Synopsis
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…
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Review
I picked up the first Shadow Falls novel, Born at Midnight on a whim while looking through Barnes and Noble and it was a great whim! Within three weeks I had bought the entire series and all of the novellas because I knew I was going to love them.
The story follows Kylie Galen who goes to what she believes is going to be a camp for “troubled teens” and turns out to be a camp for paranormal teens. Soon she’s rooming with a witch named Miranda and a vampire named Della. (Della is my favorite character by the way and I’m so excited to read her spin-off series, Shadow Falls: After Dark).
Kylie’s main problem though, is that everyone else knows what type of supernatural they are, except her. The series follows Kylie through her journey of discovering who she is and where she came from as well as throwing in normal teenage drama like amazing best friends, an awesome mentor, and even a love triangle.
This YA Paranormal series pulled me in and didn’t let go. Hunter has a way of making me get just frustrated enough with the characters keeping their realness as teenagers, while also giving them incredible agency over the problems in their lives.
Holiday makes a great camp director and keeps the balance between mentor and friend, just like I remember my camp counselors being. Also, Derek and Lucas were so perfect for a love triangle that I didn’t even know which one to choose!
Hunter’s writing style gripped me and wouldn’t let me put the books down and I tore through them as fast as my college student lifestyle would let me. Nice balance of realism and the supernatural in one amazing coming of age story.
If you like YA paranormal stories (like me!) then I definitely recommend this amazing little book series that has stolen my heart!
