{Review} Summer Shadows (Benedict's #6) by Joss Stirling

Posted by Donna
Release Date: July 7th, 2016
Finished Date: 11th August 2016

Publishers: Oxford University Press
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Source: For Review
Format: Paperback 

Pages: 266
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo 

 

Summer lives under a terrible shadow. It drains her, manipulates her and threatens to steal her future.

A high-stakes mission offers a temporary escape. She must use her mind-shadowing abilities to hunt down her target and find the truth.

Hal Robinson is a soldier. He does not get distracted. He wins. But what Hal wants begins to shift once he meets Summer.

They must learn to trust each other if they are going to protect the Savant community. But will their secrets allow them to find a happy ending of their own?

The Review: Summer Shadows is about Summer finding her Soulfinder and also about Victor Benedict finally finding his amongst the Savant community.

Summer’s life at home is not ideal, she has to hide secrets about her family to everyone she knows and it’s physically and emotionally draining, especially when her mother is literally draining her emotions – she’s the savant equitant of a Vampire and she’s dangerous to anyone who meets her. Because of this, Summer’s future of finding a Soulfinder is in jeopardy. But when she’s asked by the Benedict’s to help Victor find his Soulfinder, Summer jumps at the chance to help him and also they need her on board because her gift of telepathy means she’s one of the strongest people to help. While helping the Benedict’s in Afghanistan it’s there she meets Hal Robinson but will she be able to count on Hal like she needs him to?

I’ve been a huge fan of the Benedict series by Joss Stirling ever since the first book as released way back in 2010. I have to say now I’ve came to the end of their stories and the series, it’s a bit of a bittersweet moment. I’m happy but I’m also sad there will be no new books! But honestly, it’s been a great journey and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed following these lovable characters, discovering the savant community and reading about everyone’s journeys to find their loved ones – or in Savant terms their Soulfinder – and that also includes the newer savants that were added along the way.
As I’ve followed this series I’ve come to love each and every character and their journey’s and while I did love both Summer and Hal, I didn’t love their story as much as the others. I think it came down to the setting in Afghanistan and everything came with it, the war talk etc. But despite that I did really enjoy reading how Summer and Hal came together and finding out how when the two of them work together, they can take on the most difficult of tasks and that for inside and outside the Savant community.

I most enjoyed seeing where all the other characters were at and see what came next for them. I would have loved an epilogue – a really long one maybe set 15 years into the future. That would have been the icing on the cake to finish this series off. I’m hoping Joss will decide to write something like this in the future, hopefully!

In all, the Benedict series is definitely one to read if you’re a fan of YA paranormal romance and if you’re not, why not start here and see what you’re missing.

Thank you to OUP Publishing for giving me the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review.