Book Review: Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus

Title: Shadow Hills

Author: Anastasia Hopcus

Pages: 388

Publisher: Egmont Usa

Year Published: 2010

“Since her sister’s mysterious death, Persephone ‘Phe’ Archer has been plagued by disturbing dreams. Determined to find out what happened to her sister, Phe enrolls at Devenish Prep in Shadow Hills, Massachusetts-- the subjects of her sister’s final diary entry.

Phe immediately realizes that there’s something different about this place—an unexplained epidemic that decimated the town in the 1700s, an ancient and creepy cemetery, and a gorgeous boy Zach—and somehow she’s connected to it all.

But the more questions she asks and the deeper she digs, the more entangled Phe becomes in the haunting past of Shadow Hills. Finding out what links her to this town… might destroy her.”

My Rating: 3/5

This book wasn’t all I believe it could be. Anastasia Hopcus had really great ideas, I just wish that she had used more description and suspense to run with them. The whole time I read this book, I didn’t feel like I was going to get a surprise, I knew who had committed what crimes, who was good, who was evil, etc. And there is nothing more annoying than reading to the end of the book to find out you were right, that the author did exactly what was expected. Not only this but I found the characters not easy to relate to and not deep enough for me to think of them as real people.

I also hope that this book is a series because of the way it ended quickly, almost as though the author got bored and just gave up. Hopefully this series gets better and maybe if a second book comes out I’ll read it just to hope that Anastasia Hopcus has evolved on her ideas.

THANK YOU ANASTASIA HOPCUS FOR GIVING US REAL WORLD SUPERHEROES!

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny ♥♪♫

Spoiler: Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus

This book wasn’t at all what I hoped. I think that the author had really great ideas, but didn’t use them well.  I really wish that she would have had more suspense and shown multiple bad guys instead of just Trent and Tripp, that way the reader would question who it was and who was after them.  But instead I found that I could easily pinpoint who was the murderer, etc. I also wish that we went more in depth with the characters and that as readers we could see them as humans, not people in a book.

Characters:

Phe: I think that the vision aspect of things is completely interesting. The way that she is drawn to Devenish Prep grabbed my attention, but after that I think that Zach almost got in the way. I understand that most books have boy meet girl and they fall in love. And don’t get me wrong that’s cute and all, but wouldn’t it be nice if a girl had to stand on her own two feet for once instead of just relying on the boy. I also found Phe to be a pretty stupid. She didn’t even guess it was Trent or a member of his family before she asked for her vision from Hecate.

Zach: I guess he’s supposed to be Phe’s knight in shining armor, but I think that one of them should have been able to figure out who Mr. Carr’s murderer was. Honestly. I guess I do enjoy the way he’s romantic with her, but not as much as I usually do because I just can’t picture him.

Adriana: The party girl/rich friend. There’s always one right? I guess she’s a decent person, but really she’s a pretty flat character.

Brody: I feel really sorry for this kid, I mean first to lose his parents and then one of his legal guardians. Rough life. I’m happy that he got involved, but you’d think that he’d be there when they realized it was Tripp.

Trent: Ok, we could all tell from the beginning that he was a bad guy. Most good guys don’t just come off the way he did, but seriously couldn’t be see him be a good person for .5 seconds?

Tripp: I know what he was doing was wrong, but at least he had a sense of family and was trying to help his father. I guess I knew he was evil, but I’m happy he wasn’t pure evil in a sense.

Corrine: A little to protective of her brother, don’t ya think?

Moments to Remember:

♥Pg. 23

“’So where we going to eat?’ I asked after a moment.

 ‘I was thinking about something very Shadow Hills, Massachusetts. To get you into the whole vibe of the town. Maybe McDonald’s?’ He cut his eyes to me.”

♥Pg.187

“’You are so unlike most guys.’ I shook my head.

 ‘I know. I’m pretty much the most amazing guy ever.’ Graham grinned.”

♥Pg. 218

“’Maybe for you, Miss Everyone-in-a-Five–Mile-Radius-Falls-in-Love-with-Me-Instantly,’ Adriana groused.

 ‘Oh, come on.’ I shook my head. ‘That is so not true.’

 ‘Yeah,’ Brody agreed quickly. ‘I have absolutely zero interest in Phe. She’s like vanilla yogurt or tapioca pudding. She’s unflavored oatmeal.’”

 ‘Why, thank you, Brody.’ I smiled sweetly.”

♥Pg. 251

“He and Graham seemed to be having a can-opener/Roger Rabbit contest. I shook my head in awe. It took real skill to be that bad.”

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo