Shattered Blue, from Lauren Bird Horowitz (The Light Trilogy #1)

Hi, guys! In the beginning of August, I entered to NetGalley, that’s a website that provides books for professional reviewers. The first book that I received and read from there was Shattered Blue, the first in The Light Trilogy, by Lauren Bird Horowitz. Now it’s time to say what I thought of it!

(updated picture, as I now have a beautiful paperback edition <3)

Here’s the story: Noa is a girl that recently lost her older sister, Isla, and it’s trying to have a normal life without her. Noa studies on an intern school with her best friends Miles and Olivia and her younger sister, three-year-old Sasha. One of the few things that keeps Noa moving forward is her poetry. She loves to write and the words slip through her fingers to paper, translating all her feelings.

One the first day of school, Noa meets Callum, the new mysterious student. At first, Noa feels Callum very distant and hostile towards her – until their first English class together, when Noa shows how much she understands of poetry, a shared passion between her and Callum.

After many twists, Noa discovers that Callum is Fae (a fairy) and was banished from his realm to the Earth for a crime that he swears he didn’t commit. A romance is born between them and Noa finally fells that her life was coming back to normal – until Callum’s problem-brother, Judah, arrives to Earth as well.

Noa sees her life shatter again when Callum is kidnaped by a dangerous Fae Hunter and she can only count with Judah to help her saving him. But is Judah the real villain here or just an underestimated boy?

Now let’s go to the analysis! Just keep in mind that those were my thoughts and opinion while reading the book 🙂

I loved Shattered Blue. Even with some of my most hated elements present on the story (high school love triangle, juvenile love indecision, just to name a few), I still loved it, haha! I had never read a fairy book before and it was a great experience. I admit I also enjoyed this a lot because the basic plot is the same as The Vampire Diaries’ one. I feel like I’ve entered Fae’s world with the right foot, haha! 😉

In narrative matters, Horowitz was brilliant. She was able to solve one of the most difficult problems, that is loose ends where they weren’t supposed to exist. All the holes in the story clearly will be explained in some point of the trilogy. Horowitz managed this miracle by switching narrative perspectives during the book. Noa starts it, and then we have some parts from Callum and Judah later. This made me very happy while reading, because I tend to get frustrated by holes that won’t be full filed at some point, you know? All narrator characters are very describing, so the transition is very smooth. A+ for Horowitz!

The plot was nice, full of action and twists, besides the romance and a good shot of mystery, but, like I said, it reminded me very strongly of The Vampire Diaries plot. I got a bit disappointed to be able to foresee every step on the love triangle of Noa, Callum and Judah since the beginning and that this part of the book wasn’t surprising at all. Since the moment that Judah appeared on the story, I already knew I would be Team Judah and that I would want to shoot Callum at some point, haha! Even with this back down, I still got surprised by the end of the book and I can’t wait for the next one ❤ And that’s why I gave it 5 starts on Goodreads anyway. The book was able to surprise me despite many known facts and that is awesome 😀

I liked Noa very much. In the beginning, I thought I was going to hate her, but we connected through the book and now I think she’s an amazing protagonist, even when she makes mistakes. There wasn’t one time in the book that made me think “omg, what an stupid girl”. I can’t say the same for the boys, though, haha! I didn’t like nor Callum or Miles in a general way. Both seemed so artificial to me – Callum for reasons what you’d understand only reading the book, as it would contain huge spoilers if told – and Miles just because. Olivia, Sasha and aunt Sarah are wonderful characters and I loved all three of them 🙂 Noa’s parents are very real, it’s impressive. They reflect all the emotions of a couple that lost one daughter and try to get over it in the best way possible.

Noa’s poetry is really cool bonus on the book. Her poems are very well written and structured, besides truthful and soul-touching. I mean, she reached even broken Judah with her words, haha! Noa sees so much of the world, of people, but not always can transform this in words to speak her mind. Not until she writes it all down in a poem. I’m a bit partial to say so, but my favorite poem on the book was the last she wrote: Imposter. It was about Judah and so so sooo perfect! ❤

The supernatural element of the book was also fantastic. Horowitz rebuilt my notions about fairies – now Faes – that were basically Tinker Bell and Winx Club, haha! I admit that I have no reference point, as this was my first Fae book, but I really liked this and can’t wait for the next book of the trilogy 😀 And now I have to find many more with this theme, haha! If you have a good suggestion, please, leave it on the comments for me to take a look ❤

If I had to pick a strongest trait on Shattered Blue, it would be the unexpected. Even with my correct predictions about the amorous triangle, I couldn’t never tell when another twist was coming to the main plot and how things would stay after it. I loved having this experience and biting my nails until the very last page, haha! (I wish I was joking on this one, but you can see on this picture how my nail suffered from the end of this book, haha! It’s the ring finger one…)

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it if you like Y&A supernatural romances and poetry. Also, I have to bow to this cover. I wish I had a high definition file of this cover to use as a phone background, honestly. It’s so pretty!!! I don’t usually judge a book by its cover, but a nice cover do make me feel loved, haha! 😉

That’s it, guys! Thanks for reading! Shattered Blue will be realeased on September 15^th, in digital and paperback versions, and I can’t wait! I’m that kind of person that, if I like an ebook too much, I want a paperback version as well, haha!