Review: Shade By Jeri Smith-Ready

Shade (Shade #1) By Jeri Ready-Smith

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.

My Thoughts:

I read this book over a week ago and I couldn’t write the review until now. It was hard getting the words out that would do this book justice. This was one of those books that held you from the beginning to the end and had you on the edge of your seat wanting to find out what was going to happen next. I was in love with the characters from the beginning, the beginning of the story reminded me of the stupid things you do when you’re a teen before you realize that there are serious consequences for your actions.  The characters were beautifully written and you could completely relate to them.

The story was based on The Shift and the people who were born after it who could see the ghost lingering in our world and the people born before who could not. The story starts off tragically with the death of Aura’s boyfriend Logan. Because she was born post-shift she was able to see his ghost after he died. This is where the heartaches begins, what would you do if you thought you lost a loved one, but then were able to still see them in ghost form. Would you hang on to what’s left or would you try to help them and yourself move on?
Aura’s mother died when she was young and all she has left of her is a diary with pages torn out.

Her mother writes about Stonehenge and she decides that she would study this for her school project. She meets the swoon worthy Zachary who seems to understand everything she is dealing with.  Aura struggles with dealing with her love for Logan and her magnetic attraction to Zach. Throughout the book there were tons of musical references and I loved it.

I felt Aura’s anger, pain, suffering and I wept like a little girl. The story was beautifully written and I couldn’t put it down until I read the last page which was a cliffhanger and then I grabbed my tablet and downloaded Shift.

I would highly recommend this book. I give this book 5 stars.

I can’t believe I didn’t know about this series earlier, I am a fan for life now. I’m off to read Ms. Smith-Ready’s adult series, Wicked Games.


Here’s the trailer for Shade:

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