Book Review of Shade by Jeri-Smith Ready

Title: Shade

Author: Jeri Smith-Ready

Release Date: May 4, 2010

When her boyfriend dies a most untimely death, Aura–who can see ghosts–is forced to reconsider her relationship with the living and dead in SHADE.

Summary by Goodreads.com

My Review: So before dive into a review of Shade if you cannot tell by the spelling of my name I am Irish.  My parents called the Irish embassy when I was born to find the true Irish way of spelling my name and it is Meaghan.  (Yes, it was a little extreme, but I love the way my name is spelled so I am o.k. with it).  The reason I mention this is because Shade is laced with Irish traditions, for example the band that Logan and his brothers are in is an Irish band and Guinness would be their drink of choice.   Another cool thing is the band that Logan idolizes is Flogging Molly, who I love!  They are this awesome Celtic punk band, if you don’t know who they are you should check out their site here.  Another great band (that is not mentioned in the book but if you like Flogging Molly you should check out)  is Carbon Leaf.  They are a Celtic rock band that tour mostly here in Virginia, but they are great and you can check out there site here.  Anyways, my point is I was already hooked into this book just by the all the Irish traditions   So thanks for that Jeri-Smith Ready!

Alright enough of that onto the review of the book.  The first thing that I noticed about this book is that we came into Logan and Aura’s relationship after it has already been established.  It is the first time I have read a book in a while where that is the case, we usually meet the characters separately first and then their relationship develops as the story progresses, but it is the opposite in Shade.  Logan is in a band called the Keeley Brothers and since he is the front man he does come with some baggage.  He loves to play to the crowd, drink Guinness and just have a good time.  I understand that he is just trying to live life and have fun but at t the beginning of the book the way he was treating Aura was driving me crazy!  Not only because it was just rude, but you could see it was hurting Aura so it was hard to really like his character at first.  And the way that he dies was just so sad, I wanted to reach in the book and shake him and say “What were you thinking?”   As the book progresses, I do start to see his side a little and he slowly grows on me, but it took a while.  Zachary on the other hand I loved from the beginning, he is so sweet and patient with Aura.  I loved watching their relationship grow, I think they are a good balance for each other in many ways.

I also found the idea for the book itself very fascinating, to have some people that are able to see ghosts and others who are not is very intriguing.  All of the possibilities that could come from that are endless, many of which are touched on in the book.  Such as having them testify in a courtroom so they can put their killer behind bars, or say good bye to their loved ones after a brutal or sudden death.  It could bring closure to a lot of painful events or it could have the opposite effect if the ghost does not want to move on and they could become a burden on their family.  These are all ideas Jeri plays with in this book.

Bottom line, I loved this book!  I loved the paranormal elements, I loved the relationships at every level and I loved Irish elements!  The book is left wide open for the sequel because we are left with a lot of unanswered questions and decisions for Aura to make.  I don’t know how I am going to be able to wait for the sequel to come out.  I know the title of the book is Shift and it comes out in May of 2011, but that is a whole year   I will try my best to be patient.   If you have not read Shade you should check it out!