Review: Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready

Shine by Jeri Smith-Ready
Release Date: May 1, 2012
Format: Paperback, 416 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Series: Shade #3
Source: Won from Jess @ Gone With the Words!!!

Description from Goodreads:
Life can change in an instant, and no one understands that better than Aura. It’s been almost a year since her boyfriend tragically died. She’s finally letting go of Logan’s violet-hued ghost, but not her search to uncover the truth about her past.

As the first in a generation that can see ghosts, Aura is convinced she has a connection to the Shift. She’s trusted Zachary, ever patient and ever by her side, with all that she knows. But when the government threatens his life in an attempt to learn Aura’s secrets, she will stop at nothing to protect herself and the one she loves…even if that means betraying her own heart.

We all remember my absolute elation when I recieved this book, right? I mean, I was bouncing off walls, close to tears, screaming, and using way too many CAPS. Kind of hard to forget, I think. Well, all of that super-happiness was for good reason because this book? Was so good!

The first two books were great, so my hopes were really high for this book. I had really liked them, but was hoping very much for everything to come together in this book. Plus, there was so much hype about this book. Blog hops and stuff. I was being teased on a daily basis. I'm glad to say that Jeri did a wonderful job on exceeding my expectations in this conclusion which made it all totally worth it.

I was so happy I got Shine, but was also very reluctant to read it. I didn't want this trilogy to end! But then I let Jeri and a bunch of other Twitterers (if that's a word) talk me into reading it. So I jumped into the book and was immediately pulled into the story. I'm going to get this out right now: I LOVE ZACHARY. So the begninning of this book was quite compelling in making me not want, but NEED to continue reading and figure out what was going on. My attention--held, for sure.

But, I must comment that even though I was riveted by this installment in the Shade trilogy, the beginning without Zach with us was somewhat drag-ish for me. This is based a bunch on my own personal preference for Zach. Also, since Logan is officially gone, I felt like there was a big hole in the story just waiting to be filled with Logan's awesomeness. Then again, it's about time we started to miss Logan. The poor guy has been hanging around for almost a year--he deserves some peace. My point here: the beginning had my attention, but in a slow-ish way.

This does NOT last long, however. After the initial little slump, the rest of Shine was magnificent. Emotional and logical. Sweet and somewhat dangerous. I was seriously glad that I was left with zero questions once I finished this book. Everything clicked and finally made sense to me. This whole trilogy had brought up loads and loads of confusion and having all of these questions that needed answering answered was amazing. And interesting. It was interesting how everything ended up working out with everything else.

Character rundown: Aura. Aura! I've always loved her name. I have positively nothing against Aura, which is really a compliment. I mean, look at what I thought of Tris from Divergent. I seem to be the only one I know who holds anything against her. Anyways, back to Aura--Aura is a very smart girl. Independent, too. I like how she made her own decisions based off of what she knew she wanted. Next we have Zachary. OH, ZACHARY. I've already declared my love for him in this post. He is an amazing guy. Attractive AND a genius. Strong, too. Though his pride is very bothersome sometimes. He needs to accept help when he really requires it. But I'm not going to ocus much on that because Zach is Zach and his good traits outshine his bad ones. PLUS, he has a Scottish accent! Nothing more swoon-worthy than that. Oh, wait. There is. His kilt! Ohmygosh, wow. Zach is like the modern-day Aiden MacRae! (I say moder-day because Aiden was born a loooooong time ago, though his story is recent.) The sord "swoon" was invented for guys like them.

Sweetness. Hmm. I believe I just got done telling y'all about how Zach was like Aiden. Which means that of course there is an abundance of sweet moments! I am so hapy for Aura and Zach. They have been through soooooo much. I must also be a realist for a moment and point out that I have ALWAYS been Team Zachary and that Logan has been dead since the very beginning of this series. Dead is dead. Even though Logan also had his swoon-worthy qualities, but without the charmingly lovable accent. So I was happy for Aura and Zach aithout any reservations.

The ending. I cried. Yeah, I get like that. I've loved this series since Shade first released, so saying goodbye to it was emotional. Plus, there was a nice little tear-jerker thing at the end that made my little teardrops make sense on some level, at least. This said, though, the ending was great and hopeful. As always, I can't think of any way the ending could have been better except to make it longer. But no matter what, I'd always wish it was longer, so that's not really a valid complaint, as it never is. For the record, when it IS a valid complaint, I'll be sure to let y'all know.

Final words on this trilogy: I adored these three books. If YOU have not read them, I suggest you do so. Like, this summer. A very good time for reading, you know.

Thank you to Jess for sending me the book and having the giveaway! I am so glad to own this book. It's like a little momento of the great trilogy, since I read the first two books from the library. And thank you to Jeri because: Jeri, you are AWESOME. I am totally going to read lots more by you, THAT is for sure.

Thank y'all for reading my review!

Have a wonderful day, Friends!

♥Jessica(: