shadow falls after dark

(Shadow Falls novella)

Published: June 30th 2015

Synopsis:

When magic, romance and family secrets collide, the result is spellbinding!

Miranda Kane has always felt like a screw up–at least when it comes to her ability to wield magic. Her only sanctuary is Shadow Falls camp, where she’s learning to harness her powers as a witch. But thanks to her shapeshifter boyfriend who called it quits and ran off to Paris, both her heart and powers feel broken.

When she unexpectedly lands a top spot in a spell casting competition in France, she flies out with her best friends Kylie and Della. But her trip takes her straight into the heart of a dangerous supernatural mystery–and a heated romance. What Miranda doesn’t expect is for her investigation to unleash shocking revelations…about herself, her family, and her arch enemy. Now Miranda must step up and show everyone that she’s a witch to be reckoned with….before it’s too late.

Spellbinder_bookcover — Add to Goodreads

My Rating: 4/5 (Really Good)

Book Information

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Genre(s): Paranormal Romance, Young Adult

Page Count: 147

Format: e-book

Hola! Or, bonjour, as this book takes place primarily in France. Anyway, point is, hello! I am still working on several other full-length novel reviews, and until I can post them I shall be entertaining you all on this interesting and intriguing novella; Spellbinder by C.C. Hunter! This is a Shadow Falls novella, told from the point-of-view of one of the side characters in both C.C. Hunter’s Shadow Falls & Shadow Falls After Dark series:Miranda Kane.

I really enjoyed both Shadow Falls and Shadow Falls After Dark, and so I had been eagerly anticipating this release! Although Miranda hadn’t been a character I cared for as much, I was intrigued to see what life from her POV is like. And so I finally read it! I really enjoyed it. I really got to understand Miranda more and liked her more too. And in the romance & action department, this book didn’t lack either. Anyway, I’m rambling way too much for an intro, so let’s get to it.

Quick Summary

Miranda has always wanted her mother’s approval on her abilities. She participates in magic competitions–but ends up feeling like a screw-up. But this time around, she has more of an incentive to work to become high priestess; tickets for her her and friends to fly to Paris for the next Wicca magic tournament. Paris also happens to be where her kind-of ex-boyfriend, Perry, was, who had studies in Paris, the reason why he had called off their relationship. But everything is tougher when secrets are revealed and blood is spilled…

My Review

A plot of romance, mystery and action, what could go wrong? And in the hands of Ms. C.C. Hunter? Pff, nothing to worry about, that’s for sure, particularly if you’re a fan of the Shadow Falls series. The story takes place after the events of the second book in the Shadow Falls: After Dark series, Eternal, and the plot was gripping! Especially near the end. I have to say I did find a few events kind of predictable, for which I deduct maybe, .5 star, but I was able to overlook that in terms of how much I enjoyed the story. What I really liked was how even though this book is a paranormal romance, C.C. Hunter managed to keep an undertone of a realistic portrayal of teenage problems and friendship. There were two major things in the storyline, and C.C. Hunter managed to keep them both in check, making sure they weren’t all scattered and everything. The plot was very well-written, I was kept on my toes in anticipation while still sympathizing and feeling for the characters at the same time, which was great.

Which brings me to the characters. Like I mentioned, Miranda hadn’t been a character I particularly cared about (although I didn’t dislike her) but this novella really got me to understand her and her problems. Miranda had always wanted her mother’s approval, and this novella really showed how much that approval meant to her. Because seeing it from the perspective from one of her friends is way different than seeing it from her perspective herself, and I love how this uncertainty, this want for approval made Miranda into a more relatable character. I mean, don’t we all want our parents’ approval? No matter what age we are, our parents’ opinions really matter, and it was interesting seeing how Miranda dealt with this. Also, this novella also shines light on the other characters that we didn’t get much of a view on in the other books in the series, like Shawn and Tabitha. It was great finding more about them. Most of all, Miranda was put in a new light for me; I saw her as more of a stronger, braver and compassionate person, and I really enjoyed seeing the ‘true’ Miranda.

Lastly, the writing style. C.C. Hunter’s writing is definitely one of my favorites; it’s very simple, yet engaging, unique and addicting. Even if this wasn’t a novella I’d probably be unable to stop reading the book, because the writing style is simply so great!

Overall…

A great addition to the Shadow Falls series, this book is great for those of you Shadow Falls fans craving for the third book in the Shadow Falls: After Dark series. This novella will provide you wil a gripping plot, realistic problems alongside a paranormal storyline, and give you a refreshing perspective on Miranda’s character. The writing style is engaging and enjoyable, overall I recommend this mostly to readers of the Shadow Falls series! I suppose this can be read alone, however it will give some spoilers on the series, of course. All in all, I really enjoyed this novella!

What do you think of this novella? Have you read it or the series? Let me know in the comments below!

Sounds tasty? Well then, eat it up! It is positively spellbinding.

Yay! Another Top 10 Tuesday (a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish)! 🙂 This week’s theme is Top Ten Books Which Feature Characters Who _____. I have decided to fill the blank in with “Parental Issues”. I was mostly inspired with this idea since parental issues (dead parents, abandoning parent, abandoned parent, distracted parent, etc.) are over-used in so many popular YA books, I just wanted to point them out. Let’s get started. 🙂

Note: All ‘series/trilogy’ link to the series’ Goodreads page. If I have a review for any of the books in the series, the first book’s review will be linked on the name of the series. Otherwise, the series name will be linked to the Goodreads page of the 1st book in the series.

Note 2: There are a few books listed here that include SPOILERS. You have been warned. (I believe the books guilty of charge would be Divergent, Legend and the Mortal Instruments.)

In no particular order:

1. Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan:

Percy’s lives with his mother, Sally Jackson, and hadn’t known his father existed (and was a Greek god!) until further in the first book. His parent problem would be an AWOL parent case I suppose.

2. Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead:

There are several characters who have parent problems, however I’ll go with Rose’s ones. Rose’s father is dead, and she has a strained relationship with her mother (at least at the start). The dead parent, as well as the abandoning parent (since Rose’s mother has been absent in most of Rose’s life) is the case for this issue.

3. Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins:

Katniss’s father is dead, and her relationship with her mother is a bit strained due to the fact her mother became depressed and zoned out when Katniss’s father died (leaving Katniss and Prim to fend for themselves). This strained relationship does get better, however.

4. Hush Hush saga by Becca Fitzpatrick:

Nora’s father is dead, and Nora’s mother works over-time and is often AWOL, leaving Nora lots of free time. This particular type of parent is quite popular in YA I’ve noticed, along with the dead parent.

5. Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth:

(SPOILER) Tris’s parents died in the first book. Tris loved them of course, so there wasn’t any bad blood, this was simply dead parents issue.

6. Legend trilogy by Marie Lu:

June’s parents died when she was really young. (SPOILER) Day’s father was killed before the events in Legend and his mother is also killed in the first book.

7. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling:

Harry Potter’s parents were murdered by Voldemort as you all [should] know, and he goes to live with the Dursleys, who hate him. The popular dead parent stereotype is used here.

8. Tiger‘s series by Colleen Houck:

Kelsey’s parents are dead, and she lives with foster parents who aren’t much involved in Kelsey’s life. Of course, Kelsey is 18 throughout basically the whole series, but still. Even before that, it didn’t seem like they made that much of an impact on Kelsey’s life.

Tiger's Curse series — Tiger’s Curse series

9. The Dark Elements trilogy by Jennifer L. Armentrout & the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout:

I’m kind of cheating here by putting two series but oh well. Layla has been living with the Wardens her whole life since her mother and father abandoned her. She believed her father was dead but later finds out he was alive and wanted her dead. Her mother’s been MIA.

In the Lux series, Katy’s father died of cancer before the events of the first book, and her mother is kind of the abandoned and distracted parent (which basically lets Katy do whatever she wants).

The Dark Elements series

Lux Series #5

10. The Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare & The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare:

I’m cheating again, but too bad. 🙂 Tessa Grey’s mother and father (at least the man she thought was her father) are dead. Don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll leave it at that.

Clary Fray has a mother, and the man she thought was her father is also dead. She only found out about her real father later on in the first book I believe. (SPOILER) Her actual father also dies in the third book.

TID trilogy

Honorable mentions:

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell:

Cath and Wren have been living with their father most of their life since their mother left them when they were 8 years old and hasn’t been present as a mother figure in their lives.

Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer:

Bella Swan goes to live with her father, who hadn’t remarried since he and Bella’s mom divorced. With Twilight it’s not a case of a dead parent or a parent MIA/AWOL, it’s more of the divorced parent case as well as the distraced parent/parent-who-isn’t-an-active-part-in-child’s-life case.

Shadow Falls: After Dark series by C.C Hunter:

This series (trilogy, more accurately) is a different parent-problem case, since they’re not dead nor divorced, simply estranged from their daughter (Della Tsang). Della is a vampire, and since her parents don’t know that they think she’s become a bad child and distances themselves from her.

Shadow Falls After Dark Books 1 and 2

So that’s it for this week’s Top 10 Tuesday! This one was more of an open-ended question and I’d love to know what you did for yours! Link your post below or comment! As always, I’d love to hear from you.

Happy Tuesday! For more Tuesday fun, check out my Teaser Tuesday.

-A