Kate Brian

**Some Spoilers if you have NOT read Shadowlands**

Rory is getting used to her new reality on Juniper Landing. She's getting to know the clique of "Lifers" and figuring out how things actually work behind the scenes, while also grappling with what her situation means for Darcy and her dad. Meanwhile things are happening on the island that are not normal. Plants are dying, crows and insects have shown up, and people are going into the fog and not ending up where they should. It's hard for the show more locals not to blame Rory, since it did start happening with her arrival... but Rory doesn't even understand half of what is going on, let alone being able to cause it intentionally. With so many secrets, it's hard for Rory to fix anything... and it doesn't help when Tristan is being secretive and Joaquin is the only one she can lean on.


My Thoughts:
The SECOND BOOK!!!! I was SO excited to read this one! I've been pining away for it ever since I read the last page of Shadowlands. And let me tell you, that last page certainly was a mindf*ck. It ended with a twist that I NEVER saw coming and wasn't sure I even liked. But after further reflection, I realized that I did like it, I just wasn't prepared for it at the time.

Anyway on to this book. If you loved Shadowlands, you won't be disappointed with Hereafter. With Steven Nell out of the way, another baddie reveals him/herself. And this person is doing things that are causing the entire island to go haywire. Poor Rory doesn't even have time to adjust to her new role (or even get all the info) before the ominous stuff starts happening. She has no idea how to fix it, but she somehow becomes the center of all the speculation. It seemed like everyone was keeping secrets from her and she was already in the dark about most things as it was!! Could someone fill a girl in??

If you were hoping that book 2 would let you off a little easier than book 1.... well I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I still wanted to punch myself in the face when it was over. Mostly because I have to wait who knows how long to find out what's next.

There were only a few drawbacks. One was that it felt a little short. It's 320 pages, so clearly it's not that short, but it just felt that way. I wanted MORE. More info about how everything worked, where everybody came from and how they got to be where they are. I think this book suffers a little from middle book syndrome in that it is transitioning from book 1 to book 3 and not giving major bulk. That was ok for me because I loved the creepy fog, the new direction it started to head, and the fact that I was able to read it super fast. Another thing was Rory didn't seem to grasp the idea of forever. If she's going to be on this island for eternity, then I don't think she needed to be so dramatic about Tristan not being sure about wifing her up on the first day. Take a breath girl, you guys have FOREVER.

OVERALL: For book 2 of a series, I give it an A. It held it's own and transitioned the story nicely. I loved the creepy setting and the fact that there is ANOTHER twist. Even though I expected the cliffhanger this time, I'm still dying over here because of it!!

My Blog:
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We pick up where Hereafter left off with Tristan and Naida missing. Rory is confused as ever. Why would they flee if they weren't guilty? How could Tristan have betrayed her so badly? Will she ever get get father out of the Shadowlands? The island is crazier than ever... no one is being ushered in fear they will go to the wrong place, but this is throwing the balance of Juniper Island into whack. The weather is in a constant stormy/foggy state and people are sick and hurt and acting weird. show more The Lifers need to find Tristan and Nadia and restore order before the balance tips too far and everyone is sent to Oblivion.

My Thoughts:
This was not my favorite series ender. Sigh... no, not at all. This series is so disconjointed, it felt like I read 2 separate series instead of one. The first book I LOVED!!! It was thrilling, exciting, and super-suprising. The second book was okay, but the insta-love with Rory and Tristan got to me. And this one was kind of boring and very R.L. Stine-ish.

We have Rory, Joaquin, and the rest of the island frantically searching for the 2 rogue Lifers. The mayor has halted all usherings in fear that more good people will go to the Shadowlands and bad people will wind up in the Light. Until the tainted coin situation can be taken care of, nothing can happen. Unfortunately, this is disturbing the balance of the island, and also causing major overcrowding. Rory, of course, feels hurt and betrayed by Tristan because she thought they were "soulmates".

The rest of the book is generally them running around after red herrings and trying to figure out how to get the island back to its' peaceful state. One thing I did like was the atmosphere the author created here. I liked how creepy the island became with the weather and the psycho bad people running around. I just wasn't enthralled with the same focus for the entire book. There is also a love triangle in this book that didn't work for me. With the insta-love carrying over from the second book, I of course found myself on the wrong side of the triangle (I'm not a big love-at-fist-sight kind of gal, sorry).

The ending wraps everything up. No big questions left unanswered... and yet, I just didn't like the ending. I'm all about a HEA, but not when they're TOO perfect and things are glossed over. Plus I figured out who the bad person was WAY early, so that killed the suspense leading up to this rosey, happy ending. Also there were some complicated things going on that sort of just worked out without really being explained how or why. There was too much build up for the book to end with one easy swoop the way it did. I know this review sounds kind of down... but that's how I felt after finishing this. The series started out so strong, and I just expected that to carry through. I would still recommend trying these books though. The first book is excellent and you might like the love story a lot better than I did. Plus the concept of the series is pretty unique.

OVERALL: Not the strongest series ender. Insta-love Love Triangle = Not a good thing. It was nice to find out what the heck was going on, but I didn't buy the HEA or the love story. I would still rec the series because the first 2 books were good, and this 3rd book isn't bad.... it just wasn't as strong.

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As Charmed books go, this is a very good one. It begins with some non-magic conflict between the sisters. Phoebe is feeling under-appreciated by her sisters, who don’t realize she also has important things to do. Soon, everyone will see how important she is because during a battle with demons, Phoebe gets separated from her sisters. A knock on the head, and a spell from bad witches later, she’s convinced by the evil witches seeking amulets which will give them ultimate magical power, show more that she’s their good friend, Ruth, and together they battle evil.

Meanwhile back at Halliwell Manor, Leo can’t locate the missing Phoebe, and scrying doesn’t work either. As of yet, no one realizes what’s going on, or that a spell is preventing them from finding Phoebe, and keeping Phoebe’s memories of Piper and Paige buried. While Ruth/Phoebe helps her “sister” witches retrieve the amulets, despite a feeling of unease, Piper and Paige have to deal with Flector demons, and could really use the power of three. They could also use Phoebe on the home-front. Piper and Paige have a house full of magical creatures demanding the counseling and advice session promised them by Phoebe.

While the magical creature part of the story can get a bit frivolous at times, and the bad witches’ interactions with Ruth a tad tiring, things get much better once Paige encounters Phoebe and her fellow “good” witches in action, and realizes Phoebe has completely forgotten her real sisters. It’s all well written, and for the most part pretty enjoyable. The conclusion helped a great deal, as it was both exciting and fun, and had a couple of wonderful moments between sisters toward the end. It very much retained the feel of the show, so gets high marks on that front.

Probably a 4.2 for me, just because a few frivolous moments bored me, and the series works best when all three sisters have more scenes together. Overall, however, this is a very enjoyable entry which captured nicely the feel of the series. Highly recommended for fans of the show as a light and entertaining read which now has the added bonus of being nostalgic; this show debuted two decades ago! My, how time flies… show less

Read this review and more like it at Pretty Deadly Reviews.

I know it's early, but I have the feeling that Shadowlands will be one of the weirdest books I read this year. This book has a lot of things happening all at once, creating in me a lot of confusion and a need for answers. It was compulsively readable, and the writing was rather enjoyable. But I was left with more questions than answers by the end, and I'm honestly not sure if any of it made any sense.

Shadowlands started out quite show more strong. The opening pages are Rory being attacked in the woods by her teacher, who turns out to be a serial killer with quite a number of bodies under his belt. Rory escapes relatively unscathed, but the FBI warns her that he has never let a victim go before. So Rory and her family's home are put under a police detail, and when that isn't enough they are sent off to a new town with new identities.

Right from the beginning I detested Rory's sister and father. Really, I cannot imagine a family that would act like this! Her father, a professor at Princeton, is more worried about administering a quiz to his students than his daughter who was just attacked my a fucking serial killer. His first words to her, when she gets home from her near-death encounter? "What were you thinking?" What was she thinking? She was thinking she could walk home without being attacked by a serial killer, thank you very fucking much. And Rory's sister, Darcy, is no better. Instead of worrying about her little sister's life and the fact that they are all in danger, she is worried about missing a party and losing a fucking pair of jeans. These reactions are abhorrent and disgusting. They do not ring true in any way, shape or form. For this, the book was immediately knocked down a star.

The rest of the book is simply confusing. Rory, who really is lacking in personality entirely (that could have been made up for if the plot was the plot described in the book jacket.), is somehow the center of attention in Juniper Landing, her family's new home. The kids there are all beautiful, but pretty damn creepy and exhibit stalkerish tendencies. There is a lot of inconsistencies, and basically the whole time I'm trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Is this a cult? Are the ghosts? Is Rory simply making it all up in her head? I honest to god could not figure out what was going on, and of course that made me furiously flip the pages well into the night.

The ending was what really took the rating down to three stars for me. As the pages were decreasing, the questions were mounting. Nothing was making sense, and honestly, I'm still confused. Brian left us on one hell of a cliffhanger - the worst I've seen in a long time, and that's saying something in the YA world of trilogies.

Now, three-star reviewers are tricky beasts. They're not quite positive, but that doesn't mean they're negative, either. Basically, I enjoyed Shadowlands by Kate Brian almost entirely. The actions of the characters, especially in the beginning, really threw me off. But there were very strong horror and tension scenes, and Brian definitely wove a mystery that I did not figure out until the very last pages. I do recommend this, but be prepared to not understand exactly what happened, and then wait for the upcoming sequel. show less