Review: Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

Title: Shade (Shade #1)
Author: Jeri Smith-Ready
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release date: April 5, 2011

Rating: 3.5/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan's band playing a crucial gig and Aura's plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend's life. She never thought it would be his last.

Logan's sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He's gone.

Well, sort of.

Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and talk to ghosts. This mysterious ability had always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she could undo it. But not with Logan's violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because Dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.

It doesn't help that Aura's new friend Zachary is so understanding - and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.

As Aura's relationship with with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura's heart... and clues to the secret of the Shift. 

I must confess that I made a big mistake when I decided to start reading the Shade trilogy (which had been in my bookshelf since 2012), what happened is that I made a mistake in choosing the book and started reading Shift, the second book in the trilogy, the good thing is that when I was only at the 3rd chapter when I realized my mistake and changed the book but I already had spoiled the end of the first book.

Shade takes place in a world where sixteen years ago there was a Shift and all people born after that date can see ghosts, which are manifested in violet color, so the world had to adapt and now there are government institutions that are dedicated to monitoring ghosts, there are ghost-proof buildings, etc.

Aura our main character was born after Shift, something that has always bothered her since the ghosts can be annoying, inopportune and sometimes difficult to ignore, but her way of thinking towards the ghosts changes when her boyfriend Logan dies on his birthday and instead of their relationship ends with his death, it continues with the limitations of him being a ghost.

And to complete the love triangle is Zachary, the new boy at school, he moved from Scotland and ends up being Aura's partner for her thesis and to which she is attracted.

Logan dies in the first chapters, so Aura and Logan are an established couple and we do not see how they fell in love, we only get to see Aura mad with him and her insecurities, since Logan was the main singer of a band that was really popular and that was scout by some music labels.

There are interesting elements about the Shift that are only mentioned and I hope they are explored more in depth in the following books and Aura has a theory about it and she´s investigating on her own.

Overall, Shade is a good start to a trilogy that leaves you with bases of the mystery surrounding Shift, and with the romance that is a must in most of the YA books, as well as the love triangle that makes you rooting for Team Logan or Team Zachary and with an ending that hooked you to read the next book.