Eliza's Shadow - Catherine Wittmack

Description
Eliza Gowan's past has come back to hunt her. Since her mother's mysterious disappearance, Eliza has enjoyed a quiet life under the care of her aunt in the sleepy town of Port Rune. But the moment magnetic Ren Alden appears in her high school classroom, Eliza is thrust into the exciting world of magic and the path of danger. Menaced by an otherworldly enemy, Eliza embarks on a quest to solve the mysteries of her past and end the hunt for good.

My Opinion
I'm am finding it very difficult to form an opinion on what I thought of this book. On one hand there were aspects I enjoyed but on the other hand there were things I didn't and for once I am confused as to what to think.

When reading the description I wasn't sure what to expect, it sounded like a book that would be full of twists, turns and action that involved some kind of paranormal things. In some cases this turned out to be true. The idea and plot that surrounded the story was intriguing and new to me so I enjoyed the story line. It was interesting and even though there weren't that many twists or surprises the book did keep me hooked and drew me into the world Wittmack created. I also really like the relationship between Jane and Eliza, it was believable and seemed natural. When Wittmack was describing scenes with just these two characters in the writing and speech seemed to flow effortlessly. 

However there are a few things I didn't enjoy which leads me to the confusion over what I think of this book. The first is the relationship between Ren and Eliza. I liked the idea of building a romance between the two and it will be interesting to see how Wittmack develops it if she carries on the series however in Eliza's shadow it left a lot to be desired for. For me it seemed like an after thought rather than a planned part of the story with Wittmack just adding a bit of romance here and there for variety. I would have loved the romance to be developed more and kept hoping it would be but sadly, it never happened and it lead me to question whether or not the book really needed it as at some points it didn't seem to fit or seemed underdeveloped.

The other problem I had was for me the story moved at quite a slow pace and although the plot kept me hooked I found myself wishing for more action and less description or wondering how much longer the chapter would be. The language Wittmack uses to describe things in the novel is great and very visual but in my opinion there is sometimes too much "flowery" language which makes the book slightly disjointed as it does not move the book on at a fast enough pace.

Overall I enjoyed reading this book because of the interesting story line. For me this book is hard to some up because of my mixed feelings. It has its good points such as a few of the relationships, originality and the intriguing plot however it also has it's bad points like the slow pace, too much unnecessary description and Ren and Eliza's relationship. For me I would have loved for their relationship to be developed more and play a major role in the book rather than just an added detail that uses an excuse of their jobs as the reason why they can't be together. If you like paranormal/witch/magic as genres then you may want to take a chance on this book as it was an interesting read.