Miss Little Book Addict's House Of Books: YA review: Shadow Falls Series CC Hunter

Hey Addicts! I'm back again...............oh yeah.............and I've got a good one for you today:

The Shadow Falls Series by CC Hunter is one of my favorites of the last two years! I’ll try and do this series review without too many spoilers, but consider yourselves warned……. There be spoilers a comin’

This great series had 5 books and 2 novellas. Here are all the books listed in order. (I’m only giving you the synopsis for the first book, click on the links of the others to go to GR and read the blurbs of the rest of the books)

Turned at Dark (Shadow Falls, #0.5) --novella

Born at Midnight (Shadow Falls, #1) --Welcome to Shadow Falls camp, nestled deep in the woods of a town called Fallen…

One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever. Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.” Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.
Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either. Or does she? They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason. As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas. Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past. Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart.
Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs…

Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls, #2)

Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls, #3)

Whispers at Moonrise (Shadow Falls, #4)

Saved at Sunrise (Shadow Falls, #4.5) --novella

Chosen at Nightfall (Shadow Falls, #5)

This series is a paranormal/fantasy blend that follows a whole cast of fun, turbulent and snarky cool characters. But our main heroine is Kylie Galen.

After being busted at a party with beer, Kylie’s cold hearted mom sends her to a summer camp for “troubled teens”—aka Shadow Falls. What she and her mom don’t know is that this is not a camp that whips bad kids into shape……no no no. It’s a camp for people who are supernatural beings! And Kylie is about to start down a “quest” that has so many secrets—about herself, her family and the people around her—it’s a wonder we can keep up. But be assured…….you can!

Yes, this book had vampires and werewolves, but it also features many other kinds of supernatural beings. Shifter, witches, fae and the most mystifying of all—chameleons. But don’t be fooled by common perception, as Kylie and her crew were for a while. These paranormal creatures all have their own cool spin off from the norm!

Kylie is a great heroine! She was easy to connect with, the perfect blend of snappy and sweet, but insecure (and really, who wouldn’t be when you learn your real father is dead and you are a paranormal no one has ever seen before!) But her unique. “freak” attention drawing status doesn’t stop her from gaining two of the best gal-pals a girl could ask for.

Della is the overly snarky, stoic, headstrong newly turned vampire. And Miranda, a dyslexic witch who wants nothing more than to become a kick ass witch! These two besties often end up in bust a gut funny verbal sparring matches.

Miranda, however, has to get her dyslexic spells under control and stop turning Burnett (the tough ass FRU agent turned surrogate father for all the girls, and security guard/co principal of Shadow Falls) into a kangaroo. That’s right, you heard me. A kangaroo!

Well, maybe we’ll ask her to do that a few more times. It was downright funny picturing such a hard ass, hotheaded government agent hopping around like he’s ready to go 10 rounds with the champ!

And that brings me to another supporting character, the camp leader/matriarch figure, Holiday. Holiday is a sweet, loyal, brave and loving fae who becomes like a sister to Kylie, their bond made stronger by the fact they are both ghost whisperers and can go to the Falls and see the Death Angels—without totally freaking their sh!t out and running away like a cat trying to escape a bath.

Holiday is Kylie’s sounding board for so many problems, about half of which revolves around her two love interests: Lucas and Derek.

Yep, you heard me, there’s a love triangle.

Don’t go getting up in arms, this is not your usual teen romance triangle. It all starts with Derek, on the bus, the day she went to Shadow Falls. Lucas doesn’t even show up until about half way through the first book, and he’s majorly absent for the rest of the book, after his brief intro. This carries over into the first part of the second book, Awake at Dawn. By the time things with Lucas really take off, things with Kylie and Derek have already cooled and gotten tangled up in a way that only teen romance can. A big part of that is because of one of Derek’s fae abilities—the ability to feel the magnified emotions of the person he loves: Kylie. And I mean EVERYTHING, folks. Including Kylie’s guilty attraction to the werewolf, Lucas

Ah Lucas………Lucas is a stubborn and possessive and totally ruthless in his quest to win Kylie’s heart for good. But, oh boy, at the end of Whispers of Moonrise, does he ever learn how costly it is to keep secrets from the girl you love! And it’s only made worse by the fact his pack doesn’t want him with someone who’s not a werewolf!

I admit, I wavered a lot on which team to choose—Team Derek or Team Lucas. Both had hot, sweet, sexy and romantic scenes with Kylie through the whole series. In the end, Lucas is the guy I would’ve chosen. Mostly because he’s the alpha type, and I am definitely the alpha type of girl! Not that Derek wasn’t a tough guy, he was, he just ended up not having the pull that Lucas did in the end.

The big-baddies: This series had a few. Though the whole bad guy plot of Born at Midnight doesn’t really tie into the bad guy arc of the rest of the series, it sets everything else up quite nicely. Of all the baddies-Mario and his son John terrified me the most. That was because, while being paranormal, they were just so evilly human. Or at least a representation of human’s darker, more evilly sadistic side. Books get real when you’ve got villains that would easily blend into everyday life. There could even be one next to you right now… BOO!

Ha ha, just kidding, I hope….

But I think you’ve gotten my points. This series ROCKS it out like Beyoncé! BUT I will say, of all the books, Born at Midnight was my least favorite (which is why, as a series rating, this series only gets a four star)

The characters, plots, arcs, descriptions and relationships that form and break are beyond great! I recommend this series to any girl over the age of 12, and parent’s don’t’ worry, it’s clean—just some REALLY HOT make out scenes!

If you find yourself addicted, after you finish the Shadow Falls series, don’t worry. CC Hunter has created a spin off series based around Della!!! Insert fan girl squeal here!