Nightshade
Read Andrea Cremer's blogs and other content on the Penguin Community.\ 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...
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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?Publishers WeeklyCremer's debut brings mystery and passion to a journey of self-determination. Calla was raised chaste and pure, destined to unite with high school heartbreaker Ren on their 18th birthday and become the alphas of a shape-shifting wolf pack. She has never questioned the authority the powerful Keepers hold over her kind until she encounters a human hiker and breaks the rules to save his life. Shay was almost convinced the wolf-girl who rescued him was a dream until he meets her at his new school. Pursuing his attraction to Calla, Shay also wants to know what the Keepers are protecting and why he seems to be linked to a prophecy. Drawn to both Ren and Shay, Calla is torn: fulfill the role she was born to and deny herself freedom of choice, or choose her own path and abandon everything and everyone she knows? Good and evil are simply portrayed as Calla sheds her naïveté and learns to see past her expectations. Cremer creates a sense of urgency as the pace accelerates, though the well-constructed plot carries readers along to a cliffhanger. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)
\ Publishers WeeklyCremer's debut brings mystery and passion to a journey of self-determination. Calla was raised chaste and pure, destined to unite with high school heartbreaker Ren on their 18th birthday and become the alphas of a shape-shifting wolf pack. She has never questioned the authority the powerful Keepers hold over her kind until she encounters a human hiker and breaks the rules to save his life. Shay was almost convinced the wolf-girl who rescued him was a dream until he meets her at his new school. Pursuing his attraction to Calla, Shay also wants to know what the Keepers are protecting and why he seems to be linked to a prophecy. Drawn to both Ren and Shay, Calla is torn: fulfill the role she was born to and deny herself freedom of choice, or choose her own path and abandon everything and everyone she knows? Good and evil are simply portrayed as Calla sheds her naïveté and learns to see past her expectations. Cremer creates a sense of urgency as the pace accelerates, though the well-constructed plot carries readers along to a cliffhanger. Ages 14–up. (Oct.)\ \ \ \ \ Children's Literature\ - Kathleen Karr\ Cremer's first novel stretches the current vogue in high school teen romance from vampires to werewolves. Granted it is not that much of a stretch, but it feels somehow healthier. It also helps that Cremer has dispensed with any problems of disbelief by simply invoking the "magic" word. Thus the seventeen-year-old-on-the-cusp-of eighteen heroine, Calla Tor, can whisk from attractive, fully clothed female to luxuriously furred, alpha wolf and pack leader in the blink of an eye. Back again, too, with nary a fear of mussed hair. But there is trouble afoot in Calla's home territory—Vail, Colorado, and its surrounding forested mountains. The trouble begins with the arrival of Shay—a human—into Calla's private Mountain School and life. Suddenly the were-world unfolds into its levels: the Guardians (Calla and her wolves-in-disguise family and friends), and the Keepers (the masters of the Guardians—all with highly developed perverse tastes.) And maybe scarier levels waiting in the wings? When Calla learns she must combine her pack with her male alpha rival Ren's, the joyous hunting runs in wolfish form change their tenor. Other issues appear, too: Can Calla love a human and keep her pack safe? What has she actually been guarding all these years? And what really happens on Blood Moon Night when the cusp turns and she becomes eighteen? Suffice it to say that Calla's first-person tale is a page turner and should have adolescent girls flocking for it in droves. And when they have consumed it? Never fear. Andrea Cremer has a sequel waiting in the wings. Reviewer: Kathleen Karr\ \ \ School Library JournalGr 10 Up—Calla Tor is the alpha female of her werewolf pack and is destined to wed the alpha male, Ren Laroche. While in the woods, she spares the life of Shay, the new boy at school whom she just can't resist, and this act violates the laws of the Keepers. This may all seem familiar but what makes Nightshade new and refreshing is that the packs are ruled by the Keepers, who appear to be witches. Cremer has added a bit of superstition and the science of witchcraft that readers will find intriguing. However, they may feel that they have met these characters before even though the author has done a good job of contrasting their strong personalities with their weaknesses for temptation and stepped up the pace of the action. The segregation of the humans versus the werewolves might remind readers of Romeo and Juliet—or is it just a typical love triangle? Readers may find the world that is created here is more interesting than the characters. The end of the book is a cliff-hanger and interested readers will anticipate the second book, Wolfsbane. Mature scenes make this a better choice for older students.—Karen Alexander, Lake Fenton High School, Linden, MI\ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsTeenage werewolves dominate an exclusive high school in Vail, Colo., in this supernatural thriller. Something else dominates the werewolves. Calla, the alpha female of the Nightshade pack, is scheduled to mate with Ren, the alpha male of the Bane pack. She develops divided loyalties, however, when Shay, a human she's assigned to protect, begins to fascinate her... This may be sounding familiar, and also recognizable is the novel's sexual tension: The mere touch of either Ren or Shay can drive Calla to uncontrollable, ultimate bliss, to the extent that her urges sometimes overpower the plot. The portrayal of the animal instincts and behavior of the wolf-teens rings true, however, and Cremer builds a compelling world, moving her plot forward with well-paced drive that easily holds readers' interest. On the surface, this is not much more than an imaginative B-grade paranormal-suspense story. The book's underlying themes of individualism and freedom, however, lift it to a higher level, and they will probably have a chance to play out in a sequel--one readers won't have to feel too guilty about looking forward to. (Paranormal romance. 14 & up)\ \ \
