Sci-fi/Fantasy meets YA paranormal romance. All of that works for me. The Shadow Society posits the idea that the Great Chicago Fire was such a monumental event that an alternate world spun off from that point. Multiple universe theory at work...hooray! But the Great Chicago Fire isn't the story we know, and the alternate world has some serious problems; mainly intense hatred between two groups. I liked seeing how the main character, Darcy, dealt with these two realities. Her life is not what she always believed and her place in the world isn't either. She has a lot to navigate as she tries to figure out an alternate reality, recover her lost memories, find her place in a new society, and deal with falling for someone she shouldn't.

Might have to re-read bits of this later to gain a more defined opinion on this novel. It was definitely a unique take on paranormal adventures/romance; Darcy is an attractive protagonist and the fantastic elements are definitely intriguing. Certain plot points felt a little too easy and contrived and occasionally the world building displayed some gaps.

However, I wasn't in the right mood for this particular novel and so I rushed through reading it a bit. I'm interested to hear further opinions--from librarians and from my students!

I adore the Winner's Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski, so I had to try another one of her books. I don't feel that this was quite a 4, I'd say 3.75. It was definitely a unique story and a compelling world.

The beginning was a little too RL, high schooly for me. Plus, there was a bit of insta-love. Darcy is attracted to the new guy at school, even though he's a jerk to her at first, and he makes her uncomfortable. But when Darcy is arrested, her world is turned upside down and she finds herself in an alternate universe.

I can point out various flaws in this alternate universe, but I'm taking this at face value and I enjoyed the characters, Darcy learning about her people and her past, and the romance was alright. The end felt a little lacking, like there should have been more of a show down/more action.

It doesn't sound like there is a sequel in the works. Some things were left open for a sequel, but I like this as a stand-alone.

I wish there was more to this world. It's too short and a little underdeveloped for me but I love what we do get. Interesting concept and would have loved a second book.

Made it to page 57. I loved the Winner's series, but this is nowhere near that level. Sorry.

Solid 3. It kept me reading. There were times I almost put it down but I market that up as a side effect of having a horrible cold. It was enough to keep me entertained.

In Darcy Jones's world, she is a foster kid who's been bounced around from home to home since she was five years old. She has finally managed to stay in one home for over a year and she's so excited to be able to start the new school year with familiar friends. Until, she meets the new boy, Conn, who is inexplicably hostile toward her. Through a series of events, Darcy discovers that she isn't human or from this dimension. She is a Shade, which is a different species that exists in an alternate dimension where her home town of Chicago never had the great fire. Conn, after pretending to befriend her at school, is revealed to be an inter dimensional police officer of sorts, who was on a mission to arrest her and bring her back. The story then continues to follow their exploits in the alternate dimension to try to bring together humans and Shades in a world where they would just assume wipe each other out.

The idea of this new paranormal creature was like a breath of fresh air when so often these types of books fall back on vampires, werewolves, ghosts, etc... The Shades are able to "ghost" or disappear and manifest whenever they like. This story had so much potential, but it fell flat for me. The basic story line, when stripped bear, is good. But the writing style was a bit disjointed to me. It jumped ahead to move the story forward rather quickly, but without any of the details about how we got there. There were several instances where I felt like I had whiplash, but no organic growth of the story. It was like, here we are now, this and this has changed, but no conversation between the characters to get the reader there.

Perhaps, if the story had been fleshed out a bit more, it could have lived up to it's potential. Again, I didn't put it down, so it kept my attention. The story got a bit slow in some spots, but I did keep reading. I only wish it had been more. More plot development, more dialogue to make the relationships seem real and not so many flash forward moments. The story was entertaining, I only wish it had been executed better. Three stars.

Slow start, but picked up well after the first third. Review to come!

Okay so this book is typical and I know its been done a thousand times over. 1. Guy is enemy 2. They fall in love with eachother "you're not who I thought you were" yada yada romance blah 3. second man is introduced who is kind and girl has slight interest 4. Kind man is REALLY the enemy 5. Girl saves the world from kind guys evil plan. BUT I LIKE THE CLICHE OKAY I DONT WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT GEEZ. All in all this book was very predictable but also a nice light read to pass the time.