REVIEW: “<i>Shadow Hills</i>” by Anastasia Hopcus

After her sister dies, Persephone (“Phe”) Archer decides to go to the boarding school in Shadow Hills that Athena had been planning on attending. But, this is because Athena had been suffering from nightmares that Phe was now having — the same nightmares. And, Phe wanted answers.

Upon her arrival in Shadow Hills, Phe meets some interesting townspeople, and starts to have some unexplainable encounters. She finds a lot more questions than she does answers. But, she’s determined to figure out why she and her sister were having the same nightmares, and what they might mean.

This was an awesome book! I couldn’t put it down right from the very first page! The characters have some interesting qualities that I didn’t expect. And, the story was different than what I expected, too.

My only qualm was that, at times, I don’t think the author gave Phe enough credit in the intellectual department. She seems to be a strong-willed character, but there were times when she would read something and not be able to understand it… well, why not? Just because she’s a teenager doesn’t mean that she’s that naive. It just didn’t seem to fit with her character, or with reality and that bugged me. Nevertheless, I was able to overlook this in light of the fact that the rest of the story was really well-done… especially since this is the author’s first (published) book!

This book –while wrapped up nicely, in the end– seems to be the start of a series, so I’m looking forward to reading more about Phe & her new friends!

Rated: A+