Shadowlands by Kate Brian

Goodreads Blurb

Rory Miller had one chance to fight back and she took it. Rory survived… and the serial killer who attacked her escaped. Now that the infamous Steven Nell is on the loose, Rory must enter the witness protection with her father and sister, Darcy, leaving their friends and family without so much as a goodbye. 
Starting over in a new town with only each other is unimaginable for Rory and Darcy. They were inseparable as children, but now they can barely stand each other. As the sisters settle in to Juniper Landing, a picturesque vacation island, it seems like their new home may be just the fresh start they need. They fall in with a group of beautiful, carefree teens and spend their days surfing, partying on the beach, and hiking into endless sunsets. But just as they’re starting to feel safe again, one of their new friends goes missing. Is it a coincidence? Or is the nightmare beginning all over again?

I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed in Shadowlands. I mean, I was expecting so much from its creepy premise, but it really didn't meet my expectations. Too bad, it sounded really good! (But thanks to that killer *heheheh* ending, I'm definitely buying the sequel. I can't believe she just cut it off there!)

I had...issues with the characters. Rory was a weak character who didn't really seem to have an outstanding personality and wasn't exactly as broken as Nell thought, in my opinion. She was a flat character that I really wish was more well written than she was--she definitely would've been a better heroine then. She wasn't completely bad, but I couldn't connect with her at all.
Her sister, Darcy, on the other hand, was fiery, but she was so shallow. She was basically in love with a guy and ditched, manipulated, and did every other horrible-sister things to see him. When said guy blew Darcy off and Rory tried to (gently) tell her that, Darcy basically had a tantrum and I was facepalming myself mentally quite a bit throughout.

The romance was pretty annoying as well. While there honestly wasn't much, I still have to point out that Rory seemed a bit attracted to Tristan at first sight and, while they never really fell in love or anything, it was still pretty annoying to me. And I already told you about Darcy, so...well, yeah.

The plot had some twists that did shock me, but at the same time, were completely predictable. The biggest twist, though, actually seemed a bit cliche, but it was definitely unexpected! There were definitely a ton of creepy parts of the book that chilled me to the bone, but I can't say there was enough to keep me interested. We had two big scenes in the first half, but after that, nothing really happened from then until the second half, when things got just a tad more engaging. There were enough chilly hints to keep me reading, but not enough to make me want to sit down and furiously flip the pages like I'd hoped.

Overall, I guess it was a decent read, but it's not something I'd recommend immediately to someone. Maybe to someone just getting into thrillers would enjoy this, but definitely not someone who has a lot of trouble with flat characters. I liked it okay enough, but...well.

Pages: 336
Genre: Suspense/Thriller/Paranormal-ish
Series: Shadowlands #1
Publisher: Hyperion
Release Date: Jan 8, 2013
Rating: 2.5-->3 stars