A review by alyssas_bookshelf
Shades and Shadows by Ashley Laster

adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

YA isn’t my #1 genre, but with the paranormal/modern magic aspect, I was very intrigued and wanted to give it a try! I think middle and high school me would have LOVED this book, but adult me still enjoyed it. I would absolutely be interested in reading the next book in the series, as it left us at a point where so many things can be explored going forward.

Liked:
  • The wide variety of characters! There are witches, ghosts, different kinds of demons, and angels.
  • The friends that the FMC makes along the way are so unique and have their own lovable personalities and quirks.
  • Loads of humor and good banter between characters. I giggled A LOT during my read.
  • The representation of anxiety in teens (younger me would have appreciated this a lot).
  • The fact that the author wrote this book based off her own hometown and she even includes folklore from other areas in the world (i.e. The Black Church in Brasov, Romania).
  • LOTS of descriptive writing! Although sometimes it was a little too much description and ended up having a clunky feel to it.
  • There were a few plot twists that I definitely didn’t see coming and lord knows I love a good “omg, no way” moment.
  • How the story challenges the way you traditionally think of good vs evil / demons vs angels.

Disliked:
  • I had to Google the definition of quite a few words and it almost felt like they didn’t flow with the overall writing. It had me pulling myself out of the story just to find out that “garrulous” means “talkative”. Although.. since this is YA, it could push kids to broaden their vocabulary so I really shouldn’t complain.
  • Even with how descriptive the writing was, I still felt very confused on who was doing what and what exactly was happening. Maybe this has to do with lack of world-building and how quickly events were taking place??

Favorite quotes:
  • “The stars incline us, they do not bind us.”
  • “The moon doesn't fear the dark; she speaks the language of stars.”
  • “‘He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility-a band of destroying angels! Psalm 78:49’ — People forget angels are merciless soldiers."

Spice level: 🫑 (has a little bit of potential romance, but mainly plot focused, only 1 kiss between 2 characters and some funny/suggestive comments)

* ARC read through NetGalley, but this is a completely unbiased and honest review.