Nightshade (Nightshade, #1; Nightshade World, #4) in Once Upon a Twilight blog

Dec 22, 2010 Jodie rated it it was amazing

http://jodiesbookreviews.blogspot.com/
Unique, engrossing, real, entertaining, all words which came to mind everytime l picked this book up.
This is one of those books l find hard to pick a single fault with. The characters felt very real which is such a big thing for me, often with the characters just haven’t felt real which has meant l struggled to get into the book. This book was the total opposite, Calla is stuck between her mind and heart many times in this book and you are constantly wonderi ...more

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Nov 15, 2010 Savannah (Books With Bite) rated it it was amazing

This book calls for breaking all the rules. Saved a human she wasn't suppose too? Check. Fell in love with him even though she was betrothed to another guy? Check. Told lies. Check. The guy she fell for was someone important. Double Check.

Calla has know her future her whole life. She knew the role she had to play. What she didn't know, was how one boy she made a snap decision in would play a significant role in not only her life, but her heart. Now she has to decide. Not only her life, but for t ...more

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Oct 03, 2010 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

With cover art as awesome as Nightshade, who could resist jumping head first into this fantastic novel? Andrea Cremer immersed the reader in a Were society that is more like a society of slaves that don't have a clue they're slaves. To add to the already fabulous line up of characters, we are introduced to otherworldly beings such as Keepers, Seekers and Wraiths, to name a few. There is action as well as a romantic interest that blooms into an interesting relationship.

Cremer set the pace at a pe ...more

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Oct 11, 2010 Hannah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, wishlist

Isn't the cover A-M-A-Z-I-N-G? Wolfsbane has an awesome cover too.
Anyways...Lets start off with what I thought of the characters.

Calla was a great name for a character. I don't think I've ever even read a book that the main character's name was Calla. It's original and still unique!
I think Calla and I have a lot in common. Mostly the same strong-headedness. We're both stubborn. She's protective, as I am. And I find it encouraging to read about someone that would be make the same choices as I wou ...more

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Nov 02, 2010 Megan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: i-challenge2011

Calla is the young alpha of her pack of wolves, Guardians, as they call themselves. She is a few months away from joining her pack with Ren Laroche's to form a new pack that they will lead together, after they are mated. She's always known that this was her future. Everything has led up to this. But then her world is tipped on its axis when Calla stumbles across a bear attacking a hiker on the pack's territory. The Guardian wolves are forbidden to aid human trespassers but something about the bo Calla is the young alpha of her pack of wolves, Guardians, as they call themselves. She is a few months away from joining her pack with Ren Laroche's to form a new pack that they will lead together, after they are mated. She's always known that this was her future. Everything has led up to this. But then her world is tipped on its axis when Calla stumbles across a bear attacking a hiker on the pack's territory. The Guardian wolves are forbidden to aid human trespassers but something about the boy makes Calla decide to save him. She thinks that once he has left the mountain that she'll never have to see him again or worry about her secret getting out. Imagine her surprise when she sees him again in one of her classes at school. Shay (the hiker) is determined to get closer to Calla at any cost and Calla knows that no matter how much she might want to get closer to Shay that it can never happen. Who owns Calla's heart? The cocky alpha male or the sweet human boy?

I love the cover of this book!! Of course, it's even more beautiful in person. Nightshade is Andrea Cremer's debut novel and I think that the words inside are just as beautiful as the cover. I really enjoyed reading this one. I love wolves to begin with so a book about two packs of teenage wolves had me excited to read this book even before it was released. Calla is a pretty strong female character but I did not like some of her choices and behaviors. Ren, I disliked from the get go. He just rubbed me the wrong way. But Shay- Oh Shay!- I fell in love with him from almost the first moment we see him in the book. Shay is so sweet and he tries so hard. He is willing to do pretty much anything to help Calla and to be with her in any way. Ren just takes it for granted that Calla is HIS. At least, that is the way it came across to me. Overall, I loved this book and highly recommend it. It's appropriate for teens and up. There are some sexual discussions, overtures, and some heavy petting type behavior but nothing too racy.

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Nov 14, 2010 Cicely rated it liked it

When I got Nightshade for review from Atom, you would not believe how happy I was. I'd been wanting this book so bad since October, and then when I got it, and for free, I was ridiculously happy. First of all, the cover is amazing. It is one of my favourite covers ever. But, for me, the content didn't quite live up to all the hype. That is not to say that I didn't enjoy it, because I did, but it didn't blow my mind away with amazingness like I was expecting it too, which was kind of sad.

I didn't ...more

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Nov 23, 2010 Lucia rated it really liked it

Calla Tor has her future all set out in front of her: she'll graduate from high school and become the mate of alpha wolf Renier Laroche, when they'll rule their new pack and protect and obey their Keepers. Everything seems perfect, until she meets Shay Doran, a human boy who seems to be much more involved in her world than any other human.

I love Calla. She's not your usual weak, shy girl that depends on a guy to fight for her. She's also an alpha wolf, and she can fight just as well as any guy. ...more

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Dec 04, 2010 Lyndsey O'Halloran rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya

I had been dying to read Nightshade ever since hearing about it so when I won a copy, I started reading it the week it arrived. I just couldn’t wait any longer than I already had.

Nightshade’s opening chapter was really exciting. It throws you into the world you are about to delve into very quickly and doesn’t spare any time getting right into the story. Right from the very start, I was addicted to this interesting and different world and knew this was going to be a book I would fall in love wit I had been dying to read Nightshade ever since hearing about it so when I won a copy, I started reading it the week it arrived. I just couldn’t wait any longer than I already had.

Nightshade’s opening chapter was really exciting. It throws you into the world you are about to delve into very quickly and doesn’t spare any time getting right into the story. Right from the very start, I was addicted to this interesting and different world and knew this was going to be a book I would fall in love with. Everything about the way Andrea Cremer writes draws you in and does not let go.

Calla was a fantastic heroine and one I couldn’t have liked more. I’m all for strong, brave and smart girls and that is exactly what Calla is. She shows so much strength and loyalty from the very beginning and I loved her for that. If you think of what an alpha wolf is supposed to be then Calla has it all. As the young alpha of the Nightshade pack, she has a lot to deal with at such a young age of seventeen, although she has had to deal with it her whole life. It was what she was born for after all. Even though Calla has known what she has to do, it doesn’t mean she is happy with the way things are. This being said, she never complains too much, especially not to the Keepers because she has accepted her way of life. Then she meets Shay, the boy whose life she saves.

Until Calla saves his life, Shay has no idea about this completely different way of life. He is an outsider and when Calla lets him in on her secret, he has a hard time coming to terms with it all and just accepting the way things are. Shay has known a completely different life to Calla and has different ideas about the way things should work, especially having an arranged marriage to someone who you don’t even love. Shay’s outlook on life helps Calla to see her world in a completely new light and it makes her question everything she has ever been told. Usually I am all about the bad boys in YA books but Shay suddenly made me change my mind. He’s sweet, caring, sensitive and extremely hot. He is also really intelligent, quickly proving that he has a mind of his own and that he wont be told what he can and cant read. I loved that he stood up for himself in a new school where he knew no one and he didn’t seem to care what anyone thought of him.

I think what changed my mind slightly about the bad boys was Ren. Usually, he would be the kind of character I loved but there was just too much about him that I couldn’t like. Ren is really full of himself and quite the ladies man. He and Calla are not an actual couple in a certain sense so Ren has no problems with doing whatever he likes, which means dating any girl he wants. Due to the nature of how the packs work and their hierarchy, Ren can pretty much get away with whatever he likes a lot of the time. Being the male alpha of a new pack means that even though Calla will be an alpha with him, he has the last say. He is arrogant and while I would usually kind of like this, I didn’t with Ren. It was too much sometimes and I just wanted to see a different side to him, which luckily, I did later on in the book. Unfortunately, my dislike of him started early on so it was hard to think of him in any other way but he did redeem himself a little towards the end of the book.

Even though I disliked Ren, the love triangle between him, Calla and Shay was amazing. The tension between the three characters was very intense and I could feel everyone’s emotions so well. The minute Shay turns up at school is the moment I knew how much trouble there was going to be. Having already saved his life when she shouldn’t have, Calla is in deep trouble. This human boy makes her feel all sorts of things she shouldn’t be feeling and I couldn’t wait to find out what she was going to do about it. Due to the nature of the packs, there is also a lot of sexual tension between some of the characters and not only Calla and Ren. Even though I was routing for Shay, I couldn’t help but love the more steamy scenes between Calla and Ren, as well as some moments which made my heart beat a million times a second between Calla and Shay. One of the best love triangles written in a long time.

Nightshade is a book that never bored me, not even for one line. Along with a lot of action and chemistry between characters, Cremer has created a world so intricate and exciting that I couldn’t help but to be fully immersed in her world. The pack dynamics were great to discover and I loved reading about both the Nightshade and Bane wolves, both young and old. Wolves from both packs are really different but each has their own distinct personality. Getting to know each wolf was great and I already have a favourite. Ansel, Calla’s little brother was a wonderful character with a personality you cant help but smile at. I would love to see him included more in future books as well as Bryn, Calla’s second and best friend.

Nightshade has a lot more going on than a love triangle and some pretty awesome wolves though. There is so much history and mythology in this book and I loved every single bit of it. A lot of it I wasn’t expecting at all and I didn’t see most of it coming. I was glad that there were so many twists and turns and I loved that I was kept guessing at every single turn of the page. A large amount of the past was explored through Shay questioning what was really happening and found myself being excited to find out where the story was going to go. I don’t want to say too much about this though as it will spoil the story if you read it for yourselves.

There have been many werewolf books released recently but this one stands out completely from the rest. I have never read anything like this before and I was really surprised to know that this is a debut novel. If Andrea Cremer can deliver this much excellence in one book, I am sure Wolfsbane will be a massive success. If you’re wanting something different, this is definitely the book for you! Highly recommended.
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Jan 01, 2011 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

For some reason this book wasn't exactly what I was expecting. The only thing I had read about it was that it was about a wolf named Calla who was supposed to marry another wolf named Ren.

I guess I wasn't expecting Calla to be 17. Maybe it's because the last wolf books I'd read were Mercy Thompson/Patricia Briggs and Elena of Women of the Otherworld/Kelley Armstrong. And they are older. I guess when I read they were supposed to get married I just had it in my mind that they would be a bit older. For some reason this book wasn't exactly what I was expecting. The only thing I had read about it was that it was about a wolf named Calla who was supposed to marry another wolf named Ren.

I guess I wasn't expecting Calla to be 17. Maybe it's because the last wolf books I'd read were Mercy Thompson/Patricia Briggs and Elena of Women of the Otherworld/Kelley Armstrong. And they are older. I guess when I read they were supposed to get married I just had it in my mind that they would be a bit older.

I've been wanting to read Nightshade for a while. I have been following the author Andrea Cremer on twitter. And Nightshade has been on my to read list (love wolf books). So with Wolfsbane coming out next month I figured I should get to this book before everybody is talking about the next one.

This book is about a girl named Calla who is with the Nightshade pack. She is supposed to marry alpha Ren (from the Bane pack) and they are supposed to start a new pack. They are guardians who are supposed to guard the Keepers.

The story begins with Calla saving a human boy, Shay (guardians are not allowed to do this). Then Shay shows up at her school.

Before I read the book I had been seeing a lot of people asking are you team Shay or team Ren. And I think it's interesting when you have a love triangle where both guys are viable options. I like Shay. But I actually also really like Ren.

One thing that I found quite different from other wolf books was how they changed into wolf form. In most of the other books I've read it can be an excruciating process. But in Nightshade they seemingly can switch back and forth (and end up fully clothed) in the blink of an eye.

I really enjoyed this book. But to me the ending is always critical. It can make all the difference in how I think about the book afterwards. I thought that the book's ending satisfied me. It seemed obvious from the beginning that the book would end with Calla and Ren's union ceremony. I tried to think what I thought would happen. And there were actually quite a few twists and turns that I wasn't necessarily expecting. The ending made me really want read the next book. Can't wait.

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