Shade Review and Giveaway! *ended*

Description:

Love ties them together. 
Death can't tear them apart.

Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan's band playing a critical gig and Aura's plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend's life. She never thought it would be his last.

Logan's sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He's gone.

Well, sort of.

Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and hear ghosts. This mysterious ability has always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan’s violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.

It doesn't help that Aura’s new friend Zachary is so understanding—and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.

As Aura's relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura's heart…and clues to the secret of the Shift.

Look for the sequel, SHIFT, coming May 2011!

My Thoughts:

This book was fantastic!  At first I was a little bit unsure.  I mean, it was very different since some could see ghosts and some couldn't.  But that different ended up being good.  I ended up liking that and it turned out to be important and is probably how this is going to turn into a series, I mean it has to go somewhere and discovering how and why the shift happens looks like it might be a big part of the future of this series.

This was not the average book of- boyfriend dies, girlfriend has to learn to let go, and healing happens.  No, that's not even the beginning of it.  This is about friendship, right and wrong and has some reminders for those that may drink and do drugs, you can die!  I mean we all know that if you mix uppers and downers it's not a good mix, right?  No, I don't think everyone knows that.  And apparently Logan didn't.  He simply forgot.  So I liked that it had that message in there.  A gentle reminder is always good.  Not that anyone should be doing drugs, but if you are at least this will remind you.  


I enjoyed Aura.  Her personality didn't annoy me as so many YA characters tend to do quite often.  She was real.  She didn't want to let go of Logan but yet she didn't whine about it.  It just was how she felt.  And yet she knew how things needed to go so she worked on bettering herself and finding her way.  I really look forward to watching her grow as a person.

So the love story.  I didn't love Logan, but he was meant to be that way, I think.  He had his faults, that's all.  In this one I wasn't rooting for the dead, at least as far as the relationship aspect went, I was rooting for the living and for Aura to look to the future with super amazingly hot Scot Zachary.  Sigh... Zachary... Talk about one uber hot character!  I mean, what girl doesn't love a Scotsman?  I can tell you this girl loves them!  Unfortunately I felt like we barely got a hint of Zachary so I'm going to go crazy in the next year waiting for him.  To me he's the perfect man, erm, boy.  But Aura has some Logan business to get over, which makes sense, and his ghostly appearances lead to some, erm, uncomfortable situations for the future, you could say.

This is one for the older YA crowd.  Talk of drugs and alcohol takes place quite a lot, though it's mainly negative and works as a reminder of the deadly consequences.  Sex is talked about as well, and although it never quite actually happens, other things do happen. I mean, you can't have sex with a ghost... not exactly anyway.  There is some bad language but I don't recall it being excessive.  Though I've been reading a lot of YA and may be becoming used to it.  I do feel that everything that happened is realistic and what happens for real with YA's.  At least the parts minus the ghosts... (I do believe in ghosts though!)

The ending was satisfying, but not.  It didn't have a complete conclusion but it led us to believe something happened but yet still left open ends.  And really, I don't know if I can wait a year for the next one.  I had a feeling that this may end up on my favorites list, and even with some of the weirdness (like them being able to blackbox ghosts and even summon ghosts to trials) I just really really loved it.  The stuff that seemed a little odd are what helped make this different and what in the end is probably going to make this whole series much more interesting.  

This one is easy to rate!  5/5 Moons for sure!

You can find out more at Jeri Smith-Ready's website including the awesome trailer and the playlist which includes some great music!  She also has avatars and wallpaper and other goodies for Shade lovers.    

So guess what?!  Jeri Smith-Ready is one awesome lady!  She sent me this book for review and GIVEAWAY!  Woo hoo!  One of YOU is going to win this *signed* copy!  

*GIVEAWAY ENDED*
RULES:

Must be 13 or older

Must be in the US or have a US address to mail to.
Ends June 29th

Must fill out the form and follow directions!
AND answer this question in the comments:
Do you believe in ghosts? Do you have a ghost story to share?