Living Fictitiously: REVIEW- Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready

Friday, March 30, 2012

REVIEW- Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready

You can view the synopsis for Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready by clicking the title (via Goodreads.)

First off. Let this be known. A note to the DMP: You can kiss my donkey-butt!!! Love, Kimberly

Welcome to #ZORA Land, (props to whichever #TeamKilt member came up with Zora. I’m so sorry I don’t remember your name.) where you can aboard the Shine-A-Lator; a roller coaster filled with fist clenching, gut wrenching, stomach stays in a fisted knot until the very end, butterflies dancing epicness… and is a whiplash of an emotional ride! Shine is the third and final book in the Shade Trilogy by Jeri Smith-Ready.

The Shade World. Gosh. I (Kimberly) can’t rant enough about it. (Me too! Me too! ~Britney) It’s my favorite fictional world to be in. Every possible sentiment a person could endure is had while reading Shine, along with the first two novels, Shade and Shift (you can view Kimberly's review of Shade and Shift by clicking here). This trilogy is my top favorite in the YA genre and will forever be irreplaceable. I’m locking these books in my heart and throwing away the key. The characters, the plot, the setting, the emotion- Oh, the EMOTION! … just everything. These books are full of young romance, mystery, science, and fate. Each book in this trilogy has a unique premise and the plot has been carried throughout impeccably. The author has a way with words that strike you to the core of your heart and provides such wonderful images in your thoughts. Jeri captures every ounce of our souls in her writing. It truly makes it a very fascinating experience while reading.

Shine was a huge anticipated read for me and Britney. We thought about reading it EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. since we'd heard of its release. Of course obsessing over The Woman Upstairs, Zachary, Logan and sometimes Aura’s tweets kept that feeling very much alive. So, when I (Kimberly) found out that I won an ARC from the author herself, Jeri Smith-Ready, I literally hit the literary lottery! This was an extreme bitter-sweet read for us. Bitter, because we absolutely, without a doubt did not want this series to end; but sweet because of the perfect ending; the discoveries, the closure. Thank the literary Gods Jeri announced she will write a novella in Zachary’s POV, called Shattered. And may we request a spin-off series of the Shade trilogy, please? That would just be splendid!

By page 2 the sobbing queen in us made her appearance. “One boy was gone forever. The other was gone now.” OH.MY.EFFBOMBS! We were a complete snotty mess. Plenty of tears were shed and wide smiles of happiness were endured during reading Shine. Different scenarios filtered through our heads as we read each sentence and we had to tell ourselves to just read!

(The next two paragraphs are character/scene descriptive in a non-spoilery manner.)

Logan is with us in warming spirit and is kept alive through memories. “Now that he’d found his peace, we each had to search for our own.” Oh dears… *Holds self. Rocks back and forth.* Our favorite little mack-daddy Keeley brother to crush over, Dylan, makes his come back. The ever loathing DMP (WE SPIT ON YOU! *HUCKpooot*) is present along with an adjoining partner. Aura and Aunt Gina still share their snippity-snappity love and we adore the BFFness that Megan and Aura have. High fives to Siobhan and Connor. And Micky, we just want to give him a BIG hug lock. -- May we interrupt this paragraph with a note from Britney: Ok, Micky is actually one of my favorite characters! I constantly want to throw my arms around him and tell him everything will be ok. If he were real, he would be my project. Goals: make him smile, make him laugh, make him kiss me. Umm, sorry Megan. Ok, I’m done. Long story short. I. LOVE. MICKY. -- Now that, that was stated, moving on (LOL)… Some new characters were introduced and we cannot wait for you to meet Martin! He is just absolutely fuckin’ adorbs! All of these fantastic characters Jeri has in this trilogy made a lasting impression on us. And a little worship from me, Kimberly: In the name of Logan, Zachary, Dylan, and Martin, Fic-men. These boys will forever be known to me as the Holy Quadrupinity.

Aura really shimmered in Shine. We get to see her bravest side and all that she’ll face to be with Zachary. She’s so kick-ass and is a real spit fire. She is by far a favorite female character of ours and possesses a true nature.

Have mercy we were so worried about our sexy, swoon-worthy green eyed sugar tush, er, Zachary. The boy totally makes warmth spread throughout our chests. (It’s a Zachary thing.) “Like I was a pane of shattered glass, and you’re the only glue that’ll stick.” Oh our heart. It made us wanna swaddle him! The challenges Aura and Zachary had to encounter threw us through a maze of angst. And- Aye, Aye, Aye!!! The infamous castle scene we’ve been hearing about and waiting for… *coughs- Prince of Wank- coughs* IT WAS PERFECT AND BY FAR THE BEST YOUNG ADULT INTIMATE SCENE WE’VE EVER READ! (I actually texted Kim nearly that exact same sentence when I read the scene!!!! ~Britney) Oh my smack! Zach attack! Hot damn that boy is so sweet he gives us a cavity.

Jeri has mentioned both on Twitter and in the Acknowledgements of Shine that the band Frightened Rabbit was used for inspiration in writing Shine. In honor of that, here's our favorite song by FR, In Living Colour. Thanks to her, we’ve become a fan of the band.

**Oh, and as a great little surprise, we, along with tons of other awesome #Team Kilt members, are listed in the Acknowlegements! Yep, WE’RE. IN. A. FREAKIN’. BOOK! ;) Thanks Jeri, we appreciate you for appreciating us so much!!!!

By the way. N.F.F!!!! #Team Kilt 4-eva!

The release date for Shine is scheduled for May 1^st. You can pre-order a signed by the author copy at Constellation Books, Jeri’s local indy book store, or a copy at Barnes and Noble/Amazon/The Book Depository. Don’t forget to order the re-designed Shade and Shift paperback copies, which both match the prettiness of Shine’s cover. (Shade- Constellation Books/B&N/Amazon - Shift- Constellation Books/B&N/Amazon) You can view bonus material for the Shade Trilogy by heading over to Jeri Smith-Ready's blog (side panel) by clicking here.