Shattered Blue

(Copy provided by NetGalley.)

From Goodreads:
"For Noa and Callum, being together is dangerous, even deadly. From the start, sixteen-year-old Noa senses that the mysterious transfer student to her Monterey boarding school is different. Callum unnerves and intrigues her, and even as she struggles through family tragedy, she’s irresistibly drawn to him. Soon they are bound by his deepest secret: Callum is Fae, banished from another world after a loss hauntingly similar to her own.

But in Noa’s world, Callum needs a special human energy, Light, to survive; his body steals it through touch—or a kiss. And Callum’s not the only Fae on the hunt. When Callum is taken, Noa must decide: Will she sacrifice everything to save him? Even if it means learning their love may not be what she thought?"

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I love having the grand privilege every once in a while of reading a truly beautiful book. The Grave of Lainey Grace was beautiful for its nostalgia-evoking plot and deft characterization. Shattered Blue is beautiful for its astonishingly poetic prose. It reminded of me of Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell, which was prose in poem form. Shattered Blue flips that, being poetry in prose form. This could be off-putting and too high-brow for the likes of me, but instead it drew me in, being both lyrical and accessible. Ms. Horowitz is not only a talented writer, but a skilled one too--the story held me captive until the very last word.

It would be easy to dismiss this as another paranormal romance--it seems to have the same type of secondary characters and to hit the same plot points on the surface. In fact, the story of Noa and Callum could have been predictable and boring, but it is NOT. Instead, because they are characterized so well, their flaws and strengths push the plot forward, and the story is greater for it. And the ending of the book *could* have been trite and too tied together, but it worked so well instead! I wanted the next book immediately, and I am vastly disappointed not to have it in my hands already.

Gentle Reader Alert: I found nothing of concern in this book.