Book Review: Shadows by Paula Weston

Shadows (The Rephaim #1)
Author:  Paula Weston
Publisher:  Tundra Books
Expected Publication Date:  September 10, 2013
*Received an ARC from publisher through NetGalley

From Goodreads:
It’s been almost a year since Gaby Winters was in the car crash that killed her twin brother, Jude. Her body has healed in the sunshine of Pandanus Beach, but her grief is raw and constant.

It doesn’t help that every night in her dreams she kills demons and other hell-spawn. And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who’s been appearing in Gaby’s dreams, he claims a history with her brother that makes no sense.

Gaby is forced to accept that what she thought she knew about herself and her life is only a shadow of the truth – and that the truth is more likely to be found in the shadows of her nightmares.

Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And most importantly – who can she trust?

Review:
I really enjoyed this book.  It was exciting, fast-paced with a lot of action (some great fight scenes), and it kept me on the edge of my seat.  I absolutely ended up loving Gaby and Rafa.  Rafa...hot, intriguing, complex.  But can Gaby trust him?  

I really felt for Gaby.  She's grieving the loss of her twin brother and then she gets hit with huge revelations about herself, her brother, and her whole life.  She's definitely a strong character who speaks her mind.  The whole Gabe/Gaby part of the story is really interesting.  Gaby has a lot of holes in her memory and she has to rely on other people to tell her about her past and who she was.  Is that who she still is?  I love stories where the MC is in the dark about a lot of things, and the author does a great job of pacing the story so that different parts are revealed throughout the book rather than a huge info-dump at one time.  There's still a huge mystery that involves Gaby and her brother Jude that doesn't get resolved in this first book, but the book doesn't end in a cliffhanger.   

The secondary characters are pretty well-developed,  although I'm sure as the series continues we'll get to know them better.  There's actually a fairly large cast of characters and we're not sure who we can trust and which side is the right side (I know that's pretty vague but I don't want to write any spoilers).  Gaby's best friend Maggie--what a great friend!  What happens at the end and what she says...I hope she plays a large role in the future.  I love the loyal friend/side-kick character.

To sum it up, this was an amazing story with interesting angel mythology (angels, half-angels, demons, and hellions), fantastic characters, and some romance (there's a lot of chemistry there).  I will definitely be reading the rest of this series!

Posted by:  Pam