Bibliognome: Nightshade

Showing posts with label Nightshade. Show all posts

Monday, November 28, 2011

Team Calla Buttons for The YA Sisterhood's Heroine Tourney

Check out these awesome buttons made by Avery at Avery's Book Nook.

Feel free to grab a button and post it on your blog or anywhere else to help support Team Calla in our ferocious first fight on December 16th.

Don't forget to vote on December 16th -

Sunday, November 27, 2011

YA Sisterhood Tournament of Heroines

The YA Sisterhood blog has put together a Tournament of Heroines. I can't wait for it to start because there are a lot of great characters represented.

I'm the advocate for Calla from the Nightshade series by Andrea Cremer. I couldn't be more excited about this because Calla is one of the strongest and most interesting characters that I've read since I began blogging.

I love Nightshade because it's about choosing your destiny and figuring out which path is best and as the front cover of the book says, "She can control her pack but not her heart."

I'll be writing up my defense of Calla soon, I'm just looking for the perfect words now. The first round for Calla is December 16th against Izzy from The Mortal Instruments series, so make sure to vote like Calla would and go with your heart. :)

You can see my love for Nightshade by seeing my review of Nightshade here and my review of Wolfsbane here.

Check out The YA Sisterhood blog to find out more details. Then see the schedule of rounds here.

Help me fight the ferocious fight and support Team Calla in the tournament.

Things you can do:
Tweet, Facebook, yell from the roof tops (pretty much anything you can do to promote the tournament and Calla would be appreciated.)
If you tweet use the #HEROINETOURNEY or #TeamCalla hashtags

Who to follow on Twitter so you know what's going on and when:

Me - @GeckyBoz The YA Sisterhood - @YASisterhood

Andrea Cremer - @andreacremer

Feel free to post this picture on your blog, Facebook, etc... If you have any other ideas for buttons/banners to support Calla and Nightshade just let me know. Just make sure to link to The YA Sisterhood blog

* If you'd be interested in having a giveaway to support Calla just let me know either viaTwitter (@GeckyBoz) or email - geckyboz[at]gmail[dot]com and I'll organize some kind of blog hop or something to encourage people to vote. I know I'll be putting together an awesome prize package if we win the first round.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Nightshade - My Favorite Quotes/Lines

"A friend . . .sort of. Ren watches me like I'm a cookie jar he wouldn't mind being caught with his hand in. And he's not the one who'd pay for that theft." - Calla pg. 14

"The relationship of a girl and her favorite novel can be complex indeed." - Shay pg. 84

"Just me and this boy, whose touch made me ache in places promised to someone else." - Calla pg. 120

"As an alpha I could help my packmates get the things they wanted, but there wasn't anyone who could do the same for me." - Calla pg. 137

"The witches who rule the world." - Shay pg. 185

"It's been a pleasure, she-wolf." - Shay pg. 189

"Don't bring shame on yourself by making poor choices." - Naomi pg. 195

"My lips still tingled from Ren's kiss, but when I closed my eyes, only Shay's face was there." - Calla pg. 199

"Just nice to know I'm falling for a vestal virgin." - Shay pg. 215

"Worried about me?" His smile broadened. "Your very own freak?" - Shay pg. 221

"Beautiful and terrifying, the library seemed too perfect to be safe, like a carnivorous plant that used vivid blossoms to snare insects." - Calla pg. 348

"My twisting gut didn't feel badass at all; it felt like pudding." Calla pg. 409

"I didn't realize I needed to point out that if we are attacked by a fire-breathing bitch, you can change forms." - Calla pg. 419

"Here isn't working out so well for me." Shay pg. 423

"Without your nakedness to distract me, I'm remembering that we're in serious trouble." - Shay pg. 436

"Because that's what love is, isn't it? It has to be." - Calla pg. 452

Friday, October 22, 2010

Nimble Nightshade

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

*Borrowed this ARC from Tiger at All-Consuming Books

This book gets a grand golden 5 out of 5 gnomes for being quite the intriguing take on a whole bunch of supernatural elements. In this book there are witches(Keepers), Guardians(wolves), wraiths, succubus, incubi and even a smidgen of zombies. The book is 453 pages long but those chapters sure fly by.

The book itself has a beautiful cover, the jacket art is by Suza Scalora and the cover design is by Linda McCarthy. The page breaks showing the moon phases is a genius idea and builds up the tension even more.

Calla is an alpha wolf of the Nightshade pack who very soon, in a ceremony arranged since the day she was born, will become the mate of the alpha from the Bane pack. She thinks she knows all the rules of her world but she's very wrong.

Then Calla saves a human boy, Shay, from an attacking bear. She is definitely not supposed to care for humans but feels a connection with Shay anyway and saves his life. Their first meeting ends rather abruptly and Calla is scared that the Keepers and the rest of her pack will find out what she's done. Then Shay shows up as a new student at her school.

Calla is a great character who is comfortable with who she is then as the union between her and the Bane alpha gets closer she has to conform more to what is expected of her. Let's just say if I had Naomi for a mother things would not have gone very well. Her Mother and Father are not in much of the book but you do get a peek into their personalities and what kind of alphas they are. The relationships between the older alphas of the Nightshade and Bane packs make an interesting contrast when you look at the younger members of the pack. There is a lot of pressure going on to unite the young alphas and start a new pack because it's been a long time since a new pack was formed.

The characters and setting of Nightshade really pull you into the story. Essentially just like any teenager Calla has a choice to make about what her future will entail. Her brother Ansel is supportive of her and understands a lot even though he's only fifteen and Bryn her second in command would follow Calla anywhere. Bosque, Shay's uncle is another part of the puzzle because he seems to be more powerful then the other people already in power yet the reader doesn't find out why that is for sure.

In a refreshing sort of way the two love interests are both actually likable and she has many reasons for choosing either one. It does show the double standard that Calla experiences with Ren being able to date anyone but she can't date and must stay pure. I do have a bias for choosing Shay over Ren though since I've been following the promotional stuff they did for the novel and thus found out a lot about the character. Then there's the prequel that makes me like that character even more. To be fair though the reader can easily see why Calla would choose Ren or Shay. She's known Ren for a long time and that she would have to marry him when she graduates. Shay though represents something new and the fact that change is coming one way or another. Throughout the book you can see that she does have feelings towards both of them. There are bits of steaminess here and there in the novel that keep you guessing on what choice she will make and who she will be with. This book is about choosing your destiny and figuring out which path is best and as the front cover of the book says, "She can control her pack but not her heart."

Through Shay Calla starts to realize that there are secrets and mysteries about the Guardians, The Keepers and the Searchers that she doesn't have all the answers to. They do find out some vital information but it may be too late. The history of this world is complex because the history that's known has as the saying goes been written by the winners. This witches war that the Keepers and Guardians took part in is still going on with the Searchers gaining strength. Calla and Shay have to find out what has happened in the past and what and who they should believe in now.

There's a twist at the end that does make you wonder if Calla did make the right decision or if certain factors thrown at her were indeed only a test of her strength as an alpha. Be warned that there is quite the cliff hanger ending but the first chapter of the next book is already available. This is a supernatural story that has a lot of heart and will leave you eagerly anticipating the next book.