The Shapeshifter's Secret by Heather Ostler
Format: e-arc
Publisher: Cedar Fort
Published: 12th June 2012
Pages: 328
Main Characters: Julia
Date Started: 24th May 2012
Date Finished: 3rd June 2012
Rating Given: ***
Blurb from Netgalley:
She tried telling herself to stop, but it was useless. Something had fully claimed her mind and body. A sound began to erupt from inside her chest, a deep sort of growl that seized her entire being. She felt as if there was a grizzly bear inside her, trying to escape. And then a deafening roar echoed from her mouth, only inches away from Lancer’s face. It took everything inside of her not to attack him.
In Julia’s life, timing is everything. Like the time her paranoid father put bars on her window so she wouldn’t sneak out at night—even though she’s never given him a reason not to trust her. Or the time this weird new kid showed up at her school and pretty much every girl in sight instantly and inexplicably fell in love with him. What was up with that?
But as time moves on, things in Julia’s life go from strange to seriously impossible. Now it’s all she can do to keep herself and the life she’s always known from falling apart.
This fast-paced action-adventure story is packed with humor, romance, and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing to the very last page. Get lost in a world of hidden royalty, shifting alliances, and dangerous vendettas, but don’t ever forget: nothing is what it seems.
For me the reason why I wanted to read this particular book wasn't the cover as I couldn't see it at the time or even the blurb but the title. The Shapeshifter's Secret it just says it all. Shapeshifter's I have read about before and they are usually good and then the word secret got me intrigued I just had to read it and I am kind of glad that I did.
Like I said I couldn't see the cover straight away as it was a couple of weeks before I found an actual cover and I must admit I'm still not sure whether I like it or not. I love the pattern in the background and even the font especially the S which I have just this second realised that it's important to the story. The girl however doesn't look right I know that it's showing that she is a shapeshifter but for me it just doesn't work as you can actually tell that it's fake as other books that I have seen with mythical creatures on the cover look real but in this case it just doesn't look right.
Heather Ostler was able to create a beautiful world that I for one could visualise very well it sounded like a place that I wish was real so I could visit. Ostler was also able to make me want to read more and more about what was going on even when I wasn't sure that it was the greatest book that I have read I still was thoroughly enthralled I just needed to know what was going to happen.
This book has confused me in the way in which I didn't like the characters but I still wanted to know more it's not very often that a book can do that to me. At the beginning it was a bit juvenile and I really didn't want to read the rest of the book yet somehow I ended up hooked so much so that if there was another book to this series I would read it. There was parts that did make me laugh out loud or just smile but there was also boring parts that just glossed over things that was happening that could have been more interesting. I found that things would happen rather randomly and just didn't get what was happening. There was a bit of action right at the end but again I thought it was rushed I would have loved to have seen more of the action.
Like I said above I wasn't that impressed with the characters. Julia was very annoying at the beginning and also very shallow but I did like that she wasn't afraid to take action when everyone around her was saying no. There was other characters but I don't think that we got to know much about them. Terrance was a descent enough character but all the way through I was expecting him to turn on the good guys. Caleb was a good character although there was times when I would have liked to shake him but apart from that he was one of my favourite characters. The relationship that Julia had with her guy I didn't get as I thought she liked someone else but then it just changed randomly. I think if there was another book I think they all might improve as some books that I have read I hated the characters but by the end of the series I loved them all.
Overall I liked this book but things that happened did make it hard to love it.
