This book captured my attention right from the start. Jillian was just a normal girl, minding her own business at work, when she was used as a hostage and injected with some mysterious serum. The next thing she knows, she’s been kidnapped and is on her way to a scientist to see if they can save her from the serum’s deadly effects.
The guy who kidnaps her is Declan, none other than the hero of the book. After meeting him and seeing his behavior toward Jillian—because he is a pretty cold, harsh man in the beginning—I had to double check the back cover to make sure that he was actually someone I was supposed to like. Yep, he’s the hero. I was pretty skeptical that the author could pull off making me like him, but she did. The details we learned about him and the reasons for his behavior were very convincing. Kudos to the author for creating such a believable back and forth in personality.
The attraction was a little hard to believe. Not the fact that they would be attracted to each other, but the fact that it happened so quickly. It’s kind of hard for me to swallow Jillian going from terrified and angry about being kidnapped to being hot for Declan. But if I ignored how quickly everything happens, I kind of liked them together.
I really, really liked Jillian. I think some might dislike the fact that she’s a victim for most of the book, but I liked it. Not the victim thing, but the fact that she wasn’t Billy Badass like most other UF heroines. This girl was not tough and the serum did not turn her into a Buffy clone. She was still just a regular girl without any increased strength or healing. The only difference was the effect her blood had on vampires. I would actually say that the serum put her at an even further disadvantage than a regular human. She still healed as slow and could still die, but now she had to deal with smelling irresistible to them and having to avoid getting munched on at every turn. It was different than the norm and I found it refreshing.
Jillian had a great voice as the narrator. There were so many quotable lines that I had a hard time resisting the urge to update frequently on Goodreads.
“I was afraid of him on too many levels to count. But there was also a part of Declan Reyes–the man who’d put me in danger, threatened to kill me, kidnapped me, tossed me around and bullied me, but also saved my life and comforted me when I’d been sick–that I’d slowly begun to depend on and even…like. And that was just as scary as anything else I’d had to deal with today.”
Nightshade is an Urban Fantasy, but it straddles the Romance line at times. I think some people might find themselves confused about what genre it is exactly and find themselves disappointed if they were expecting a HEA. Just make sure you go into it with the right set of expectations.
So, I’ve gone over what I liked and now I have to go over what I hated. The first 3/4 of the book was a 4 heart grade for me, but the last 1/4 was a 1 heart. I averaged it out to end up with the 2.5 heart final grade. I am going to put my dislikes in the spoilers. Please people, do not read them if you don’t want to be spoiled. These will not be tiny spoilers, they’ll be spoilers for a major event in the end. Be warned.
***DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED***
I finished this book and I was practically frothing at the mouth. I was pissed, cursing up a storm and ranting to some friends of mine on Goodreads. Be glad that you didn’t hear my raw reaction. It wouldn’t be as nice. ;P
Jillian got snatched up by the bad guy she’s been afraid of for most of the book. The bad guy, Matthius, is the vampire that Nightshade was created to kill. To test his resistance skills Matthius decides he needs to make love to Jillian while not feeding from her. Sex and feeding are linked to a vampire, but to feed from Jillian is death, so he’s really taking a risk. Jillian is (understandably) skeezed out by this, but Matthius (henceforth known as the douche) takes control of her mind and forces her. He leaves her the ability to talk and think while he controls her body. She protests and asks him to stop every step of the way. He forces her to get naked and lay down and he goes down on her. Then he gets naked and partially enters her before deciding to stop because he’s offended that she calls him a rapist.
What exactly is the purpose of this scene? Because I can’t honestly see a reason for it to be included when the author wasn’t going to treat it in a serious manner. I DO NOT like rape to be included in a book just ‘cause.
Jillian is upset during the moment but seems to forget the scene two seconds later. Other than a throwaway line here and there it doesn’t seem to dwell on her mind at all. She even starts to have inklings of an attraction to him. To the douche!!!! What??? I seriously got the vibe that the author was looking to turn it into a love triangle with the douche being the new love interest. *gag*
Jillian was also really friendly with him. At the end she’s like “I’m going to take the baby because I promised Matthius.” (yes, there’s a baby in this too) I’m not arguing about taking the baby, but because she promised the douche? Uh, hell no! He RAPED you!!! Why are you so friendly with him? “Oh, you’re going to be a great daddy, Matthius.” –Yes, because he has been a pillar of morality and rainbows and sunshine while you’ve been with him so far. Idiot. (FYI—those aren’t real quotes. I was paraphrasing.)
Jillian also feels guilty around Declan because of what she did with the douche. What did she have to feel guilty about? He controlled her mind and forced her body to respond. That does not an attraction make. Also, Declan asked her if Matthius hurt her. She said no! I can understand hedging around the subject because they need him at the moment and she doesn’t want Declan to kill him, but we’re in her head and the whole rape thing never even crossed her mind.
***END SPOILER***
So…I don’t think I’m going to be continuing with this series. It’s regrettable, because the beginning was good and I really like this author’s Living in Eden series, but I do not like where this series seems to be headed at all.
Favorite Quote:
“My name’s Jillian,” I said. “Jillian Conrad. My friends call me Jill.” Taking it to a friendly introduction level might make all the difference. Make him see that I wasn’t just a random hostage. I was a normal person with a normal life and I didn’t deserve any of this. His lips thinned. “Jillian?” I nodded eagerly. “Yes.” “Shut the fuck up, Jillian.”
Nightshade by Michelle Rowen
February 1st 2011 by Berkley
Urban Fantasy
GoodReads Reviews
Author’s Website
Purchase Links: Amazon || Book Depository || Barnes & Noble
About Catherine
Sorry to hear that. Abt your spoiler maybe the author forgot what she actually wrote because it dosemt seem it was given the importance it deserved.
@Kayanna kirby: Maybe? I think subjects like that should only be included if they’re going to be treated seriously.
Sorry this one didn’t work for you. I do have to say though, I’d rather finish a book frothing at the mouth angry than totally indifferent. If it’s just a meh book I feel like my time was totally wasted.
2.5 what a shame. I do want to read this one still but it will probably wait a while. Nice review.
Stephanie G
Paranormal Haven
@Sophia (FV): I would too actually. I dislike ending a book angry, but I dislike even more when I end a book apathetic.
@Paranormal Haven: Thanks. Hopefully you like it when you get around to reading it.
God I’m weird – now I want to read the book because of that one scene you mentioned
So Jillian doesn’t have any stress from being raped? She goes along with her business as if it never happened?? And it is raped if she is mind control and Matthius only went down on her and almost had intercourse with her. He raped her with his mouth and the moment she said no, it’s rape.
I wonder if the author plans for Matthius to be redeemed and become Jillian’s love interest ala Luke and Laura from General Hospital?
I actually liked the book a lot. I’m with Sophia, I’d rather be angry at the end then go WTF did I read this for.
Oh wow – I read the spoiler because I’ve read this book – That scene didn’t affect me – now I’m not sure why – LOL. At the end I really liked that Matthias becomes more ambiguous…I’m going to have to go back and reread that scene.
Otherwise I loved this book.
@KC: LOL! Hopefully you enjoy it.
@KB/KT Grant: Nope, she doesn’t. If there was supposed to be stress and angst portrayed then the author failed.
I didn’t watch General Hospital, but it really, really seems like the author is setting him up as a love interest. Or at least someone to tempt Jillian a bit while her and Declan work out some issues that I can’t talk about if I want to avoid spoilers.
Since the thought of that developing makes me throw up in my mouth I’m just going to do the author and myself a favor and not continue this series.
@Wicked Lil Pixie: I’m glad this one worked for you. You’re right, some reaction (even a negative one) is better than none.
@Mandi Schreiner: Hmmm, really? Maybe it didn’t push any of your buttons. *shrug* Stuff like that just bothers me.
It was the exact opposite with me, the beginning was rather meh, and then I really liked the end
@blodeuedd: I actually have another friend who was the exact same way. She found the beginning tedious but loved the end.
Oh my. I’ve been curious about this book since I first saw it was going to be. It’s too bad it didn’t work for you though.
@Julie: Do you plan to read it? If so, I’d be curious to hear what you think of it.
I am about to talk about the spoiler — avert your eyes if you haven’t read the book yet!
Seriously — what is with rapists and guys who come over all nasty being love interests? Where are all the rounded, “grey” characters? Why does “complex motive” have to = “oh, you misunderstood me, you silly girl!” or “I can’t help how desperately broody I am. Blame my past.”
You can write a cheeky, snarky guy with lots of questionable attributes, but he can still be likeable for the RIGHT reasons — ie, if the main character was our friend, we could see what she saw in him. If we’d be worried for our friend once we got to know the guy then we know he’s just a foil for her self esteem. (I just blogged about this so it’s rather timely, lol — that’s why I’m also frothing!). There’s a big difference between playing consent games and rape (consent games can be very sexy, but part of the sexiness is that the man who plays the game is strong. The rapist is weak, nomatter how much he tries to “restrain” himself).
It’s a shame because the quote mentioned in the review was really good. I love snappy dialogue like that.
@LV: To me there is a line. One one side are the actions that can be recovered from and on the other side are the ones that can’t. I guess that line is different for all, but this action definitely crossed to the wrong side for me.
I completely agree about putting yourself in a friend’s shoes and seeing how things seem. There have been many times that I’ve found myself incredulous over friends and family being thrilled to see the heroine hook up with the local poster boy for serial killers. It just doesn’t make sense.
I’ve been known to like some unlikable heroes because they were unlikable, but once again, there’s a line between “gray” and “too far.”
Wow, all I can really say right now is wow. I do not always have the self control to not read spoilers (unless I really REALLY want to read the book) so I read the spoiler. That doesn’t make one bit of sense and I can see what you would be so angry and turned off by this series. What interests me the most is the fact that so many people really loved this book. I wonder if the reason why people liked it was because they were so invested by that point that they kind of skimmed through the spoiler scene without really comprehending it. Plus things like that affect different people in different ways. But I honestly can’t believe that in such a short time period the main character acts like nothing has really happened…maybe she is in shock but then why do something that he really wants her to do?! Just weird…not sure if I’ll be picking this book up now. I’ll read books with that kind of topic in it, I’m open minded, but it better have a damn good point to it!
@Deanna: I don’t know why it bugged me so much but didn’t bother others. Perplexing!
I like this review!! Forget it, I read the spoiler too, and that is a no-can-do unforgiveable snafoo for me. Thank you!
@Spaz: It might not bother you, Spaz. I’ve noticed it barely even blipped on some people’s radar. The only one I’ve noticed who was bothered by it as well was my friend Lethal on Goodreads.
I seriously need to crack on with my blog post about the difference between rape and rape fantasy. [sigh]