Shadows (The Rephaim #1) by Paula Weston

It's almost a year since Gaby Winters watched her twin brother die. In the sunshine of a new town her body has healed, but her grief is raw and constant. It doesn't help that every night in her dreams she fights and kills hell-beasts. And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who's been appearing in Gaby's dreams, he tells her things about her brother and her life that cannot be true, things that are dangerous. Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And who is Gaby? The truth lies in the shadows of her nightmares.

Hardcover, 400 pages

Published September 10th 2013 by Tundra Books (first published July 2nd 2012) 

Kristine's review:

A solid 4.5 stars! I received a copy of this book in a goodreads giveaway and I could not wait to

 read it. Let me start off by saying that I am not a young adult or even a new adult but I have just 

recently discovered that paranormal books are my new guilty pleasure. For years I resisted reading

anything that could not happen in real life and thought that I couldn't possibly like anything that my 

teenage daughters read. Boy was I wrong. For once I should have listened to them when they 

promised me I would like this genre. So to prepare myself for this book I put on my "youthful 

attitude", minus the skinny jeans, and opened the book with the beautiful cover. 

What can I say about this book? It drew me in right away. I liked the fact that it didn't take half of 

the book to get to the plot. The chapters are short and I found myself saying "just one more 

chapter" a lot which had me getting through it quickly. If I hadn't been working nights when I 

started Shadows I could have easily finished it in one day. The characters were real to life in my 

opinion. They said what they felt, called it like they saw it and were not weak and boring. There is 

a little bit of language but no different than what you would hear on any school yard. It did not 

bother or offend me in the least. The plot keeps you guessing and excited to read the next book 

to find out what happens. Both Gaby and Rafa were like able in my opinion and the chemistry 

between them was undeniable. Throughout the entire book I was trying to figure out who was good 

and who was bad but had no clear answer by the end. The Paranormal aspect of the story was 

well written, easy to follow and interesting. This makes me hopeful that the next book in 

the series will answer my remaining questions.. 

There is so much more that I could say about this book and the story but I don't want to give 

anything away. You have to read it to find out. If you are fan of fallen angels/ paranormal you 

should pick this book up. Paula Weston did a fabulous job!

Hurry up and read this Terri so we can get your opinion!

Kristine's Rating 

 

Terri's Review     

Knowing that Kristine has already read this book I purposely did not read her review so that my opinion and reaction would not be biased or swayed.

This was an easy read that I happily spent an afternoon beginning and finishing.  Although the paranormal type genre is somewhat new to me it has been a genre that I have been favoring a lot recently.

One of the key things that put this book ahead of some of the others in this genre that I have read is the fact that it had a perfect balance between "normal" and paranormal.  There were not a lot crazy "out there" plot twists although it did have enough angels, demons and hellions to keep you interested.

I found Weston developed some strong and likable characters in this story that made me want to follow them in their journey from the beginning.  Gaby and Rafa have obvious chemistry and conflict and I can't wait to see where the story takes them  I also found that Weston's writing style flowed easily and made the storyline proceed at a pace where there was never a lull in the story.

After reading this book I still have many unanswered questions.  Since there is a second book I assume that this is on purpose and of course I will be reading it to find out what happens next.  I am normally able to predict where a plot will take me early on in a book however in this case I have no idea what will come next.  This in a way bothers me and in another way means that I have truly found a gem.

One word of warning is that this book is marketed as a Teen novel and there is a bit of language throughout.  Although not an issue for me this may be for parents of a younger audience.

Overall a very good read.