The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson

First Published by Harper Voyager in 2008
Paperback: 454 pages

ISBN-13: 978-0007270217

When she was sixteen, Joanna Archer was brutally assaulted and left to die in the Nevada desert.

By rights, she should be dead.

Now a photographer by day, she prowls a different Las Vegas after sunset – a grim, secret Sin City where Light battles Shadow – seeking answers to whom or what she really is … and revenge for the horrors she was forced to endure.

But the nightmare is just beginning – for the demons are hunting Joanna, and the powerful Shadows want her for their own…

-------------------------------------------------------

I don't know why I do it - I buy these books and they end up sitting on the book case for ages ... it's like I just keep putting off reading them for some reason, and then when I do WHAM! I can't put them down. This book was exactly like that.

This story centres around Joanna Archer and her undying addiction to protecting those around her, and even the innocents that she doesn't know but she feels a duty to make sure they are safe.

Joanna finds herself in a world that kids read about - good and bad, superheroes with powers and conduits - and it takes her awhile to realise that this is no joke, that it is real, and everyone she loves is in danger of being a target by the Shadow agents, as well as the Tulpa who can reach places without you even knowing.

You will read the book knowing there is more to Joanna's story, which will be revealed in Book 2 and 3 by the way, but you feel her pain and anger at being kept in the dark about her talents and who was behind the assault on her all those years ago. She seeks revenge ... with very sad consequences for her beloved sister, and has to learn who to trust, and how to work with a team of Light Agents, to get to the bottom of all her questions.

Enjoy the read - it's well worth it. This story is well written, with some believable characters and situations. 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ = Good Read, you won't be disappointed