Nightshade by Andrea Cremer.

"Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything— including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?"- GoodReads.

Hardcover, 452 pages

Published October 19th 2010 by Philomel

All around this book is made of awesome. From the cover, to the characters, to the plot. All awesome.

I am really into 'new worlds' being built in stories and the world that Andrea Cremer has created for her characters is just brilliant. 

It's one of those "the humans think they run the Earth, but these mythical creatures really do, and they protect ancient secrets, and just let humans think they run things". And the history! Oh the history that is written about the wolves is just perfect, and in-depth. It just adds so much to the story.

And the plot. It just keeps going. Never a dull moment. Finding out about the Keepers, the Guardians, and the Searchers, how they are all weaved together and who is really good and who is really bad. It gets intense. Lots of moments when I had to remind myself to breath.

But I want to look at some of the characters and linger on them for a few minutes.

As awesome as some of the characters are I had many problems with some of them.

Calla is supposed to be this strong Alpha female, in control of her pack, about to make a union with another Alpha (Ren) so that they can bring their packs together and form a new pack.

Calla had her strong moments, but she also had very very weak ones. She was just never in control of her pack as she thought she was. They were always going behind her back even when she ordered them not to.

She constantly tells Ren she wants to be his equal, and he agrees that that is what he wants to, but when the moments arise for her to step up as an Alpha, she falters. 

I just get a little tired of characters who say and think they are strong, but end up letting everyone steamroll them.

I do not, could not, and will not ever like Shay. He should have "World's Biggest Douche Bag" tattooed across his forehead. Calla saves his life, which automatically puts her life at risk. She tells him that and he STILL keeps asking her to do things that puts her life in even greater danger. 

He knows that being with her is out of the question. She is supposed to be with Ren, but he keeps trying to win her over. Shay just really needed to back off.

And I love love triangles. Always have, always will. I just felt like Calla wanted Shay because he was off limits. It just never felt romantic between them. And it was one of those "the second I saw you I knew I had to have you" relationships. Bleh!

Ren is my favorite. He is an Alpha, in every sense of the word. He is strong, protective, charming, sarcastic, dangerous, sexy, and so into Calla. Ren makes decisions based on what he thinks is best for his pack. Always thinking of them. Always thinking of Calla. 

I think I am having a hard time with the fact that he is a fictional character.

Okay, I will stop going on about the characters now, even though I could probably go on and on about them.

But that was something else that made me love this book. Even though I had problems with some of them, that is something that made it feel even more real. I don't like every person in real life, so I shouldn't like everyone in a story.

Even though this is paranormal and fantasy it felt so real. Like there really could be packs of wolves protecting ancient secrets in Vail, CO. (Maybe I need to make a road trip over there and check it out. Purely for blogger research, of course :p)

In the end, Calla had to make some big decisions that would effect her, Ren, Shay, her pack...her entire life and I cannot wait to read Wolfsbane to see how her decisions play out and if she ends up thinking they were the right decisions.

Release Date: July 26th 2011