ARC REVIEW: Shutter by Courtney Alameda

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Shutter by Courtney Alameda
Published by: Feiwel & Friends on February 3rd, 2015
Series: No
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback ARC
Genre: Horror
Source: For Review
Rating: 5/5
BUY THE BOOK or ADD IT TO GOODREADS!

From Goodreads: Horror has a new name: introducing Courtney Alameda. 

Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat-- a girl who sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual: the corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. With an analog SLR camera as her best weapon, Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film. She's aided by her crew: Oliver, a techno-whiz and the boy who developed her camera's technology; Jude, who can predict death; and Ryder, the boy Micheline has known and loved forever.

When a routine ghost hunt goes awry, Micheline and the boys are infected with a curse known as a soulchain. As the ghostly chains spread through their bodies, Micheline learns that if she doesn't exorcise her entity in seven days or less, she and her friends will die. now pursued as a renegade agent by her monster-hunting father, Leonard Helsing, she must track and destroy an entity more powerful than anything she's faced before... or die trying.

Lock, stock, and lens, she's in for one hell of a week.

My Thoughts:

Dearest Shutter,

You were one hell of a read! My first thought upon finishing reading you was that you might very well be my favorite of the year thus far. You were that damn good. Spell-binding, Edge-of-my-seat, roller coaster ride full of twists and turns, never-ending action, forbidden romance (WITH AN AUSSIE *LE SIGH*), horrifying ghosts.....I could go on and on about you. Be warned, this letter might have a lot of gushing, because I seriously adored you so much and I want everyone everywhere to read you ASAP so we can all gush together in shutter loving feels.

You follow the story of Micheline Helsing, who is a tetrachromat or a girl who sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. She is one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, and she has trained her entire life to take down corporeal and spiritual monsters. Micheline takes ghosts down with her camera, and is aided by her three best friends, Oliver, Jude, and Ryder. But when one routine ghost hunt goes wrong, Micheline and her group of boys are infected with a ghostly curse, and if she doesn't exorcise this ghost in 7 days or less, her and her friends are as good as dead.

Micheline.....I LOVE HER SO MUCH! She kind of reminds me of Rose Hathaway, except minus the Strigoi and plus horrifying ghostly abominations and such. Her spunk, attitude, and stubborn-ness was hilarious, and I adore characters like her. She would do anything and everything to protect her friends. Micheline is one fierce character, one that will be in my mind a lot in the coming days. And then we have Oliver, who is her side-kick genius friend, Jude, who can see how people die but is so sarcastic and fun and I loved when he called her princess, and then Ryder. OH RYDER. He's Micheline's forbidden romance boy, that I believe I mentioned (or gushed) earlier in this letter about being an Aussie. *fans self* I adored Ryder and the slow-burn forbidden-ness of his relationship with Micheline. Each of your characters, Shutter, are so deeply constructed and thought out, they felt entirely real to me. The story-building of their pasts and the entire world that they live in was so complex and mind-blowing. 

I can honestly say I have never read a book quite like you, Shutter. I'm sad to hear that there's no book 2 being prepared for release, because I NEED MOAR OF THIS WORLD AND THESE CHARACTERS AND AHHH ALL OF IT, but I'm hopeful that we will be seeing more one of these days. I seriously can't get enough of you, Shutter. I wish you would have been about double the size you actually are, because I am sad that I have finished you and have no more to read, but I can somewhat remedy that by pushing you into the hands of every single person I know. You, Shutter, are my new book to push on people. Thank you for being such an amazing book. Thank you to your author, Courtney Alameda, for sharing this brilliant world with us. FANTASTIC DEBUT. ALL THE STARS EVER!!!

Fluttering my eyelashes at you,

Becca



Have you read Shutter yet?
What did you think?
Let's discuss!

**According to FTC Guidelines, I must state that I was provided an early copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my thoughts on this book whatsoever. It is genuinely a badass book. Thank you so much Macmillan!**


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5 comments:

  1. EEEEEP! Yes! I adore this book! I agree with everything you said. We NEED more books set in this world, right?

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  2. I've seen so many great reviews for this book! Horror isn't really my thing, but I think I can be convinced to expand my horizons with Shutter!

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  3. I haven't read it *cries* but Meredith and Nikki raved about it and now you did too!

    I'm planning on LOVING this character hardcore because she just seems so badass. Also the BOY THE BOY!!!! <333 FANS SELF. I mean, nothing can beat your book boy amirite but still. The way you talk about Ryder DANG

    Such a lovely review and I love the letter format. It's different, unique and seems more personal, actually

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  4. *flails*

    I'm so so happy you loved this one, Becca!! I adored this book, it was fantastic and I really really hope for a sequel!! *does the pretzel*

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  5. Ahhhh!!! I can't believe I gave my copy awaaaaaay!!!

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