Forever Obsession: Shadow Falls Series

Hey everyone! Welcome to my long-overdue series review of the amazing Shadow Falls series by CC Hunter. I've never done a full series review so I'm not exactly sure how I was going to format it...the titles up above are linked to the individual book's Goodreads page while the title brings you the series overview. Let me know if you like it this way because I'm thinking about doing some more series reviews in the future.

So I can't say too much about the plotline of the story because I don't want to spoil anything, but I'll give you a little overview. Our main character is Kylie Galen. She was at the wrong party at the wrong time and finds herself shipped off to a camp for troubled teens. What she soon finds out is that the teens on the bus aren't troubled with drugs and alcohol, but they're troubled with supernatural powers. She meets half-fae Derek, vampire Della, and witch Miranda who introduce her to the paranormal world of Shadow Falls. This begins her journey as she figures out who she is, the secrets of her past, find out where she belongs, and maybe kick some rogue vampire butt.

The story was really interesting but if I had to rate it, I'd give it an 8.6/10. There were some pulse pounding points as well as scary ones, romantic ones, funny ones, touching ones, all of that, but I have to admit that some parts were pretty predictable. That doesn't go to say that everything was predictable, but you could kind of guess at times where the story was going.

The reason I love this series so much is simple: THE PEOPLE

They're not even characters to me anymore, they're living people and they're fantastic. As you read about Kylie's adventures, you begin to feel the bond that ties them all together and you really get this vibe of belonging-ness and family and it's just beautiful. They're all super entertaining with their bickering, touching when they bond, and most of all absolutely unforgettable. I'll give you guys a little run-down on them:

Kylie: She's levelheaded, caring about her friends, and determined. Unlike some other self-discovery in a brand new magical world female characters, there's definitely a lot less drama in regards to the romance and more towards all the craziness that is happening around her. She's definitely not a drama queen and very very brave.

Miranda: She's Kylie's witch roommate and she's absolutely adorable. Also, she gets very cute and funny when jealous because nobody steals her man!

Della: She's Kylie's vampire roommate and possibly on of my favorites. That's a lie, I can't pick a favorite, but I love Della so much. She can be cold and aloof, stubborn and at times just mean, but that's because she cares about Kylie and with her roommates, she actually has people to call her family. She's super kickbutt and fierce and I'm so excited there's a spin-off series with her as the main character.

Holiday: (fae) Holiday is Shadow Falls' director and definitely one of my favorite mentors of all time. She's loving, beautiful, kind, and everything Kylie needed to make her transition into the paranormal world. She's like the perfect older sister and she plays such a huge role in Kylie's growth throughout the series.

Burnett: (vampire) He works for the FDR which is like the paranormal equivalent of our FBI. He's like a prickly pear with a spiky exterior but is actually very caring and sweet and VERY protective. I'm not even going to tell you the amount of times he's made me want to chuck a rock at him at one moment and have me swooning the next.

Derek: (fae) Derek is the boy-next-door and person A in the little love triangle. He's sweet, caring, cute, and somehow emotionally connected to Kylie. He's adorable, hands down, he makes my heart literally want to overflow with cuteness.

Lucas: (Werewolf) Person B of the love triangle and he's the completely opposite of Derek. Lucas is bad-ass and protective and can be very very annoying at times. But I still love him. He fought so hard for there to be equality among species and for werewolves to stop discriminating other species. How can you not love him? Although, the amount of times he's hurt Kylie makes him deserve at least one rock thrown at his face.

Perry: (Shapeshifter) I love Perry so so much! He's adorable, super funny, and is very easily bitten by the green eyed monster. In any given time, if Perry's around, I laughed. He breaks the tension and makes everything better. Despite being a camp jokester, he's extremely loyal to his friends and nobody, I mean nobody, messes with his friends.

Fredricka: (Werewolf) I hated her at the beginning. She was possessive of Lucas and really really mean to Kylie. To put it bluntly, she was a bbbbbb, but again with the but, she changes and she eventually grows on you. While I may not love her now, I no longer hate her.

Jenny and Hayden: This brother-sister duo doesn't appear until the later books but I love them just the same. Jenny is well, she's special and you have to read to see why. Hayden proved to be a really amazing mentor in teaching Kylie how to use her powers because they're of the same species.

Kylie's parents: So a little spoiler alert, Kylie's parents at the beginning of her book aren't her real parents. Her dad specifically is not her biological dad. Her "step-dad" was...well, I have meh feelings for him. I LOVE her real dad, he's just amazing and awesome and should have appeared more throughout the book. Her mom though, she was so annoying and had so little trust in her own daughter I wanted to tear my hair out. Kylie doesn't need any drama from you Mrs. Galen so stop being so annoying and actually listen to your daughter for once! Ugh...

The Bad Guys: They're kind of this over-shadowing group and while they do appear at moments, they're not really the issue. They did add a little suspense and action to the story, but they are just plain messed up.

Okay, that's really incredibly long BUT I'm not done yet. I wanted to talk really quickly about the love triangle. As many of you guys know, I hate love triangles. I think they add unnecessary drama and should just go away. This one however was different in that the relationships actually "ended" before the next one started. Kylie and Derek occupied books 1-2 because Lucas was really just out of the picture. When he came back, there was a moment of wavering between the two boys, but Kylie (thank you CC Hunter) actually made her mind to go with one. She broke it off with the other and chose ONE GUY. AND when things didn't work out with that guy, she didn't just dump him and go for the other, she broke it off with him and the other guy (the one she didn't pick) just became a friend, a guiding light. I have no teams for this, I love both the guys and the romance was really well written.

All right, I do believe that's all I have. I adored these series and I'm definitely going to picking up the spin-off which features Della as our MC. I love the world, I love the characters, and just they've really become like family in the span of 5 books. The series isn't exactly super action packed, but it'll keep you hooked and happy through it all. Definitely recommend!