Gaby's life isn't so great right now. She lost her twin brother, Jude, in the last year, and she's having a hard time getting over the grief. To make matters worse, she keeps having terrible dreams of fighting demons. When a boy named Rafa tries to tell her that the dreams aren't just dreams, Gaby isn't happy. Suddenly, she's being called a Rephaim, some sort of fallen angel type thing, but she doesn't remember any of it. With Rafa's help (or possibly his hurt), Gaby has to try to figure out who she really is.

Fallen angel/descendants of angels and humans/etc. stories walk a tight line with me. Sometimes, I absolutely love them, but others, they seem very cookie cutter, and I hide behind every possible bookshelf to avoid that kind. Luckily, Paula Weston's SHADOWS are in the much, much, much love category. Gaby's world is unique and wonderful and very far from cookie-cutter. I love how you truly feel like you're on the same page with Gaby and learning about this hidden world as she does. Likewise, I enjoy the details of the world that tastefully and subtly give the history of it without overdoing it or going on too much about it. The entire book has a healthy balance of shaping the angelic world while also giving plenty of attention to Gaby's character development and the intense scenes between her and her potential love interest, Rafa.

Speaking of Rafa, he is easily my favorite character. His sarcasm is absolutely delicious, and I held out hope for him and Gaby the whole book. If you enjoy dangerously lovable book boyfriends, he has a strong chance of making your list .

For lovers of supernatural/fantasy stories with strong tones of reality in between, this is something you should check out! The world building and development between Gaby and Rafa easily won me over, and I can't wait for the next book to come out.