Show Me Five/ Shade by Jeri Smith-Reading

Show Me Five is a weekly meme created by  That's a Novel Idea where  you  post the answers to five questions. The questions number indicates the number of answers you will provide.

So here goes with my Show Me 5.

1 Book read:  

Shade by Jeri Smith-Reading

2 Words that describe the book:

Paranormal romance


3 Setting where it took place and/or characters met: 


Shade takes place in and around Baltimore Maryland, and has many references to specific places there. For example Roland Park and Hunt Valley are both mentioned and both are actual neighborhoods in Baltimore. A couple of very specific events make the setting important too. 
 
One of those places is the USS Constellation, a historical landmark of a nineteenth-century battleship docked in the Baltimore Harbor .  Aura and Zachary spend the day sightseeing and end up on the boat. During this part of the book Aura finds out some very important information about Zachary and the Shift. 

Another important event takes place at a local pub called the Green Derby. It is the place where Logan's band plays their passing on concert for Logan.

Aura,  the protagonist in Shade  is the first person born with the ability to see and talk to ghosts. She uses her ability to help ghosts who have not crossed over. When her boyfriend, Logan dies, she has trouble letting go.  Logan doesn't make it any easier either. He visits Aura every night keeping fresh the pain of his death and Aura's desires for Logan to be a part of her life.  (I thought Ellen Page might make a good Aura)
 

Zachary is a Scottish exchange student who is assigned to help Aura work on a school project. He has dark hair and green eyes and a scottish accent that makes his voice (even in print) extremely sexy. Zachary and Aura were both born on December 21, but Zach was born one minute before the Shift began. (James Macavoy fit the picture I had in my head of  Zachary)


4 Likes and/or dislikes:

I like the whole concept of the Shift. Not that I would like to be able to see and talk to ghosts, but the world building that Smith-Reading did was very believable and consistent throughout the novel.

I like all of the characters. Even the secondary characters were developed and provided enough credibility that I felt like they were real. I especially connected to Aura and Zachary. I understood Aura's need to hang onto Logan's ghost, I felt the agony of having Logan close enough to see and talk to but not touch, and her confusion when she began to have feeling for Zachary. 

I really like Smith-Readings writing style. I am glad she used first-person point of view because it helped me feel like Aura and I were friends. I also thought that the dialogue was amazing. I loved how Smith Reading was able to write Zachary's Scottish accent so clearly that I heard it every time he spoke. I never felt that the dialogue was anything but natural and authentic.

Finally, I liked and disliked the ending. I love that it had tension, pathos, and a startling surprise. However, my dislike is that I have to wait for the next book to find out what happens next. Ugh!

5 stars or less: 

As far as I am concerned Shade definitely gets a 5 cherry rating from me and if you haven't read it trust me when I say you do not want to miss this one.