Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Book:  Nightshade

Author:  Andrea Cremer

Publisher:  Philomel

Date published: October 2010

Source:  My school library

My grade:  A+

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything- including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

My Review

Ok, the truth is, I put off reading this book because the blurb on the front was sooooooo cheesy.  “She can control her pack, but not her heart.”  Really?  What a big load of cheesiness that line is!  But, my students started harassing me about it and I had read some good reviews, so I finally gave in and read it.  Geez, I loved it!  It wasn’t cheesy at all.  It was incredible!

Why did it have that campy saying on the front, I wonder?  I guess there are some questions without answers, but I’m glad that I ignored that little blurb and went ahead and read it. 

This book sucked me in from the first chapter and I couldn’t put it down.  I read it during lunch.  Ok, I even read it during class one day. ::hides head::  This book has an extremely intriguing plotline and really strong characters.  And the wolves!  Sigh!  The wolves!  I think that I may love all werewolves now, with the exception of the Twilight wolves.  (Sorry Jacob.  You will never beat Edward in my book!)

And speaking of books with love triangles, this book has one.  And it is quite upsetting to me.  I am so, so, so Team Ren.  Oh, how I loved Ren.  He is hot, he is strong and he is definitely the alpha.  He was my choice.  Shay…..eh.  He was ok.  I personally didn’t see the attraction for Calla, but we’ll see what happens.  I have a feeling that this series is not going to go my way, and I hope that there is a happy ending for Ren.  He deserves it.  Especially after those moments he had on the night of the union.  He was positively swoon-worthy!  Maybe Andrea Cremer can just send him to me.  I might start my own collection of the rejects that should never have been rejects. (That would be Ren and definitely Balthazar from Claudia Gray’s series.  Oh!  And Puck from the Iron Fey series.)

But, regardless of my inability to see why Calla likes Shay, I loved this book.  I cannot wait to get my hands on the next installment.  Right now, I’m trying to catch up on the Iron Fey series, but I may have to skip all the other books in my TBR pile in order to read Wolfsbane.  I may end up being a wolf girl after all.

My grade for this book is an A+.  It was a thrilling adventure with a totally sexy wolf pack and a plot that didn’t stop.  Run read this book as fast as you can.