Release Date: 15th February, 2011Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 320pgs
Pages: 320pgs
The Story
Nothing's simple when you run with werewolves. Jess Gillmansen thinks she's seen it all but her eyes about to be opened to even more danger and a reality far more paranormal than she's expected. With Jess's realization that the Rusakovas' mother is still alive and imprisoned, the group's choices becomes harder and trust more important. Lines are drawn and relationships change as the broken Rusakova family struggles to reunite to free their mother - and those who Jess thought to be normal people show themselves to much, much more . . .
The Review
SECRETS AND SHADOWS picks up right after 13 to Life. Cat and Pietr have turned 17, had their first transformation as a wolf, and now have found out that their mother is still alive. Captured and imprisoned by the CIA. Please, pleasssssseee don't try to laugh. I'm being serious here. Then you have Jess who is still struggling with her mother's death and her so-called hot "boyfriend" Pietr is still dating her so-called "best-friend" (who mind you was responsible for her mother's death), and the whole story gets even crazier from then on as you reach the end of the second installment. I really tried to like this one, even though the first book never held my interest, but I ended up being really, really disappointed.
I had a lot of problems with the book - okay, I had problems with every single part of the book - and I just can't talk about it. It's hard to review this book so I'm just going to go straight to the point. Okay . . . people that have reviewed this book on goodreads, the majority of them gave it the average rating or gave it a very high rating, so I guess it depends on what you like. But I just can't see the appeal, and unfortunately for me, I'm not going to read anymore of this series. Apparently there's another two installments but I just . . . can't. The events in this book were scattered - completely all over the place - and I had no idea what was going on except that Jess is literally screwed. Sigh. I hate disliking a book when I really wanted to like it, but I can't help it in this case.
Overall, the only thing SECRETS AND SHADOWS had going for it was the slightly intense and perhaps crazy relationship between Jess and Pietr. With the relationship doomed from the start and maybe a little too dramatic for my taste, but if it wasn't for their relationship and even the relationship between all of Pietr's family . . . I would've stopped at the beginning of this book. If you love werewolves and the stay-away-from-me-because-this-is-the-only-way-I-can-protect-you-kind-of-twilight-relationship - and don't go eye-rolling me here - then you'll love this book. I suppose you still have questions. Well, was it for me? No. Will I read the third book? Doubt it. Will you read this series even after this review? I don't know. You'll have to be the judge for yourself.
The Rating
2/5 stars
I don't think I'm going to try this series... I know everyone has varied tastes, but if I'm honest I'm not really liking the sound of it. And I really don't like the sound of that kind of Twilight relationship. And I kinda trust your taste too (we've only really differed on a small handful of books!).
ReplyDeleteThis book was really hard to LIKE. I think the story would be great if it were rewritten in certain bits. But yeah . . . it's a 50/50 chance of liking it. Unfortunately.
ReplyDelete