Shade by Marilyn Peake is more than just a supernatural/paranormal mystery.

It is a look inside a trouble teenager’s life and how she more than rises to the challenge.

Amazon  /  Goodreads

MY REVIEW

Shade is a YA Paranormal mystery that includes some difficult subject matter, such as cutting and alcohol and drug abuse. More than anything it is the journey of Galactic Shade Griffin as she struggles with life and the danger and difficulties that cross her path.

A drug addict, a ghost, faeries, a troubled teen girl, her missing friend, a messed up mom, an amulet…will Shade be the hero she created in her graphic novel?

Shade has pretty much raised herself and hasn’t done too bad of a job, considering…no father and a mother who drank and drugged herself into oblivion.

Her mother moved them again, and things changed for Shade. She met Brandon Yates, a ghost that haunted their new home. When her best friend turns up missing, they band together to figure out the mystery.

More girls go missing…

I love how Shade struggles and grows to develop. I knew a girl who cut herself and I cannot stress how upset and sad I was for her. I could not understand how hurting yourself could make you feel better. Or maybe it was just so she could feel…something.

I love a good mystery and the paranormal is a nice touch. It adds an extra element I always appreciate. The danger rises and the the mystery is darker than Shade could have imagined. I have read of what can happen to girls who go missing and I fear how vulnerable the female species is…how unprepared and innocent we can be about the evil men do.

Marilyn can spin a wonderful tale that is easy to read and contains lovable characters that will wiggle their way into your heart. I would love to have Shade as my best friend too.

Amongst the dark, there is light.

In the tragic and sadness, there is hope and love.

  4 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Finalist in the 2015 National Indie Excellence Book Awards, Young Adult Fiction category

Thanks to her offbeat mother, Shade’s full name is Galactic Shade Griffin. Having a name like that while being the new girl in school is pretty much catnip for bullies. The summer before Shade’s junior year of high school, her mother breaks up with yet another boyfriend and moves them once again to a new town.

This time, they move into a dilapidated old house where Shade has an entire attic bedroom to herself—at least until she discovers it’s haunted by the ghost of a teenaged boy named Brandon Yates. When Shade’s best friend goes missing, her life becomes even more complicated. With the help of Brandon who’s struggling with his own issues in the world beyond, Shade faces the question of whether or not she has what it takes to become a true hero.

Although this novel deals with a number of serious issues—drug and alcohol abuse, cutting, and disturbing world events—it’s primarily a novel about a teenaged girl finding out who she really is and that she’s capable of so much more than she ever thought possible.

Shade is a Young Adult Paranormal Mystery novel.

ABOUT MARILYN PEAKE

From Goodreads:

MY REVIEWS FOR MARILYN PEAKE

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• Mutation Z, Book V, VI, and series as a whole