Shadows

I’m telling you, I’ve been breathing this book, not just reading it.
You might know that I love to read in one sitting, so when I like a book I take it in my hands and don’t let it go until I reach the very last page. I finished this one in the morning, and you can bet that I had a very enjoyable night.

When I started reading it I had no idea what this story was truly about because I stayed away from spoilers and anything that could have ruined my experience. All I knew was that it’s been highly recommended to me by some very trusted book friends and so I wanted to read it really, really badly. There’s no need for me to say that it has exceeded my expectation, even though I knew it was supposed to be great, after all not many Aussie books get on my indifferent side.

“Love. Nightmares. Angels. War”
I am not the religious type, so why am I so attracted to angel-books is still a mystery to me. Maybe because this is a subject I haven’t been too interested to research, so I take it all as a fantasy and I enjoy it without thinking too much about the details behind? That might be the reason, even though I am still able to realize when an author takes some liberties with some subjects and I truly enjoy when I find a book that tackles a different side of what I’ve seen/read before.

I won’t spoil this for you, I really won’t, but I am gonna tease you by answering the questions from the synopsis, because that’s only the beginning of the story…

WHO IS RAFA?

“Morning after morning, I wake up with him lingering in my thoughts and I feel guilty without having any idea why.”

You might wonder too who is the dark boy with green eyes that haunts her dreams, those dreams that leave her breathless, those vivid dreams that she can’t understand, those vivid dreams that are the key to why her memory is so deceiving.
You might wonder who’s that guy who keeps telling her that he knows her and her brother and what history they have. You might also wonder what’s behind all that teasing and fighting and what hides behind his beautiful smile..
So I am not lying to you – Rafa is my newest book-crush… he is charming, smart, strong and too hot for his own good. He knows all this so I’m not trying to flatter him, I’m just stating the obvious, and don’t worry – he’s been stealing hearts all around the world, don’t feel bad if he’s gonna get to your heart too.

WHO ARE THE REPHRAIM?
We all know who are the angels that walk on earth, right? In every story they are quite the same. Not this time. I still want to know more about this world settling, but as different as it is, I loved it. It was refreshing and it keeps open many doors, so I can’t wait to see which way this story will lead us next.

WHO IS GABY?

“I know exactly who I am. It’s everyone else who seems to be having a problem.”

Gaby is a very strong heroine. She’s been through a lot and there’s still a lot ahead of her. She has many questions and many others will be raised. She’s funny, and witty and all the sarcastic games she plays will Rafa will leave you laughing and more than once breathless.

There are a few things that define her:
– The grief. From the beginning we find out how close she’s been to her brother and how much it hurts to live without him. Her bleeding heart cries after the brother she remembers, but her bleeding mind cries after the (same)one that she doesn’t.
– The nightmares. This is another thing that is different. I though I knew where this was leading us, so I was quite surprised to see how things turned out to be.
– Friendship. As alone as Gaby feels at times, there are a few friends that she can count on. I never knew if I could trust them or not, but that’s the beauty of the story.

CONCLUSION:
I fell in love with this story from the very first page.
Now, if you want to know more about this story I recommend you to read it. It’s packed with action, it is full of humour, it’s written by an Australian author (do I need to say more?) and it’s simply great. You have my word!

Read the first three chapters and an extra here.

Happy midnight reading!

Book source: A copy was kindly provided by the publisher, thank you!