Book Review of Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Description and photo from Goodreads.com
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?
    Warning: This book review has some very small spoilers in it!
WOW, oh man did I LOVE this book! I had been very nervous about actually picking it up because I was not a huge werewolf fan. But I was given a signed copy by a friend, so the book had been on my selves for awhile. I have to say now, that this is one of my favorite books of the year. The first thing I want to mention is how well the author keeps the pace of the book going, there is always something new fresh and very unexpected around every corner, but never did I feel overwhelmed or confused. The writing style was so fantastic that she did not miss a beat and kept the interest in every page.
This book is very gripping, It takes a hold of you in the very first chapter in which we see Calla breaking the rules for the first time, she sees a wounded human on her patrol route and saves him from a bear. By giving him her wolves blood and changing form in front of him she immediately is in danger of being punished by the Keepers. It gets even more interesting when Shay, the boy she saved shows up to her school the next day. Then the story really gets going when the other alpha of the Bane pack decides to get serious about their union in 3 months and to start dating exclusively and begin joining the 2 packs early. 
I loved several things about this book. The characters, I enjoyed each and every one of them. Even the evil ones are deliciously evil. I loved the whole hierarchy set up of the wolves and their masters. I was pleasantly surprised to see that this book not only contains wolves, but several different types of supernatural beings as well. 
The most shocking thing was that the romance and love triangle in this book was fantastic. I am not a huge romance fan and get distracted and grossed out by most make out scenes and the cheesy-ness of the characters in love. But I really enjoyed the way it was handled in this book. It did not hit by gag reflex once. Thank You Andrea! for some well written scenes. It was the first book I have finished that I did not want to pick a side. I really liked Ren and what he stood for as the Alpha of the Bane pack. He was very respectful of Calla and their union looks like it could last forever and be a happy one. But I also enjoyed Shay, he did push a lot of buttons throughout the book trying to get a reaction from Ren, trying to make him look bad in front of his pack, but usually backfired and made Shay look a little too cocky for his own good. And still after finishing the book, I am neither team Shay or Ren. 
What I am looking forward to most in the next book is to see Calla take on more of her Alpha side. The first book she is pushing back most of her control and trying to let Ren lead the groups. But I would really love to see her stand up for herself. I am looking forward to seeing Ren again and interested if that romance is going to lead anywhere or if the main love interest Shay will take over her heart completely. And last but not least, the spoiler part which I will stray from fully mentioning, but I cannot wait to see what happens next with the hierarchy and battle that is ensuing. 
My favorite scenes in the book were:  the cave scene,  Talk about jaw dropping unexpectedness! I also enjoyed when Ren attacked Shay in the classroom, talk about self control on  Shay's part. And of course the end and all of the supernatural activity  was immensely entertaining.


I have already jumped into the next book Wolfsbane and cannot wait to report back to you on it as well. 
I give this book 5 stars, very fast paced entertaining roller coaster of fun. Search Amazon.com for Wolfsbane a