After cheating death, Veronica Welling is determined to savor every moment in her idyllic kingdom with both her true love and best friend by her side at last. At the same time, Mackenna Reid is enthusiastically building her new life and a theater with her prince. But just as their dreams of happiness are within reach, the world Vee and Kenna have chosen is ripped away, leaving them to face their most horrific challenge yet—their old lives.
Thrust out of Doon, the best friends are confronted with tormentors from their past and no way to return to their adopted land. When the MacCrae brothers rush to their rescue, the girls' situation turns from nightmare to modern-day fairy tale. But their happiness could be short lived: unbeknownst to them, someone in their closest circle is aiding the witch of Doon in her bid to destroy the kingdom once and for all.
I so knew this would happen! I read the third book in Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon's Doon series and I am left with an unbearable cliffhanger! Agh!! Needless to say Shades of Doon was one epic and thrilling read that held me riveted from the first page!
No spoiler necessary, as we knew there were two more books left, Veronica is alive and well-ish. She still battles some bouts of dizziness and sickness, but she's doing her best to manage it and tone it down for her worrywort boyfriend, Jamie. To add to her bouts of dizziness, are also strange visions that seem to be overlapping themselves onto Doon; ones that are of the modern day world she left behind. And if that wasn't odd enough, Kenna is seeing them too.
There's an enemy afoot in the girls' inner circle. One who is aligned with the witch herself. And the girls have their own ideas of who it might be, but nothing will prepare them for the truth. It's through an odd twist of fate and some seriously bad juju that transports the girls back home. Way back home. And without their rings, they'll have no way to get back to their beloved home.
This was actually the most intense part of the story in my opinion, because there are two ways into Doon: waiting for the Centennial and entering through the portal--which since that happened not all that long ago, the girls are going to have a very long wait--or using the magic rings, which they don't have thanks to the enemy.
Most surprising of all was how quickly this is remedied. In some ways it was kind of a letdown, because I expected this to be a major part of the story, but it only ended up being a small part. Like maybe 1/3 or so? But there's an even more exciting and dangerous task ahead of our heroes and heroines that definitely makes up for it!
This time around the story is told in equal parts of Kenna and Veronica, though I felt like Veronica's chapters were a wee bit longer, but that's probably because I favor Kenna a little more! She's a very fun character to read about and I love her attitude and how she speaks her mind, even when the situation might call for candor! LOL!
Shades of Doon is probably my favorite so far out of the bunch because of all the increasing danger! There's so much that's happening and so much tension and I just couldn't read fast enough! I had to see how our heroines would make it out of this one! And naturally, being the second to last in the series, the ending was quite cliffhangery and didn't leave me with all the warm and fuzzies. In fact, I am anxious to read the next book asap and alas, it's still DAYS away from being released!
One thing I quite like about this series, that for some reason I've failed to mention, which is odd because it's been mentioned in all the books to date, is how much I love that Kenna and Veronica refer to their group of friends as the Scooby Gang! You all know my lobe for Scooby Doo so this is just a tiny little thing, yet it brings me such giddy joy!
I'm again in awe of the powerful friendship Kenna and Veronica have! Nothing will stop these two when they set their minds to something. I love the closeness they share with each other. When they are in rough patches, the other picks them up and sees them through their tears! It's so touching! They go to great lengths to be with one another and help the other out. I can't reiterate enough how much I love close friendships in books! It's something I will never tire of!
And this time around, I must say I enjoyed the romance on all fronts! Granted, there seemed to be little of it, but the moments each couple get to steal with each other just seem even more special and swoonworthy for it!
While I didn't feel especially shocked by the revelation of the traitor in their midst, I did quite enjoy the second surprise that popped up and it's one I felt I nailed from early on in the story. This story, at least! I am so looking forward to seeing how this series ends because that cliffhanger, agh! It about killed me in the way only an incredibly great read can! And naturally, Shades of Doon was an incredibly GREAT read!
Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars
I keep seeing great things about this series! I am so glad that you enjoyed it, Jessica. I will have to keep it in mind the next time I want to start with a new series - but maybe I will wait until it is complete since I hate to be left with a cliffhanger. Great review!
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