Monday, July 21, 2014

Mark This Book Monday: Shadows by Paula Weston!!!

Hello guys!! Welcome to a new week, new Monday and as such a new edition of Mark This Book Monday!

This week I'm gonna be reviewing the three books that are out so far (in Australia and the UK) from The Rephaim series. One of those very few series about angels and demons that I have actually enjoyed and adored! Which ones are the others you may ask? Sweet Evil trilogy by Wendy Higgins and Penryn and the End of Days by Susan Ee.

I want to thank Kristen from My Friends Are Fiction and Sam from Realm of Fiction for putting this series on my radar, you ladies are two of my most trusted canaries!



Shadows (The Rephaim, #1)Shadows by Paula Weston

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I have never really been a fan of books about angels and demons but I had two of my blogging friends, Sam and Kristen, highly recommend I started this series last year but somehow I completely forgot about it. Fast forward to last week when the third book in the series came out, Sam was again raving about it and I decided to get the three books for my Kindle app... and the rest is history as they say, I totally binge read the three books in two days!

Shadows is the first book and the one that keeps us confused for the first half of it, as confused as Gaby herself is. She moved to Pandanus Beach trying to recover from the horrific accident where her twin bother Jude died, and now a year later, she seems to be able to start living and not just surviving. But then a mysterious stranger called Rafa arrives, calling her Gabe and claiming to be Jude's best friend. And that's just the beginning of what could be defined as "all hell breaks loose!".

Gaby is told that she's not 19, she's not human, she was presumed dead too and her being alive makes her a suspect of treason to her own people. There are two sides that are telling her to choose, not really believing her when she says that she has no idea what's going on and she's being pushed in every direction to remember the past and defend herself.

I loved Gaby from the start, she was trying to heal, trying to find a new life for herself and then she's thrown THE curve ball and she doesn't know what to do or what (or who) to believe. Rafa proves to her that he was her brother's best friend and that they had known each other before, but he's quite stingy with the information he provides. Gaby has to relearn a LOT of things, starting with who to trust, how to fight and what she is not willing to compromise. She might have been someone different once, but she is now Gaby and she won't forget about her friend Maggie and her other regular human friends.

Rafa was a very interesting character, even if his tendency to expect Gaby to remember things or to be stingy with the information he provided really got on my nerves on occasion. Given that the rest of the Rephaim aren't any better with their information sharing, I quickly forgave him for it. He might have not been 100% sincere from the start, but he always gave Gaby more credit and treated her more like an equal than the ones that were supposed to be on Gaby's side.

Daniel I quite dislike on principle and never really warmed towards him, he was too much of the politician and didn't care enough to bother giving Gaby a chance to explain herself or really believed her when she said she didn't remember. So for me, the possible love triangle really wasn't such, as I'm pretty sure it wasn't for Gaby!

Maggie and Jason were also interesting secondary characters, and with very interesting twists hidden too!

One of the best things on this book is how well balanced the action and the world building were. We don't really get any info dumping, we're getting explanations but at the same time we're moving the plot along. There were plenty of twists, unexpected reveals and surprises along the way and the take on fallen angels never felt overly done at all.

One heck of a first book and one that I flew by and as soon as I was finished needed to start book two! Well deserved 4.5 to 5 stars! Even if angel books are not your thing, trust me, this one might just be!



View all my reviews

20 comments:

  1. I am so happy you loved this one Pili! Sam put this on my radar too :-) This is one of my favorites and seems to get better with every book.

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    1. I owe you guys for putting this books on my radar! I hope you get Shimmer soon, Kristen! Cannot wait to talk speculation for Burn with you!!

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  2. I must read this series Pili! I've heard nothing but amazing things about it. Like you, angel and demon books are largely hit or miss for me (more often miss than hit with a few notable exceptions including the two you listed above), so I couldn't be more excited that this was a winner for you. Rafe being stingy with information does sound like it would be a touch frustrating, but if it was easy for you to get past I'm sure it will be for me as well. Cannot wait to pick this one up!

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    1. YES!! I'm pretty sure you're gonna love this series Jenny!!
      But let me recommend you getting the UK/AUS editions from TBD so you can binge read Shadows, Haze and Shimmer!!

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  3. Oh my gosh - I've heard nothing but good things about this book, and I'm sold, Pili! So glad to hear you loved it, and what a lovely review!

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    1. Thank you, Melissa! I do hope you'll get it and cannot wait to hear what you think of it!!

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  4. Five stars, and to an angel book nonetheless! That Rafa... it gets me every time. RAFA NADAL. HEH :D

    Fantastic review, Pili! So glad you're majorly loving this series ^_^

    Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!

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    1. Yes, and trust me, very well deserved!! I hope you'll end up reading this series at some point, Alyssa!

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  5. Is book 2 called Haze? If so, I got a copy of it at BEA. I might be giving it away in August as part of my blogoversary celebration since I haven't read the first one.

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    1. Yep, that's the one! I'm sure it'll be a coveted ARC for some people!
      Thanks Lisa!

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  6. Everyone keeps raving about this book and I've resolved to finally get a copy when I stop by at our local bookstore next week. I am not really a fan of angel mythology as well but I enjoy them once in a while and I cannot wait to read this. Fantastic review, Pili! :)

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    1. I hope you do, because I'm not a big fan of angel books either and I love this one!

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  7. I said I stopped reading angel books but one of my favorite bloggers also loved this one. And now that I know you loved it, too, I'm sure I'll be reading it soon!
    Thanks for your review, Pili!

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    1. I really recommend you give them a chance Lis!!

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  8. I'm not a big fan of angel books either. For some reason, I don't mind demons, but angels . . . unless they're handled in very non-religious connotations, I'm not a fan. Like I'm fine with Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter series, and I LOVED Penryn and the End of Days, but I wasn't a big fan of Lauren Kate's Fallen . . . BUT I have heard lots of good things about this series, and you don't typically like books about angels either, so what do you think? How angelic are these angels?

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    1. In a scale between Fallen and Penryn... they're on the Penryn side of the scale for sure!! There are some biblical references to the origin and the like, but nothing overly religious (that would have put me off for sure too!).
      Trust me, you need to read these books! But make sure you have Shimmer before reading Haze!!

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    2. Yes, ma'am! I've already added them both to my wishlist ;)

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    3. YAY! Cannot wait to hear what you think!

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  9. Aw, yay :D Amazing review sweetie. <3 I'm glad you enjoyed this one. I'm still unsure about this series :p But maybe one day, lol. But it do make me very happy that you are loving these books :)

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    1. Thank you so much sweetie! The last book comes out next year, so maybe after that!

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¡Muchas gracias por vuestros comentarios, leerlos me alegra el día!/ Thanks a lot for all your comments, reading them brightens my day!!