Bloodrose

Bloodrose, you've broken my heart. But I can't say why because I don't want to give anything away. While I'm happy with the way this series has ended overall, I'm not entirely happy about some of the paths this book took to get to that ending.

Now, even keeping that heartbreak in mind I'd have to say of the three books in this series, Bloodrose is my favorite. I don't remember Nightshade very well, except a feeling of dislike towards Shay. Wolfsbane was very good, but this was the most fun book in the series. Cremer sends you on a quest with these characters, in which they're retrieving the last three pieces of Shay's Cross weapon. And boy let me tell you, Cremer is not afraid to do what needs to be done with her characters. So prepare show more yourself for some hard spots for these guys. The writing was done so well that I even felt like I was in those locations with everyone.

In terms of the love triangle, there is of course a decision made, and was clear early on what that decision would be before Calla even did anything to really confirm it. This I will also not say because I don't want to spoil that for anyone. It was nice seeing even more of the new characters from Wolfsbane. This book only cemented my love of Conner, Ethan, and Adne. I did miss Monroe, because even though he was only around for a little while, he did leave an impression.

I have to say, honestly, the last battle was not quite what I thought it'd be. It just seemed a little less than what all the build-up throughout the book was pointing towards. Stuff happens, and believe me, depending on which team you're on, you'll probably be crying at one point. I know I did. I was shocked by that twist, though I guess it had to happen. Then once the final battle is won, there's another twist. I wasn't sure I liked how it ended at first, but after more thought I decided it was perfect. Though a little sad, since Shay recovers something, only to lose it minutes later.

Seriously, Bloodrose is an explosive end to series that I've come to love. I felt truly sad when I realized that this was it. I've gotten to know these characters, so I'm sure I'll reread these books many times to revisit them. I recommend this of course for fans of the series, but also just for fans of werewolves in general, whether you read YA or not. Andrea Cremer is an excellent writer, and I will read anything she writes in the future. show less

MY THOUGHTS
ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT

No way around it: SPOILER ALERT

ARGHHHH -- NO MORE NIGHTSHADE.

Ok, now that it is out of my system, I can try and write this review, but how to keep it spoiler free?
The conclusion of the Nightshade trilogy left me wanting more, but satisfied with the ending since I got what I wanted. I know I don't hold the popular position with a lot of readers since I didn't care for Ren. Calla drove me up the wall at times since she couldn't make up her darn mind about which one she wanted. For one that is supposed to be a leader, she didn't seem able to decide one way or the other until the very end, when I guess when it was most important. She did show some leader like skills when she force Ren and Shay to pretty much show more fight for her affections and keep them both from becoming liabilities.

The story starts out by setting the stage for an epic battle to be fought between the Keepers with the Guardians at their side and Calla right behind Anika. Shay has come into his own powers both as a wolf and a mage as the Scion. There are several trials the trio must go through in order to capture key components necessary for the group to succeed and the struggles and demons they each face will only make them stronger as a group. There are some serious page turning moments and once you start, you won't be able to put this book down.

You could probably hear me yelling at Ren begging him to not be so annoying and for Shay to grab that golden ring that is Calla. Yes, there, I have said it: Team Shay. I fell in love with Shay's humor and personality while thinking Ren was just a giant alpha wolf and nothing more. There were some really interesting twists in the plot that were truly amazing. I am still thinking about the worlds Cremer has created and can't wait to see what she comes up with next. show less

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

How do you wrap-up an epic trilogy? Why with a legendary finale of course! Every character gets some face time, Calla finally chooses her alpha mate and the Guardians kick some serious Keeper butt! The conclusion to the Nightshade series was rather shocking but after mulling it over for a bit I've decided that it was a picture perfect ending for the wolves. I've been team Shay from the beginning and he absolutely owned his role as the scion. That being said, Ren stole my heart in Bloodrose and I've decided to jump off of Doran's ship. It was a close race but young Laroche took my breath away.

There was so much that need to get done in these 400+ pages in order for Cremer to be able to wrap-up this trilogy to my show more satisfaction. I'm happy to report that she nailed it! A good chunk of this book is spent acquiring the pieces of the elemental cross and I found that these parts had a very Zelda-like quality to them. For you non-gamers out there, let me explain. It was as though every piece of the weapon was hidden in a dungeon-type level and the good guys had to either fight their way past various bad guys or solve puzzles to pass each stage. Finally, everything culminates in the ultimate final battle with the "boss" bad guy. I loved the way that it was all laid out and how everything came together in the end. The only thing that was missing was Link! Please excuse my nerdy video game humour.

The love triangle angle was handled beautifully. I thought both boys were given a fair chance to prove themselves with Calla and I'm happy that the unfortunate events that occur near the end didn't impact her final decision. What I mean by this is that no one won by default. Thank goodness because that would have really pissed me off and felt like a complete cop-out! I'm really glad that Cremer avoided that shortcut and gave the characters the ending that they deserved. Speaking of the conclusion, it was definitely unexpected but ultimately well-done. I found it particularly sweet from a werewolf fiction fan girl point of view. I can understand why some readers were disappointed though.

Bloodrose is an epic ending to the stellar Nightshade trilogy. I'm sad to see the story end but take some comfort in the fact that there's still a novella coming out this summer. Unfortunately, when it comes to love triangles it's darn near impossible for everyone to get their happy ending (unless the author is a lil' kinky but this is YA so not happening) and the same is true here. How you feel about the finale is largely dependent on which team you're on which I don't think is really fair to Andrea Cremer. In my opinion, you should judge a book by the quality of the writing not by whether your fictional crush is the victor. Grow up people! I for one LOVED Bloodrose and for me, it was an all around 5 star read. show less

BLOODROSE has been sitting on my shelf for a while. I didn't want the series to end and, so, I was putting off reading it. I put it off long enough that I had to play catch-up figuring out which characters were wolves and which were Searchers. It didn't take long before I was up to speed and very involved again in the struggle to defeat the Keepers and the evil Bosque Mar.

When the story begins, Calla is rescuing Ren and urging him to join with her wolves and the Searchers in the upcoming fight. Ren has always seen his Calla as his future mate and is eager to join. He is still coming to terms with the new things he is learning about his family. He has always hated his father Emile and knew that his father hated him too. He begins to show more understand it when he learns that his real father was a Searcher and that his mother was killed in an attempted revolt against the Keepers. He is also surprised that he has a sister among the Keepers - Adne.

Having Ren join the fight causes problems for Calla though. Now she has to juggle her relationships with Ren and Shay. She loves both of them but in different ways. She grew up thinking that Ren would be her mate but meeting Shay caused her to look at her future in a new way. She feels especially guilty when Ren tells her that he loves her and can't imagine living without her. She has to keep the two boys from each other's throat and balance things without making a decision.

The main focus of this story is protecting Shay as he gathers the pieces of the Elemental Cross which is needed to banish Bosque Mar from this world and seal the Rift that will keep him out. They travel to mountains in Switzerland, a cenote in the Yucatan, and a volcano in New Zealand to gather the pieces. They have to fight their way through Guardians under control of the Keepers at all the sites.

Once they have all the pieces the real battle can begin in Colorado. All of the characters are tested to the limit and there are losses and recoveries. The book was filled with excitement, battles, and tough decisions. I really enjoyed this story and thought that the conclusion was perfect for this trilogy. show less

This is the final book in the Nightshade trilogy by Cremer. She will be writing a prequel series of which the first book is called Rift, right now this is scheduled for release in August 2012. I thought this book was an excellent conclusion to this series; I loved the ending and thought it was such an appropriate and creative way to end the series.

The search for the Scion's weapons is on. Calla, Shay, and Ren...along with the other Searchers and Guardians are on a quest to find the two swords that Shay needs to confront the Keepers. Then following that will be the epic battle to save the world from the Keepers' evil magic. Oh, and of course, there is a lot of boy drama between Calla, Shay, and Ren.

I absolutely love Cremer's writing show more style, I can't quite pinpoint what it is that draws me into these books...but they are just so readable and engaging to me. I think part of it is the absolutely natural sounding and witty banter between the characters; it is so fun to read and so well done.

I have a hard time saying that I really admire any characters in this book; they all do some really stupid things. For the first part of the book Calla was kind of...well...skanky. She made out with Ren, made out with Shay, made out with Ren some more...I had some trouble with this and had to roll my eyes at all of her drama. The way she strung those boys along was criminal...all supposedly for the good of the fight. But, Calla has never been a favorite of mine and I admit she had some truly tough decisions to make. So, despite her indecisiveness and skankiness I can turn a blind eye. At times the teen drama got to be a bit much for me, but it never went too overboard.

What really blew me away was the plot and the complex world. I loved that this book had a heavy fantasy-type questing element to it. The group had to adventure through caves and traps to obtain the Scion's swords and it was incredibly well written and amazing to read about. The complexity of how the battle came together was also very interesting to read about and incredibly well done; it never got confusing or hard to follow despite the multitude of characters involved. It takes a great writer to make something that complex easy to follow.

The other thing I absolutely loved was the ending. I won't say much about it, but I thought it fit beautifully with the tone of the story and was so happy that it was something different (and not something typical of a lot of the YA paranormal books out there). This was just such a well thought out and well put together series.

Overall I really enjoyed this conclusion to the Nightshade series. It was surprising, complex, and very well put together. I enjoyed the complex world, the quest-like adventuring the characters went through, and the wonderful action scenes. I could have done without Calla's indecisiveness but I accept that that is a necessary evil of most of these YA paranormal books. I am curious as to what Cremer will come up with next in her prequel series. show less

I have been anxiously awaiting Bloodrose since I finished Wolfsbane because Wolfsbane ends on a romantic cliffhanger. My absolute favorite part of this series is the love triangle between Shay, Calla, and Ren. It is so well written and intense. Many YA readers have strong opinions on who Calla should be with—including myself. While I didn’t get the romantic satisfaction I was looking for in Bloodrose, it was still packed with action and adventure and wrapped the series up nicely.

Like Wolfsbane, Bloodrose takes place over a few short days. However, there is a lot that happens and it had me constantly turning the pages. Once the action starts, it doesn’t really stop until the book ends—it’s simply one quest after another. We show more don’t really unravel any additional mysteries because those were all revealed in Wolfsbane. The only additional things we find out are character motivations.

Even though Bloodrose was hard to put down and really fast-paced, I can’t help but be a little disappointed. What I loved most about this series was the love triangle—and it more or less disappears in this novel. Calla basically makes up her mind at the beginning of the novel, and even though there are certain lapses from her initial decision, she sticks to it. It got rid of almost all of the romantic tension in the novel because we knew she had made her choice. As if that wasn’t bad enough—holy love triangle cop out at the end! I don’t want to say what happened because that would flat out ruin the book, but arghhh….I was not pleased. I wasn’t sad. I was just sitting there staring at the book saying “you’re kidding me right?” Way to take the extra easy way out after Calla already made a decision anyway.

Even though I was disappointed with the love triangle in Bloodrose, I still highly recommend this series. Both Nightshade and Wolfsbane were incredibly well-written. The series takes place in a unique world shrouded with mystery and the love triangle is just unbelievably well done. If you’re a fan of paranormal romance, fantasy, or mystery this is one series you don’t want to miss. show less

Fabulous Finale

* Book will be released January 3, 2012
* ARC read via Around The World ARC Tours

5 out of 5 gnomes

Wow.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (this pretty much sums up my feelings when I finished the book.) My opinion has slowly become more coherent the more I've though about it though. This book actually left me speechless at the end, this ending will definitely have people talking.

The quest to stop the Keepers in this book really feels epic in scope and all of the emotions raging around help skyrocket the tension. I love that there is more blending of the Guardians and the Searchers. I really liked the secondary characters more in this book then I did in Wolfsbane. Adne, Connor, and Ethan really grew on me as the danger increases for show more everyone.

Calla has to be even more of a leader because she has so many people to watch out for. Her heart is still being pulled in multiple directions and she's still plenty worried about Ansel for obvious reasons. She deals with this as well as can be expected and still helps in the quest to complete a weapon that is their only hope.

The love triangle is dealt with very well in the beginning of the book with Calla making some important decisions. Things tended to even out more in this book and I even found my Shay loving heart seeing that she really does have valid reasons for choosing either Shay or Ren. The conclusion of the triangle is shall we say intense and I do have to wonder if Calla is truly happy in the end.

The world building, the crazy twists/turns, and the characters all equal a truly unique take on wolf mythology and these books all together make for a superb trilogy that I would recommend to anyone.

Let me just reiterate again how awesome yet heartbreaking the ending is, it's the kind of ending where you may find yourself sobbing in a corner. I found myself hating it one second and then I felt like it couldn't have ended any other way. It even seems now that I look back that there are clues that it could end like this. This is one ending that truly has to be read to be believed. show less