Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

Title: Shade
Author: Jeri Smith-Ready
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Rating: 9/10

Summary:
Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan’s band playing a crucial gig and Aura’s plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend’s life. She never thought it would be his last.

Logan’s sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He’s gone.

Well, sort of.

Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and talk to ghosts.

This mysterious ability had always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan’s violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because Dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.

It doesn’t help that Aura’s new friend Zachary is so understanding — and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.

As Aura’s relationship with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura’s heart . . . and clues to the secret of the Shift.

My Thoughts: Sick of cliche paranormal romances with werewolves and vampires but still loving paranormal and romance? Yeah, me too. That's why I loved Shade so much. It's paranormal and there's definitely romance, but it's anything but cliche and there's no vampires or werewolves to be found.

Smith-Ready combines music, legend, boys with very cute accents, with ghosts and romance and gives you a novel you will not be able to put down. Ghosts are something that are starting to become more and more popular in the YA genre but I guarantee the ghosts in Shade are nothing like you've ever seen before. I love how Smith-Ready brought together elements like the star positions and stonehedge to create an amazing paranormal element.

Another favorite part of the novel was the characters. Each character had a completely unique personality and added so much to the novel. There's Logan, who has a quick temper and often makes stupid decisions but can be loving and, even better, is in a band. There's also Zachary, who has an adorable accent and does the sweetest things. (Team Zach all the way!) Aura also has a distinct personality and even though she's very different from me, I loved her. The minor characters were also multi-sided and I never had the problem of not remembering who was who.

Overall, Shade was a fantastic novel. I'm desperately awaiting the sequel and I totally plan on reading Jeri's other novels!