Review--The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams

Some humans can see the fae. McKenzie Lewis can track them, reading the shadows they leave behind. But some shadows lead to danger. Others lead to lies.

A Houston college student trying to finish her degree, McKenzie has been working for the fae king for years, tracking vicious rebels who would claim the Realm. Her job isn’t her only secret. For just as long, she’s been in love with Kyol, the king’s sword-master—and relationships between humans and fae are forbidden.

But any hope for a normal life is shattered when she’s captured by Aren, the fierce and uncompromising rebel leader. He teaches her the forbidden fae language and tells her dark truths about the Court, all to persuade her to turn against the king. Time is running out, and as the fight starts to claim human lives, McKenzie has no choice but to decide once and for all whom to trust and where she ultimately stands in the face of a cataclysmic civil war.

Sandy Williams wrote the most incredible book, The Shadow Reader!! I soooo loved McKenzie's character! She seemed very natural, very real! True, she has the ability to see the fae and read the shadows when they cross between worlds and is able to draw out the map to see where their "portal" leads to. It has made her a valuable asset to the king, Atroth.

What I loved most about McKenzie was that she was an English major! Go us! But she's also a very realistic human being. She wasn't our normal kick ass heroine, in fact she didn't have too many defensive skills or combat knowledge. She was always protected from those dangers by Kyol. But when she's kidnapped during a final exam, she's about to learn a whole lot more about the fae than she ever thought possible.

For years the rebels have been attacking Atroth and his people. Kyol, her crush, friend and protector for ten years is the swords master and works with the king in order to protect the people and McKenzie. But not even he could stop her from getting kidnapped by the enemy, Aren. But Aren is most definitely a different type of villain. In fact McKenzie starts to question who the villain really is with her time spent with Aren and his people. But she brushes it off at Stockholm syndrome! I love this girl!

McKenzie begins to question almost everything about her life the more time she spends with Aren and she doesn't know if she likes that or not. If she likes him, for you know Aren is very handsome!! I love him! I was totally team Aren in this one! And what's great about McKenzie, she hates that she thinks she might be in a love triangle, because love triangles are stupid, that is you can't decide which guy you love more, than you might not really care about either. But yet McKenzie finds herself in this very position as the book goes on!!

And there is still a war about! One that just gets worse and worse with more casualties. Soon McKenzie finds herself making a choice. A choice that will have serious repercussions if the other side ever finds out!

This was an incredibly well paced novel! Hardly ever a dull moment since McKenzie spends a lot of time trying to escape Aren, but then all that romantic tension starts to build up confusing her even more. There was a lot of romantic tension as well, never anything totally over the top either which I really enjoyed. 

Overall this was just an awesome book! A totally different kind of take on the fae, yet they still have some of the same qualities we all know and love. Sandy just puts a little different spin to it all and the results are mindblowing! The Shadow Reader is definitely a must-read!

Overall rating 5/5 stars