Review: Still of the Night (Still of The Night Series Book 1) by Cerise Cole

Still of the Night by Cerise Cole
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic Concept

I make no secret of being a fan of Auryn Hadley and I like Kitty Cox a great deal too. Their joint series, Gamer Girls: Books 1-3 and Gamer Girls Books: 4-7 was phenomenal and I was delighted to hear they were going to make the joint writing venture permanent under the pseudonym Cerise Cole. This series is their first foray and it’s fantastic.

The story is about The Brethren a group of people dedicated to holding back the Apocalypse. It’s also about a group of 18-year-old high school students. In her final year at high school, Jess is desperate to get away from home and away from her controlling and smothering father. The last few months haven’t been as bad because he brought home a wife, who is actually a decent woman and his laser focus on his daughter has been diverted somewhat. However, Jess still hasn’t been able to get out and spend time with her boyfriend and her best friend.

Then her stepmother’s son arrives. Gorgeous, tall and strong, Lars is half Native American and was raised by his father on the Reservation. He's there because he wants to check out his mother’s new situation because it was rather a quick marriage. With Lars comes Jess’ chance at a little more freedom because he and his mother Linda are willing to help her fight for it.

When Jess finally lets loose and goes to a party and gets drunk, Lars and the school’s two bad boys in residence end up looking after her. Jess finds that the circle of people who care about her has expanded significantly. However, the temptation of three gorgeous guys who all want to spend time with her is not easy to deal with, when she has a boyfriend, who she’s been with for a year.

The majority of this book is about these teenagers and their typical teenage drama; difficulties with parents, grades, detention, bullying and romance. It’s about friendship and knowing what they want for themselves and the people around them and how they want to navigate difficulties and conflicts. It’s a wonderful story about how a family can be created rather than being an accident of birth, which is a common theme with these authors.

I loved all the characters, who are interesting and have real depth. Though Jess is the main focus of the book, the people around her are just as interesting. I particularly liked Linda who was trying so hard to be a good mother figure for someone who desperately needs it. I loved that Jess actually welcomed the attention rather than the stereotypical teen hating their parent’s new spouse. I loved how supportive Linda was of not only Jess and her son Lars but also the two bad boys, Bax and Gavin, for who she felt sorry.

This was a slowly unfolding story, with a gradual unveiling of the characters and their relationships with each other. The plot was set at a gentle pace, that quickened towards the latter part of the book. I found myself turning pages more and more quickly as I got further into the book, especially as the paranormal aspects of the story start to crop up, once the characters were well established. The book transforms from the contemporary New Adult RH book it starts into something different and more exciting.

This is a wonderful start to a new series and I can’t wait until the next book comes out. The rest of the series is already on pre-order which gives me something to look forward to, as there is an actual date for the next book.

I highly recommend this book, which can hardly come as a surprise, but I had to put that out there!

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