Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Summary:
Calla Tor is a werewolf, and can shapeshift seamlessly from human to wolf whenever she wants, which is helpful when her and her pack must protect the sacred sites for their masters, the Keepers. As the alpha female, Calla must lead her pack and marry alpha male Ren of a rival pack. But when she illicitly saves a human boy, Shay, she feels an undeniable attraction to him. When Shay causes Calla to question the Keepers' rules, her impending marriage, and her whole lifestyle, Calla must make the choice to remain dutiful to her pack or follow her heart.

Review:
I loved Nightshade and thought that it was a great addition to the paranormal genre. Now that there is a plethora of vampire novels, authors are shifting their books towards werewolves, which is the mythical creature that takes center stage in Nightshade. I liked that Calla and her pack were non-traditional werewolves: they could shapeshift at will and not just at the full moon, and there was a whole pack heirachy with rules and regulations that made the novel very interesting.

An important part of Nightshade is the love triangle between Calla, Ren and Shay. Ren is the alpha wolf that Calla must marry in order to unite the two packs and Shay is the boy that Calla saves and can't seem to stay away from. In the vein of Twilight, I'm sure these two male leads will spark a lot of debate and cause readers to pick one they like better. I personally thought that Ren was a better choice because Shay just annoyed me a lot of the book. He was constantly on Calla's case about marrying Ren (because she was being forced to do it). Normally I would be mad at a character that went along with what her elders told her, but in Calla's case I understood because she didn't want to let her pack down (plus Ren is better, obviously). Either way, I thought both options were realistic for Calla but I just hope that the romance debate won't get in the way of Nightshade's actual plot, which was very interesting.

There isn't much in way of plot in Nightshade until the end when the readers discover that nothing that Calla has been told about the Keepers and the Guardians is true and she must find out the truth in subsequent novels. Nightshade definitely left off on a cliffhanger which I hate and love at the same thing. Luckily, novel #2 (Wolfsbane) was recently published and I can't wait to get my hands on it!

Rating: 10 out of 10!
FTC: received from Flamingnet

2010/Speak/452 pages.