Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus

Title: Shadow Hills
Author: Anastasia Hopcus
Published: July 2010
Source: Bought
Synopsis from 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.

This book blew me away! I'd expected it to be good, but not that good! It has all of the aspects of a paranormal book, without there actually being anything paranormal. That was awesome!

I loved Phe right from the beginning. She was a very real character, and it took me no time at all to get used to being in her head. There were times when I thought that she was a bit too rash, but that's my only complaint about her. Zach was great as a love interest too. He's sweet, but a little rebellious. It was easy to see that he really cared about Phe.

I thought that all of the supporting characters were wonderful also. They all had their own multi-dimensional  personalities. Zach's sister was bitchy, but that's not all there is to her and I liked reading about her. 


The mystery element of this book is completely unique. I've never read anything like it. At first I thought that it was revealed pretty early in the book, but then something happened that made me go "Oh, so this is the main storyline!" I loved Phe's whole situation with her sister and why she's at Shadow Hills. It gave the book another dimension.


One thing that I found a bit strange was that other out of towners besides Phe had to have noticed strange things with the townies, yet she's the only one who really pressed it. Her friends never noticed anything that we know of. It seems a bit unrealistic to me. 


Basically: I loved it! It's a great mystery and romance and I can't wait for the sequel!


Characters: 10/10
Writing: 9/10
Originality: 10/10
Plot: 9/10
Ending: 9/10
Overall: 47/50 A
Cover/Title Comments: I like the title, but the cover is just okay. It's really cool, and the title font is awesome, but it has nothing to do with the story.