so it certainly can boast of possessing and addictive like quality that makes it difficult for the reader to cast it aside. It’s also very well paced, which again, prevents the reader from willingly throwing the brakes on the story. There really isn’t a stopping point. Once you start, you have to finish. As a devourer of books, I like to be that consumed by a book, regardless of More...

So everyone is probably going to hate me for writing this review but this is my honest to god opinion. I really wanted to like Nightshade. I waited so long to read this and I was dying to read it too! I heard nothing but great things about this series but I really wanted the book in paperback to save money. And the week the paperback came out, I immediately bought it!

And well...I hated it. Okay no, hate is a strong word. I didn't hate this book. In fact, the beginning of this book started off s More...

My status updates aside, this was a pretty good book. A nice breath of fresh air in the over-saturated world of paranormal YA rubbish.

A wonderfully different take on werewolves, and a really nice, fast paced story/mystery. I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

If you did read my status updates, the author does need a bit of help in understanding the economy of words. A few examples:

"Her mug clattered into the stainless steel basin."

"Her mug clattered into the sink." works just fine--get More...

This book is preposterous, degrading, and offensive to strong women everywhere.
There. If you disagree passionately with that statement, you will be offended by what follows.
You've been warned.

Oh yeah, and spoilers ahead, because I don't really care enough about this Idiot Plot enough not to give it all away. Capice? Good. You may proceed.


The worst part of Nightshade is that I actually liked the basic concepts. The notion of a world populated and semi-controlled by witches and werewolves, with in More...

What made this novel so awesome? The plot. I didn't love this novel because of the characters. I loved this novel because of the intricately weaved, never a dull moment plot... the history of the characters and their mythology. I absolutely fell for this story. It's action packed. I am not exaggerating when I say there isn't a dull moment... there's not! Nothing is what it seems... one word I wouldn't use to describe this novel is predictable. I had lot's of moments where my mouth was hanging op More...

Don't think I should say much on here because this book is not being released for another NINE months! I am putting this on my "need to read again" shelf because a. I loved it, and b. the sequel, Wolfsbane, tentatively comes out in Fall 2011, and I will need/want a refresher by then!

For now, I'll just say this is a sexy, intriguing read that I could not put down!

Good book, but I liked the wrong guy. Sorry, Cremer, but you made Ren more enjoyable. I’m so behind on reviewing that I thought I’d start with a book that’s easy for me to lay out.

In Calla’s world, she’s always known that her destiny is to life her life as co-pack-alpha with the sexy werewolf, Ren, and to lead the new pack. She never expected to fall for the gorgeous human guy she saved from the mountain one day, on patrol.

She never expected for everything to change.

Calla was a really strong ch More...

*Spoilers*

I LOVED this book and would have given it five stars but seeing as she chooses Shay I decided to deduct a star, purely because I am TEAM REN!

I really liked Calla as a character, she was strong and determined and her own person. I loved the feeling of family and loyalty between the Nightshades and even the relationships between them and the Banes. Calla has grown up her whole life knowing that she will be paired up with Ren to create a new pack. She of course hates the fact that her fre More...

Here's an experiment - go to your local book store and stand in the Young Adult area. Randomly throw a rock... chances are you will hit a book with a love triangle in it...odds are good that it has a Werewolf theme to it too. Nightshade by Andrea Cremer has both of those things in spades. However, this is the book that has single-handedly restored my languishing faith in the Werewolf genre of story writing.

Recent perusals of mine into this genre have left me cold and annoyed (save Maggie Stiefva More...

Ok, so I'm being nice and going to give this book a fourth chance. I just bought it a few weeks ago for 2$ and it really seems like my type of book. I just have to suck it up and try to finish it this time. Will read this and the other two books next month for sure :)


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Since this book has been published iv tried to read it two times. This is the third time. I thought, hey third times a charm right? Wrong! Atleast this time iv made More...

Kdyby to bylo zakončený Renem dala bych i pět.

I like that this book offers a twist on werewolf lore. The idea of werewolves as Guardians with a sacred trust to protect a sect of witches known as Keepers was intriguing, especially as it becomes obvious that the Keepers are feeding select versions of history to the Guardians in order to keep them compliant. I think that storyline could have been more effective if it had been a little more subtle. The Keepers here are written to make your skin crawl from the very beginning. One Keeper consider More...

Reviewed by Lesley for TeensReadToo.com

Calla is the leader of the Nighshades, one of the two wolf packs in town. Her destiny has always been to mate with Ren, the leader of the Bane pack, and she has always been preparing for mating.

Ren has always been the carefree one. Though an obvious alpha leader, he bends the rules and doesn't take them so seriously. Calla and Ren have never been close, but knowing the date of their wedding is approaching, they both try and make an effort to get to know one More...

Calla is the new alpha female of the nightshade pack, destined to be mated with Ren, the alpha male of the bane back, to make a new Haldis pack. She has known this since she was a little girl, and as an alpha female, Calla must be as pure as the driven snow, while Ren gets to run around with every girl at school. Calla's life changes when she is on patrol and saves a lost hiker from a bear attack. The hiker was badly injured by the bear and Calla has to give him her own blood to save his life, n More...

I'm the first person to tell you that I don't like werewolf books. There's evidence of it in previous blog entries to prove it. However, I really *really* enjoyed 'Nightshade'. Very similar to how 'Twilight' was a book for those who had never read vampire books before, 'Nightshade' is a book for those who haven't read werewolf books before. You'll definitely want to give this read a try.

More at Brooke's Box of Books:
http://brookesboxofbooks.blogspot.com... More...

Great story.
Full of question and mystery.
Calla is indeed an amazing character. She's sweet yet strong and patient.
The love story between her, Shay and Ren is kinda heartbreaking because both of the guys left the tempting temptation in her world.

She confused in choosing between her pack, responsibility and her love, her life, her freedom that she always dreaming of.

The ending is so so so CLIFFHANGER! *palm twitching*

Still, this is a great story! I love it and I enjoy reading it.

I am starting to feel that every young adult book is following the same outline. Either the world is coming to a very satirical and destructive end (Maze Runner, Hunger Games, Matched, etc.), or there is some sort of a terrible love triangle in which the main female character has a male friend she should be with, according to obligations or some other reason, and yet she is drawn to a second, ultimately "bad for her" male character (Twilight, Nightshade, Firelight, etc.)

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer is an explosive debut to what I feel is going to be a great series. I enjoyed this first installment quite a bit, as the characters are intriguing, the plot is unique and the pace of the story kept me turning the pages at a rapid pace to see where it would all eventually lead.

In this first installment, there were quite a few characters introduced as the two wolf groups, the Nightshades and Banes, prepare for a merge to become the Haldis pack. Calla is the alpha female More...