Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

How many ways can I say that I loved Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready?  Hopefully, alot or this will be a short and lame review!  I won a copy of this book back around Halloween and had no idea what it was.  Basically, for those who haven't heard about this amazing book, it is about a teenage girl who was born in a world where everyone born after a certain date can see and talk to ghosts.  The ghosts look like they did at their favorite time in life except that they are made of PURPLE SMOKE!!! Love the idea of purple smoke!!  You can see Aura on the cover jacket (and yes, that is the whole book jacket because you need to see the whole thing to really appreciate it).  She is surrounded by purple spirit wisps and she holds a red ribbon.  Red is the only color that the dead can not stand.  It's a beautiful cover jacket.  Seriously.

Aura is the main character who narrates the story.  I love Aura because she is so interesting.  She works for her aunt during the day at her aunt's law office helping ghosts get their closure legally so they can pass on.  Then she runs off to her Irish Punk Rock boyfriend.  It's an interesting dual life.  Logan, said boyfriend, wants the band he formed with his brother, sister and some friends to be the next Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphys.  (If you don't know who they are feel free to Google but I warn you the songs are PG-13 at best.)  Aura feels like the performance is what Logan is really in love with and that he love the crowd more than he loves her.  She decides, however, that it is time that they sleep together because she thinks she is ready this time.  But their night goes horribly wrong and before she knows what is happening, Logan is standing before her as wispy and purple as can be.  Losing Logan sends Aura into a spiral of grief until she realizes that his ghost has not crossed over so they can still be together.  They just can't touch or kiss or... well anything that involves touching.  But they can talk and listen to music and she can pretend that he isn't really gone.  Don't forget that Zachary, the Scottish exchange student who is her research partner for her thesis, is definitely into her and she kinda likes him.  What a crazy time for poor Aura!!

I can't say that I love Logan.  He is kinda selfish and I definitely question whether or not he'll become a Shade (wicked crazy evil ghost).  Logan isn't evil or even a terrible choice but Aura does need to put aside her selfish desire to keep him with her and let him go on to where he belongs before it is too late.  I really agree with her aunt there.  I do LOVE Zachary though!! I wish we'd had hot Scottish exchange students when I was in high school!! Yummy!  And Zach is so patient and kind with Aura even when she is evasive and selfish.  I love that.  I highly recommend Shift and Shade for teens 14 and up due to drug use, underage drinking and sexual content.

Shade earns 5 Fairies for a great book with ghosts, Irish Punk, and a dude in a kilt.

The next book in the series, Shift, comes out on May 3rd.  I have the ARC to read and I think I'll start tonight because I just NEED to know what happens next!  You can see the cover on the left there.  You can learn more about Shift on Goodreads and you can always find out more about Jeri Smith-Ready on her website.  You can also follow her on Twitter!