Title: Nightshade
Author: Andrea Cremer
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Philomel
Publication Date: October 19, 2010
Hardcover: 528 pages
Where’d I Get It: Pre-Ordered from Amazon.com

Synopsis (From Goodreads): 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 Thoughts: I initially discovered this book on Amazon’s site and fell in love with the glittery purple cover. It’s PURPLE, I mean..that’s instant love.  The pre-release reviews also kind of rocked, so I really just had to have it.  Werewolves! And everyone was using the word “unique” and that really pleased me…so, I pre-ordered it.

Andrea Cremer’s Nightshade is most definitely one of my favorite reads of the year.  Now, I think the tag line is a bit full of cliche and blah – “She can control her pack, but not her heart.” C’mon now. We could have been a little more clever than that!  -But-, Ms. Cremer’s writing is so superb that I don’t really care what the tag line says – she just really made this story awesome.  The werewolf/Guardian lore was definitely unique and the social structure that the author established makes perfect sense for the world.  One of the things that I really enjoyed about the book was the more “believable” love triangle.  A great many YA books have done the whole love triangle thing and it really just ends up making the female protagonist look like a floppy flake.  Calla, however, is in a position between the boys (Ren and Shay) for reasons other than an inability to make up her mind.  She’s a young woman who wants to follow the rules of her planned life, but she’s also a young woman who finds love…and then finds herself in a situation where she must choose.  I read the book rather slowly and thoroughly, because I really enjoyed each page, so I can say with relative certainty that either Ms. Cremer is just fantastic with grammar and language, or her editors actually did a really good job editing.  There’s very few grammatical errors and I didn’t groan over comma misuse a single time.

I definitely loved this book and I am anxiously awaiting the 2nd in the series.  I’m pretty sure I’ve found a new author for my fave authors list.

Rating: 9 of 10

Bellaesque Rating: Absolutely Not! Thank goodness.

This review is a part of the Fall Into Fantasy blog event: