ARC Review: Shattered Blue by Lauren Bird Horowitz

SHATTERED BLUE
Series: The Light Trilogy #1
Genre: YA, Fantasy
Release Date: September 15th 2015

Book Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Skyscape
Source: ARC, Goodreads 

Review: 3/5 *Full Review Below.

Blurb: 
For Noa and Callum, being together is dangerous, even deadly. From the start, sixteen-year-old Noa senses that the mysterious transfer student to her Monterey boarding school is different. Callum unnerves and intrigues her, and even as she struggles through family tragedy, she’s irresistibly drawn to him. Soon they are bound by his deepest secret: Callum is Fae, banished from another world after a loss hauntingly similar to her own.

But in Noa’s world, Callum needs a special human energy, Light, to survive; his body steals it through touch—or a kiss. And Callum’s not the only Fae on the hunt. When Callum is taken, Noa must decide: Will she sacrifice everything to save him? Even if it means learning their love may not be what she thought?

Shattered Blue is all about Noa our heroine returning to school after the death of her twin sister Isla. It’s at school where she meets the mysterious new boy Callum. Callum is a Fae and in order to survive he needs ‘Light’, which all humans possess but taking Light through touch means taking their future happiness. Callum tries his best to distance himself in school refusing to touch people but he can’t seem to keep himself away from Noa.

Right so what I loved about this was Noa, she was a writer and poet and because of this we actually got some short poetry, how good is that? Noa is strong, she refuses to give in to her pain and crumble and picks up the slack at home, both physical and emotional due to her grief stricken parents. One of my problems with this book was with the Fae; we got too much information, I understand the need to inform the reader and create a backstory but it was just the case of too much information all at once.

Now for the romance, it both saved and let down this book for me. For starters Noa and Callum’s relationship can only be described as insta love, yes they were sweet and cute but I just couldn’t take them seriously and I wasn't really bothered about what would happen between the two. So at this point I’m ready to give up on this but then…. We meet Callum’s brother Judah. Now Judah is the younger, darker, more rebellious, broody borther, so naturally I’m backing Judah all the way. Then Callum gets kidnapped yay and Noa and Judah must work together to find him. (You see where this is going? Love triangle? You’d be right)

Naturally a love triangle between brothers is always going to be a messy but I must say I preferred Noa and Judah together, bad boy reputation aside. This romance was developed slowly, hate turning into something more that neither wants to admit. Noa and Judah have a lot more chemistry and their relationship was so much more realistic and before I knew it I was totally shipping them!

The pacing of the book was a little too slow for me but once I got over the 50% mark things quickly picked up. The ending was filled with deceptions and plot twists that I didn’t see coming and were brilliantly thought out and then left things at a cliffhanger, it was crazy… but it a good way!

Regardless of the slow beginning and the insta romance I really did enjoy this book and I will definitely be reading the next installment, this book has room to grow and I’m exciting to see where it goes. Lots more Noa and Judah please!