Nightshade (Nightshade Series #1)

by Andrea Cremer

Overview

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Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything- including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780142419809
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	06/14/2011
Series:	Nightshade Series , #1
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	5.34(w) x 8.18(h) x 1.26(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Andrea Cremer is the internationally bestselling author of the Nightshade series, which includes Nightshade, Wolfsbane, Bloodrose, Snakeroot, Rift and Rise. She is also the author of the Inventor's Secret series, and of Invisibility,which she co-wrote with David Levithan. She lives in Claremont, CA. You can visit her online at www.AndreaCremer.com or follow her on Twitter @andreacremer.

Editorial Reviews

Cremer's first novel stretches the current vogue in high school teen romance from vampires to werewolves. Granted it is not that much of a stretch, but it feels somehow healthier. It also helps that Cremer has dispensed with any problems of disbelief by simply invoking the "magic" word. Thus the seventeen-year-old-on-the-cusp-of eighteen heroine, Calla Tor, can whisk from attractive, fully clothed female to luxuriously furred, alpha wolf and pack leader in the blink of an eye. Back again, too, with nary a fear of mussed hair. But there is trouble afoot in Calla's home territory—Vail, Colorado, and its surrounding forested mountains. The trouble begins with the arrival of Shay—a human—into Calla's private Mountain School and life. Suddenly the were-world unfolds into its levels: the Guardians (Calla and her wolves-in-disguise family and friends), and the Keepers (the masters of the Guardians—all with highly developed perverse tastes.) And maybe scarier levels waiting in the wings? When Calla learns she must combine her pack with her male alpha rival Ren's, the joyous hunting runs in wolfish form change their tenor. Other issues appear, too: Can Calla love a human and keep her pack safe? What has she actually been guarding all these years? And what really happens on Blood Moon Night when the cusp turns and she becomes eighteen? Suffice it to say that Calla's first-person tale is a page turner and should have adolescent girls flocking for it in droves. And when they have consumed it? Never fear. Andrea Cremer has a sequel waiting in the wings. Reviewer: Kathleen Karr

Children's Literature - Kathleen Karr

Teenage werewolves dominate an exclusive high school in Vail, Colo., in this supernatural thriller. Something else dominates the werewolves. Calla, the alpha female of the Nightshade pack, is scheduled to mate with Ren, the alpha male of the Bane pack. She develops divided loyalties, however, when Shay, a human she's assigned to protect, begins to fascinate her... This may be sounding familiar, and also recognizable is the novel's sexual tension: The mere touch of either Ren or Shay can drive Calla to uncontrollable, ultimate bliss, to the extent that her urges sometimes overpower the plot. The portrayal of the animal instincts and behavior of the wolf-teens rings true, however, and Cremer builds a compelling world, moving her plot forward with well-paced drive that easily holds readers' interest. On the surface, this is not much more than an imaginative B-grade paranormal-suspense story. The book's underlying themes of individualism and freedom, however, lift it to a higher level, and they will probably have a chance to play out in a sequel--one readers won't have to feel too guilty about looking forward to. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews