Received this free copy from the author's website.
I liked this book. What an imagination. Nice YA novel. ( )

Forget what you know about the good guys and the bad guys. The good guy always wears white, the bad guy black…. Don’t go into the dark, it’s bad…. Stay in the light.

Shannon Thompson does an excellent job at character development. Their interactions are believable and the conversation flows easily. At first, I had a hard time liking Eric. He was so angsty and downtrodden about everything. But as the story develops you really get a feel as to why and as his character develops he turns into someone very likeable. Jessica is likeable from the beginning and you almost find yourself rooting for her to break through the walls that Eric has built around himself to keep everyone out. Her friends, on the other hand, I’m not sure that I ever really got to like them. Even though they are necessary for both the story and Jessica’s development.

I can’t wait to read the second book (and subsequently, the third) and maybe find out a little bit more about the Light. Perhaps find out more about the one who Eric will have to face during this epic battle. There are some great twists to the plot in Minutes Before Sunset and some paths that are completely predictable. But I do have to say that the paths that are predictable are still interesting. It’s not hard to figure out how Jessica fits into Eric’s life (now if I told you that would just give it all away!), but you still keep turning the pages to find out how it all works out.

This book ends with a huge cliffhanger! Thankfully the next book is due out in March and I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Visit www.bookie-monster.com to read the full review by Desiree Putaski, member of The Bookie Monster team. ( )

Full review on - http://sarityahalomi.blogspot.com/201...
Minutes Before Sunset is the first installment of what I'm pretty sure is going to be an awesome trilogy. It's about a "Prophecy" which talks about the Ultimate Battle between the Light and Dark, only this time, the Dark is actually the good side and the Light is the one that's evil. I loved how this book made me see the big bad dark in a whole new light, and I'm hoping to learn more about the light in the sequel. As we read we learn about the dark and the light very quickly from Eric explanations about their history as far as he knows it. We find why they the Shade’s and the Lights no longer work together and why they are out to kill each other.

I can always appreciate a female character whose purpose is not only to look cute and pretty in the arms of her leading man but to actually show some attitude and who knows how to fight back. Jessica "Jess" Taylor is typically the mysterious new girl in Hayworth Kansas school. She is moving back to town after her parents died and she find she was adopted. She wants to know more about what really happened to her real parents.

Throughout the plot we follow Jessica's struggle to handle school work, search for her parents, adjusting to a new school, handling her run ins and school projects with Eric, and discovering who she really is.

We have brooding Eric (Welborn) 17-year-old that by night, Eric transforms into Shoman the "Prince" of Shades. I have not read many stories of Shades but I love I read very much. Eric is the First Descendant - from the Dark community and destined to battle the Second Descendant (Darthon), from the Light, on his 18th birthday.

But those prophecy can result his death. Eric’s intelligent, and powerful Shade but he’s damaged from losing some of the most important people to him then you add the big battle he has to fight in – if he lives that long. In his human form, Eric Welborn is the son of a prominent family in Hayworth - a family touched by repeated tragedy. The deaths of his mother and girlfriend - although years ago - continue to haunt Eric's every step. So Eric stays away from everyone. He doesn't get involved with school, and simply has become a loner.

What Shoman/Eric never expected was to meet a mysterious Shade who doesn't know what she is, who her parents are, and what she is capable of. He knows that he needs to report her to the Elders but doesn't want to because outside Shades have to be killed. He breaks the rules by not reporting her to his Elders and trains her to develop and control her powers, but cannot reveal all his secrets to her.

Eric finds himself in a annoying situation with the new girl town - Jessica. Jessica in purpose to find about her real parents from her adoptive parents, they require her to obtain perfect grades. This task appears impossible as she is paired with the taciturn Eric Welborn on a key science project. Eric is distant and preoccupied, often skipping class and is disinterested in completing the project with her. However, not only will Jessica not fail her science project, but she also wants to find out more about his secrets and at the same time feels drawn to him.

Because they their human forms is so different from their shade form and the prohibition revel it to others it make the relationship between Eric and Jessica interesting - Jessica can hardly get Eric to speak to her let alone be around her. While in their Shade forms these two spent so much time together.

I loved the character development. There’s the relationship Eric shares with his step-mother and step-brother, which I find very human considering Eric isn’t. I think a lot of people whose families have come to have step’s feel the same way Eric does . We get to see clearly how he feels, how he deals with it and Shannon even touches on how they feel or at least the adorably-annoying step brother. Then there’s the relationship Eric with his guardian, Camille. I like how she cares so much for him like his older sister, but she too struggles with her own past and future as interbreed of light and dark.

Shannon joggles cleverly with the first-person view between her two main characters, making it impossible not to become intimately involved with them.

Overall - I think young adult readers will be able to identify with them. I'm looking forward to reading the the other books in the series. ( )