Shattered Blue

title: Shattered Blue
author: Lauren Bird Horowitz
series: The Light Trilogy #1
published: 15 September 2015
publisher: Skyscape
genre(s): fantasy, romance
pages: 338
source: NetGalley
format: eARC
buy/shelve it: Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

rating: | series rating:

the blurb

For Noa and Callum, being together is dangerous, even deadly. From the start, sixteen-year-old Noa senses that the mysterious transfer student to her Monterey boarding school is different. Callum unnerves and intrigues her, and even as she struggles through family tragedy, she’s irresistibly drawn to him. Soon they are bound by his deepest secret: Callum is Fae, banished from another world after a loss hauntingly similar to her own.

But in Noa’s world, Callum needs a special human energy, Light, to survive; his body steals it through touch—or a kiss. And Callum’s not the only Fae on the hunt. When Callum is taken, Noa must decide: Will she sacrifice everything to save him? Even if it means learning their love may not be what she thought?

my review

I’m not going to lie… half the reason I requested this galley from NetGalley was because of the location of the story.  It takes place in the Monterey Bay area, one of my former stomping ground in my former soldier life.  I love the area and I was happy to read a book that took me back there, even just for a little while.  And to make it even better, the story was engaging and I am ready for the next book in the series!

The Fae mythology in this book is of the darker variety, which I enjoy so much.  The fae in this story are not Disneyfied, but live in their own world with their own strife and struggles.  Humans are generally nothing more than an energy source, than cattle.  In fact, the human reality is often used as almost a prison for wayward fae.  Struggles in the fae world have come into the human world amd the story unfolds.

The story is told in three parts:  Noa, Callum, and Jonah.  What I found interesting was the way the POVs were written throughout the book.  In the first part, the POV is strictly Noa’s and we learn so much about who she is as a person through her own eyes.  The second part, although Callum’s part, is told through both Noa’s and Callum’s POVs.  The final part was told, at different points, from all three POVs.  Here and there, there was also a bit of narrative from some of the other characters adding their voices.  It was a truly interesting way to present the story.

Noa is a fantastic female protagonist.  Life for her has been hard.  She has been through some terrible times and she is still struggling to find her way and her place in the aftermath.  Sadly, her family has kind of checked out and it is her little sister that seems to be her lifeline.  Callum is more than a little mysterious, blowing hot and cold for Noa for reasons that are just as mysterious.  And then there is Jonah, cast as the bad boy… but is he really?

I loved the anticipation that never lagged throughout the book.  There were so many twists and turns that kept me turning the pages.  And some of the twists came out of nowhere and I love to be surprised! 

Rating Report
plot
characters
writing
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reading challenges:

• 2015 Ebook Challenge
• 2015 Everything YA Reading Challenge
• 2015 NetGalley Reading Challenge
• 2015 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge