Review: Summer Shadows

Summer Shadows
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

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? 

Okay, so on the downside, this is the final Benedict Brothers book which sucks because I'm going to miss the world! On the plus not only is it the perfect ending, but it's the story we've all been waiting for...Victors. Poor old Victor finally gets happy ending you guys and I couldn't help but cheer a little bit! I've been so excited for this book, but also kind of dreading it because you know...final book! I stalked Joss's GoodReads page when I finished and there are no other books, not even for the Struck series :'( ANYWAY...

I felt for Summer, as we've seen her in the other books she's been a fantastic friend and she's also been shrouded in mystery, I wasn't really sure what to expect from Summer and what was going on with her but I was surprised and intrigued by the angle it took. She has an incredibly sucky home life, her father may love her, but he also puts a lot on her and manipulates her. Her mother is an addict of sorts and her brother can't control his gift and it upsets him to the extent he doesn't want Summer near him seeing inside his head. I actually felt sorry for her brother and for the rest of her family as well as for Summer. Summer was a brilliant character, she just does so much for everyone else and wants to help and she was relatable on the book front. She loves to read and I loved all of her references, like Hal says, she's like a walking encyclopaedia and I loved how intelligent she was. 

Hal was hilarious, he got Summer's back up straight away and brought out her bratty side. As Summer observes, he's kind of like Marcus and Angel, flaring up with a temper and then shaking it off and putting his point forward calmly, he's like a male version of Angel and he was the perfect match for Summer. She knows all the literary type things, and he knows everything she doesn't like Disney and so on. He was adorable when he was looking after Summer making sure she ate and everything, but he was also kind of a jerk a points. A loveable one but still! To put it in perspective, Summer calls him a rough squaddie, and he calls her Made in Chelsea! 

I loved the way the books went, in each book there's something a little different about the romance and the obstacles and I was curious to see what it was in this one. In Summer Shadows we get a Savant who's parentage means that other Savants would treat them differently, not want to be involved with them, maybe not able to have a soulfinder. I was expecting it to be more of an issue than it was, but, then, I couldn't see one of the characters letting it happen! We also have another rare Savant. I thought it was interesting to see the dynamics between the two and how they overcame everything, in Angel Dares there was a pretty big obstacle and Marcus didn't really handle things all that well but in this, Hal knows all about Savants so he wasn't as....freaked as Marcus, shall we say! 

Speaking of, I got to see all my faves and I loved seeing Marcus and Angel again! After how they struggled in Angel Dares and how they didn't really fix things until right at the end..I was excited to see them in this book, and see the two of them together, happy and with everything sorted out, and Marcus making use of his Gift and joining in the action! 

There's obviously the usual suspects in this, Mist and Alex, Victor obviously because he's finally getting his happy ending and man was it satisfying! Even if we don't see all of the Benedicts, they all are mentioned at one point or other and all help out and it was brilliant! There's also a load of old and familiar faces making an appearance from various other books from the series! All the big guns came out in this one! 

We also get a lot of new characters introduced. Last book we had Kurt who I want to get his story! But then I want more Savants in general. So. Yeah. This book we get Hal's brothers, and another Savant family and I'm like...but there's so many more stories to be told! I'm kind of hoping that while the Benedicts series might be over, we get some more Savants books because I seriously love this world, and Joss's writing and the books are ones that I re-read over and over again and they always provide a pick me up! Plus, you can't just introduce us to the Robinsons, Hal and his two brothers, and not give us Lucas and Scott's stories! 

Summer Shadows is not only a much awaited story, but it's the perfect ending to the series. Everyone's got their happy endings, we get to see everyone one last time, and a lot of story threads are wrapped up, including one from Stealing Phoenix. It's a very satisfying read! I read this in one sitting, it's not hard to do, I pretty much always read these books in one sitting instead of savouring them like I should, I just have no self control when it comes to these books! Summer Shadows, and all of the books in this series, are easy, fun reads that bring the warm and fuzzies along with the action and adventure and keep you reading in anticipation.