Shadows: Book 1 (Rephaim, #1)

by Paula Weston

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?

• ISBN10: 1780621582
• ISBN13: 9781780621586
• Publish Date: 3 January 2013 (first published 2 July 2012)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 29 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
• Imprint: Orion Children's Books
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kelly]

Wow. Just wow.

Shadows was nothing short of incredible. Mixing the age old angels verses demon mythology, strong and sassy characters and an intense, slow burning romance. Deliciously so. It follows the story of Gaby, mourning the loss of her brother almost a year prior and attempting to find normalcy in the coastal Australian town. Gaby is a brilliant character, relatable, likable and adds sass to the storyline. She and best friend Maggie are a formidable pair and have a wonderful friendship of strength and solidarity. And then Rafa arrives.



I was officially swooning.

Rafa is everything you want in a love interest. The slow burn, the intensity. He smoulders, he'll seduce you and you'll love every moment. Rafa is the reason why we need flame retardant paperbacks. But beyond the intense love slash hate relationship he and Gaby share, they also share a history. One that Gaby can't remember. Not only are her fellow Rephaim accusing her of a crime she can't recall, but a past love in Daniel is leading the charge. Daniel isn't a villain, but a pretentious follower of Nathanial, a fallen angel who is using the Rephaim to cleanse his own sins. He claims to adhere to a higher power that no one has seen, but all follow blindly. It's no wonder Jude had escaped the The Sanctuary ten years prior, scoffing at their beliefs and going rogue along with a small group of Rephaim. Including Rafa.

I loved the inclusion of Angel lore, the Fallen and the angelic hierarchy that Paula Weston infused so beautifully. The history of the Rephaim was scattered throughout, often allowing the reader to learn the story behind the mythology as Gaby herself is taught. My only wish was that Gaby stop describing everything she smelt. Boys rarely smell nice, even angels I suspect. It would have been more convincing has she described Rafa as smelling like feet and farts. Stop sniffing people Gaby, it's creepy and the quickest path to becoming a social pariah.

I loved it and considering that paranormal romance isn't my genre of choice, I was thrown into a world that excited, engaged and enthralled me. From page one. Now with all four titles in the series out now, it's the perfect time to binge read. I've flown through the series, having already read the first three in only four days. And for a reader who tends not to finish many series', that's a testament to how incredible Paula Weston's vision is. READ. IT.

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

I had high hopes that Shadows would finally be another angel book that I could add to my like list. Sadly, it wasn't. It sounded dark and kickass, and it was at times, but ultimately, I just do not care about angel problems! I don't know why! But as soon as angels start talking about their issues, my brain turns to mush and my eyes glaze over, and I have weird dreams. This one was different than other angel books I read in the past, but it wasn't enough to change my mind.

Shadows starts off with Gaby going about her normal life. A year ago, she was in a car accident that killed her twin, Jude, and left her with a bum leg and a huge scar on the back of her head. She has nightmares about the accident, and her memories of everything before that are fuzzy, but for the most part she's getting along fine. At least until she meets Rafa. He seems to know Gaby, but she has no clue who he is. But she can't deny that he must have known her at some point, since he has photos of them together and with her brother. Of course, all of Gaby's memories are lies, but no one knows why or how.

Memory loss plots either really work for me, or epically fail. Shadows is more of a fail. I did find it interesting that Gaby has memories, but she just can't focus on them. Her real memories are gone and have been replaced with ordinary human ones. But for the most part I was annoyed, since every single character Gaby meets asks her if she really can't remember them, does something crazy to try to reveal her true memories, then acts surprised when she doesn't remember anything. I totally get that they're shocked she can't remember them or anything about their lives as the children of fallen angels, but did we really need to read this same scenario 50 times?! Then of course there's someone who decides to fill in what happened to Gaby and Jude right before the "accident" in a giant info-dump, but by that time I really didn't care anymore.

Shadows just did not work out for me. There are interesting ideas here that I hadn't come across before, like the Rephaim trying to find their angel fathers who are locked away somewhere. But for the most part, I don't care, and couldn't keep up with which characters were on whose side, and what their goals were.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.