The novel Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready features a relatively normal girl named Aura, who has the ability to see and speak to ghosts, like everyone else born after the mysterious Shift. She lives with her Aunt, Gina, since her father is missing and her mother is deceased. On her boyfriend Logan’s birthday, due to excessive alcohol and drug consumption Logan dies during the after-party, which is supposed to celebrate his band’s success at a performance. However, Logan sticks aroundas a ghost. Aura becomes confused as her relationship with Logan continues, especially after meeting the peculiar Scottish Zachary, who has quite a lot of convoluted secrets. He helps Aura with her thesis, which involves Stonehenge, Newgrange, stars, and her deceased mother. Aura learns some surprising secrets about both Zachary as well as her mother.
Shade was a decently written novel with a mildly interesting plot and characters. It seems as if pretty much as if all of the supernatural beings, such as ghosts, werewolves, and vampires, have pretty much been written to death, but that does not stop even more from continuing to be published. While Shade had some unique characteristics, such as using obsidian and the color red to ward away ghosts, for the most part, the story-line and setting were not especially unique. I was intrigued by the strong and willful character of Aura, who kept going, even after her mother and boyfriend died and her father disappeared. Shade was a decent read, but it was definitely not a masterpiece.
Alcohol and drugs were part of the plot.
Reviewer Age:17
Reviewer City, State and Country: Charleston, SC USA
