I, like many fans, awaited the release of Shimmer eagerly after the cliffhanger at the end of Haze but when Shimmer came out, I was hesitant to pick it up. It’s not that I hadn’t loved the previous two books but the problem was that I couldn't go through a whole other book without getting answers. So many questions have been raised and I felt like there just weren't enough answers to satisfy me. I was all set to wait until Burn came out to read this one but then Jasprit gifted me a copy and given her excitement, I couldn’t NOT read this (although I took my sweet time getting around to the book). This book was worth it. It doesn’t necessarily give me the answers I sought but… it gives me something. Something that had me flailing and jumping out of my seat and freaking out.

Where Shadows was full of action and excitement, Haze was full of amazing character development and Shimmer, Shimmer explored the dynamics between the two different groups of Rephaim. For the first time in a decade, the two groups are forced to cooperate when two of their own are kidnapped, the question arises as to whether they can do it peacefully or whether things will go to hell again.

What I love most about this world is that Weston doesn’t try to tell is that one group is better than the other. Both groups have their positive and negative points. One group doesn’t entirely consist of good rephaim and one of bad rephaim. Both sides have a mix of characters. Some might be head strong and unwilling to change their ways and others might see the other side’s point but still continue to believe what they believe. Reading about the dynamics within the group and their interactions with one another was SO interesting.

Throw in the fact that Gabe and Jude hadn't been on the same side before they lost their memory. It’s interesting to see how the fact that neither remember anything influences their interactions with the group and I have to say, I quite like that they aren’t picking sides anymore.

What did bother me was the fact that everyone paid attention to what Jude had to say but Gaby’s opinion wasn’t held in the same light. Jude also didn’t face the same difficulties Gaby had when she first found out about what she was and I was annoyed by what a speshul snowflake Jude was. But then Jude would be so supportive and cared so much for Gaby that it was hard to hold it against him. He hadn’t asked for any of this and he didn’t want to go back to the way things were, where he stopped talking to his sister for a decade. Those moments when they promised each other they would never go back to that touched me.

Gaby continues to develop in this book and she’s come so far from book 1. It shocked me every time I realized that the events of book 1 only happened over a week ago in the timeline of this series. The thing about Gaby is that she isn’t just developing mentally and physically, she has also grown emotionally over the course of the books and it's a joy to see her come into her own.

Other characters also develop in this book and I liked getting to know more about Mya. I liked that we finally got her side of the story. For the first time, she wasn't necessarily cast in a bad light (in spite of her actions). It was a pity that there wasn't more Jason in this book though. He has become one of my favorite characters and I missed him (as well as Rafa).

As one might imagine, things are definitely tense in this book what with Rafa and Taya having been kidnapped. The outcasts have asked for help and it’s up to Nathaniel to decide whether he will send his rephaim to help them. So, there isn’t much action in the first half of the book but after that things definitely get rolling. That isn’t to say that the book was dull at any point, it definitely wasn’t.

A lot of you shippers will also be happy to know there is definitely some interesting development in Gaby and Rafa's relationship!

I definitely think this was a worthy addition to the series and if you, like me, are worried about giving this one a shot, don’t be. It’s definitely worth it. I will admit that this book ends on a cliffhanger but the cliffhanger is one I whole heartedly appreciate.. unlike the one in Haze. I can only imagine the kind of things that will happen in Burn with the way this book ended. The wait may kill me but I trust Paula Weston to not disappoint.

[This review was originally posted on Nick's Book Blog ]

Shadows was a good read.

The book follows Gabriella, or Gaby as she is known, as she comes to terms with the death of her twin brother, Jude. And then she meets Rafa, a stranger who seems to know more about her past than she does. And I guess that’s where all the stuff hits the fan.

For some reason I couldn’t really fall in love with any of the characters. I didn’t particularly warm to Gaby herself, and I didn’t find much endearing about Rafa. Sure, he had some sass, and he was good looking, but I couldn’t really grasp at the relationship between the two. I was left wanting more. There wasn’t a lot in the way of relationship development between Gaby and Rafa, and there was so much room for it.

The secondary characters were interesting enough, but I felt like they kind of faded away. Maggie didn’t have a lot of depth to her, and whilst it was made clear that Gaby and Maggie were best friends, I couldn’t really see that at all. There wasn’t a lot of information given about how they came to be best friends, or what kind of things they do together. It just felt a little superfluous, which is sad. I love reading about friendships that reflect those that one has in real life. I thought that Maggie and Gaby's relationship almost reached that level, but lacked the background, as I mentioned earlier.

The Rephaim themselves were intriguing. I think there are a lot of angel books coming out, and every author has their take on the story. I liked the uniqueness of Weston’s spin on the angels and the nephilim - it made the ever popular realm of angels and the such feel quite new and refreshing.

All in all, not much occurred in the book, and I felt a little unsatisfied when I read the last page. As a reader, I have a basic understanding of who and what the Rephaim are, and what their relationship to Gaby is; but there wasn’t any depth to the information. I feel like I need it all to be explained to me a little more. I don’t know why Nathaniel has gathered all the Rephaim together, or why Gaby and Jude went off on their adventure. I understand it is necessary to keep the reader guessing, but a lot of the conversations were one sided, and I was left wondering what the heck was going on half the time.

I know it seems like I am critiquing this novel to no end, but it’s a sign that I actually paid attention to everything I read, and that I wanted more BECAUSE I liked what I was reading. I am critiquing this novel because I believed that it had a whole heap of potential but did not quite live up to it. I wanted to fall in love, but there were things preventing it.

One thing I really did like about Shadows was the language used. There was a whole bunch of profanities, and it was great! Gaby is nineteen years old. Nineteen year olds swear. Young adults swear. It’s just a way of life. And I think the accurate language of the age group within young adult novels is never really represented. The worst it usually gets is ‘crap’, or maybe a ‘shit’ here or there. But that’s just not really representative of how young adults talk. Sure, they may not swear like sailors, but I have never met someone in my age group that doesn’t throw in a swear in a conversation. So, yeah, I really liked that.

I will continue to read The Rephaim series because I did enjoy reading Shadows, and I think the story has a lot of growth to undergo. And, of course, I want to see how everything plays out.

© 2014, Chiara @ Books for a Delicate Eternity. All rights reserved.

My Rating – 4 Stars

*I received copy a of this novel free from LibraryThing on behalf of Textbook Publishing*

I requested this book at the insistence of my a twitter friend; she assured me that I would love it, and you know what? She’s right.

Gaby has been existing, not really living, for the past year. She witnessed her twin brother dying in a very horrific car accident the year before. She barely made it out of the accident alive and lives every day with the guilt being the surviving twin and the grief of losing her brother.

Her memory of life before the accident is fuzzy and she has some pretty scary ass nightmares every night that center around fighting monsters and a sexy man she named Matt. Though she doesn’t ever talk about the accident, she has a wonderful and understanding friend in her roommate, Maggie. Her life in Pan Beach, Australia is laid back and exactly what she needs right now.

Gaby decides to enter a writing contest on a website with a thousand dollar prize and she uses her disturbing dreams as a plot for a story. Shortly after posting the story online, the man from her dreams appears in the bar she frequents. Only his name is not Matt, it’s Rafa and he claims to be her brother’s best friend. He also calls her Gabe and wonders how Gaby is still alive when he assumed she was dead like her brother.

She has no memory of this supposed best friend of her brothers but she feels like she knows him (I mean, she does dream about him every night) and he’s got the pictures to back up his story. So who is this super handsome stranger that talks to her like he knows her but calls her the wrong name?

After a random public make-out session with this Rafa person, and a sudden violent attack by people called the Rephaim that claim Gaby is lying about not remembering her life before the accident Gaby begins questioning who she really is. This is where Rafa should come in a explain things but the story comes out in bits and pieces (which actually kind of annoyed me. Gaby would get into trouble or do/say something and Rafa would be like “oh yea you need to know this blah blah blah”)
Someone (thing? Things?) has gone to great trouble to make Gaby forget that she used to be a badass.

This book is pretty much nonstop action, which I loved. I didn’t trust a damn person in this book; everyone seems to have their own agenda. Daniel, a leader of the Rephaim is just a dick, and not a fun cocky kind of a dick like Rafa. He’s just an a-hole.

I have a love/hate relationship with Rafa. He’s funny, good looking, and obviously cared a lot about Jude and Gabe. But he’s cocky as hell because he knows he’s funny and good looking and a damn good fighter and that annoyed me a bit. I don’t know, the good looking cocky guy just gets old sometimes, ya know? And his constant need to not reveal all the information to Gaby does get old.

However Gaby, I really liked her. She’s mouthy and strong and independent and though there is some strong sexual tension between her and Rafa, the center of her thoughts are her brother and keeping her friends safe.

The book was good. Interesting plot with a great main character and lots of action. And tons of questions yet to be answered!

I recommend!

Haze by Paula Weston
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

4.5 stars - I’m not even exaggerating when I say that I’ve tried writing this review a handful of times and stopped because I wasn’t quite sure what to tell you. This has become one of my favorite series out there … enough that I bought the books from overseas because I couldn’t wait until they finally came out here.

Haze actually picks up shortly after book 1, Shadows. Gaby is no longer having the nightmares that brought her and Rafa together, but she still struggles with remembering her other life. The life where she and her brother Jude were at odds. Mystery still plays a big part in this story because Gaby has no idea what happened with Jude… what caused the accident that has her believing he is dead and the question arises as to whether Jude is truly gone. Rafa is convinced he’s not.

Gaby struggles with moving forward… and continues to find reason after reason not to go on the search, which kind of stalls the progression of the plot of this story, but in no way took away from the enjoyment of reading for me. I can understand her struggle with hoping that Jude is still alive and I can understand her hesitancy to find out the truth about what actually happened a year ago. That doesn’t mean I’m not impatient and want her to suck it up and get going. I love Gaby. She has her vulnerable and soft side, but we almost never see it. She’s kick-ass and tough and snarky.

Rafa glances at me as we walk. His hair looks fairer out here in the sunlight. Right now I’d like to run my fingers through it, get a good handful, and smack his head into the brick wall we’re passing.

We do get to see some relationship type of things develop between her and Rafa here. But I have to say that the more Rafa refuses to tell Gaby about their past the more I’m curious to know exactly what kind of past it was. It only makes me more eager for Gaby to get all her memories back, and yet I'm afraid of what those memories will bring.

Rafa of course is arrogant, sexy and brooding … he’s determined to find Jude, but he needs Gaby’s help.

"But what if we can’t find Jude?"

He leans closer. His breath is warm on my ear. "We will."

"How can you be so sure?" I want to believe him so badly, but this is Rafa. The guy who’s all action and no plan. His smile is tired, knowing. An echo of a shared past I don’t remember.

"Because I’m not smart enough to give up, and you don’t know how to."

I love that the story hasn’t become about the romance between Gaby and Rafa … it’s hovering out there in the distance, and we get bits and pieces of it, but it’s not what Weston is focusing on. Instead we get to see snippets of the evolution of their relationship… the tenderness that Rafa is starting to show towards Gaby, the confusion that Gaby has because of her missing memories and how that impacts them together… I am really loving how Weston is pacing this part of the story. But what I really love about these two is that Rafa sees her strength and pushes her to try to remember who she used to be. Despite the fact that it may change her feelings for him going forward.

All that said, what Gaby’s stalling early on in the story does lead to, is a handful of subplots that while interesting, kind of slowed the book down a bit. We are drawn into several other dramas before we get to the meat of the story that I really had been dying for since the end of Shadows. Don’t get me wrong, they are interesting in their own right and definitely add to the overall arc of the story, but I was dying for these two to get to Melbourne. Let me just say I was so excited when we finally got there. We readers got some resolution!

And that’s all I’ll say about that.

What I will say is this – if you aren’t reading this series yet, go get it. Weston has created vibrant, wonderful characters that jump off the page and a story that will have you captivated from the start of book 1. If you’re looking for something amazing in the paranormal / fantasy genre then this series should be on top of your list. Filled with mystery, action, humor and romance… there is a little bit of something for everyone and the end will have you begging for the next book. I know I am!

This review can be found on my blog, Fic Fare: