Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus - Review

Synopsis via goodreads:
His love captivated her... his secrets might kill her.

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

After stepping on campus, 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 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 what links her to this town…might cost her her life.

You know how some books are a magnet - they wake you up at night, they take over your thoughts, your feelings - they leave you white knuckled, tickled with laughter and sputtering?

I felt that way reading Shadow Hills - yes it's another book about a prep school, but the tricks that Ms. Hopcus plays with the mind - though her words, unexpected things pop up, they slide into you like butter willing themselves to be come interwoven into your brain.

It's a tricky, surprising novel - with characters I wanted to aline myself with, and a beautiful boy whom I wished to link fingers with. There's lots of action, in unexpected places - right when you think it's calming down, WHAM another flow, another twist, hit's you square between the eyes - having never seen it coming.

I can't really explain what it's about, there's mystery and intrigue - with characters I came to care about and love - and I can only pray there's much more of this story coming - because while not a cliff hanger there's more that needs explored on so MANY levels.

I honestly think that one thing that sets Shadow Hills apart is the diversity with in the setting as well as the characters themselves – it's not a novel with one dimension, there's lots of levels in Shadow Hills, each character bringing a new facet to the story, interwoven beautifully so it flows with grace, yet stings like a bee, just when the time is right.

Shadow Hills is intense, laugh out loud funny and tender. If it tells you anything, the book is 387 pages (in the ARC) and I picked it up last night late, and finished it today! I felt like each time I had to put it down I was leaving a friend, and when I picked it back up again, my friends arms encircled me, pulled me back in, like I had never left.

It kept me distracted even though I had some family stuff going on today, that quite possibly should have won out, but with the beautiful, original story, I was thankfully able to be pulled into the world of Shadow Hills instead of lingering, and worrying about things I could do nothing about, here.

Shadow Hills, though I was not sure what to think when I started, grabbed me from the very beginning and held my attention all the way though. It's not the book I had to “push though” at any point, it's not to long nor to short! I felt connected in all the right ways!

Bottom Line – brilliant, I feel in love with Ms. Hopcus' writing right away! Like I said earlier her words flowed though me like butter on toast, or maybe even blood though veins. She connected with me on a level that's hard to achieve, and I did not even cry! (Which is usually my way to tell what's a good book or at least one way.) I enjoyed each of the characters, though each in a different way and Zach's grandfather reminded me so much of my own – though we only see a small bit of him...it brought back lots of lovely and sad memories! I give Shadow Hills a 5 Mushrooms, and can't WAIT for more!

Shadow Hills
By: Anastasia Hopcus
400 Pages
Published: July 13, 2010 (Happy Book Birthday!)
Publisher: Egmont USA
Received via an ARC Tour, for my honest review.