One night Kylie Galen finds herself at the wrong party, with the wrong people, and it changes her life forever. Her mother ships her off to Shadow Falls—a camp for troubled teens, and within hours of arriving, it becomes painfully clear that her fellow campers aren’t just “troubled.” Here at Shadow Falls, vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, witches and fairies train side by side—learning to harness their powers, control their magic and live in the normal world.
Kylie’s never felt normal, but surely she doesn’t belong here with a bunch of paranormal freaks either. Or does she? They insist Kylie is one of them, and that she was brought here for a reason. As if life wasn’t complicated enough, enter Derek and Lucas. Derek’s a half-fae who’s determined to be her boyfriend, and Lucas is a smokin’ hot werewolf with whom Kylie shares a secret past. Both Derek and Lucas couldn’t be more different, but they both have a powerful hold on her heart.
Even though Kylie feels deeply uncertain about everything, one thing is becoming painfully clear—Shadow Falls is exactly where she belongs… {Blurb via Goodreads}
{Details} 398 pages. Published March 29th 2011 by St. Martin's Griffin. Source: Library
{Rating} 3/5
{Review} The premise has a lot going for it: supernatural/paranormal summer camp, but it was just okay to me. I didn't really connect with Kylie but I did feel for her, dumped, her parents are divorcing, she's in therapy, the party and the police, and then the crazy summer camp and the reappearance of the mysterious guy from her past. She's having a craptastic time.
Hunter spent lots of time setting the scene, introducing the characters, their backgrounds, the setting, the supernatural world, and too little time on the story, but I suppose that was to be expected with the first book of a series. There was lots of teasing and not a whole lot of answering those questions.
I liked that it was a struggle for Kylie to fit in, to form relationships, it was more honest, real, and made those relationships more believable. Romance was lacking, there were two possible love interests and it seemed like there was supposed to be a love triangle. I didn't really get into it, I saw so little of the two guys I wasn't really invested in either of them.
I was hooked on the mystery, the idea that they don't know exactly what Kylie is and the 'big mystery'; it kept me reading although the payoff wasn't what I expected.
I appreciated the moments of humor, shapeshifter Perry the the pervy teacher, that balanced the more serious moments. I thought the pace was slow, Kylie's pace as well, I would have pushed harder for answers if I had been in her place.
I'm not running out to get the next book but the series will go on my (lengthy) TBR list. I do want to know more about Kylie and the rest of the Shadow Falls gang, especially Lucas.
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