Semi-Finalist, Young Adult category, 2020 Kindle Book Awards.
With all the other fish in the sea, your first crush needn’t be human.
Shade and her best friend, Kai Zahnii, begin their freshman year at Ocean View College. Located on a secret island off the coast of California, Ocean View is a special place specifically designed to train students with magical abilities. Shade is a ghost … abilities. Shade is a ghost whisperer. Kai is an empath and healer with the innate ability to become a Navajo shaman. On campus, their worldview is expanded as they meet witches, faeries, selkies, shapeshifters and others like themselves.
Ocean View has incredible facilities and buildings that look like castles. Down by the sea, merpeople interact with students. In the waters off a remote stretch of beach, Shade meets a merman with whom she falls deeply in love. Everything seems idyllic and magical. That is, until Shade discovers a horrible secret about the college, one that will haunt her dreams and waking moments.
SHADE AND THE CASTLE BY THE SEA is Book #3 in a YA Paranormal Mystery / YA Urban Fantasy series.
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Shade and the Castle by the Sea (Shade Series, #3), my fourth read from author Marilyn Peake. Enjoyable, tightly woven & well-written read. Think Harry Potter meets the teen Ghost Whisperer. “I received a free Kindle copy of this book and I’m voluntarily leaving a review.” The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. Now I need to read Shade and the Skinwalkers (Book 2 in Series). (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 – July 24, 2018).
The third book in the series did not disappoint anymore than the two previous books. I received this book as an Arc copy the only thing that was asked of me in return was an honest review. Heat scale was a zero, and violence was very mild. World-building is exceptionally well done, and very descriptive it was just an incredible job well done. Characters were very well developed you came to care about these characters. The story begins with Shade the main character going off to college to learn how to become a better Ghost Whisperer, and the new adventures and mysteries she must solve while in her freshman year. Both the storyline and plot line were intricate and well-thought-out. I highly recommend this series for anyone who loves paranormal mysteries, and books that have you burning the midnight oil, because you cannot put the book down.
I have been enjoying Merilyn Peake’s young adult series about Galactic Shade Griffin who is now starting college at Ocean View College on an Island off the coast of California. In her freshman year she is finally meeting other student like herself with unusual abilities. Shapeshifters, witches, other ghost whisperers like herself, merpeople and other magical beings from freshman up to seniors and teachers all there to teach her about her fears, powers and how to use them, all in a new scary experience. She has to deal with discrimination and predigest big time and try to help a new friend who has been brutally betrayed. Not a whole lot dissimilar to going away to a new school and coming up against the qlicks and dramas that unfold. This is a fast, fun, entertaining read for any young adult to preteen. A great third book in a wonderful magical teen series.
Oceanview College is not just figuratively another world. Getting picked up in the trailer park by the fanciest bus she’s ever been on, with its own toilet, then taking her first train ride to the Cali coast, then color-coded ferries to the mist shrouded island campus that turns out not to be on any map it just one more marvel for Shade. Lucky her neighbor Kai is there with her or she’d think she was dreaming.
Casual use of magic by the students around her mean she’s not too concerned when she sees some of them killing a seal at a party, except that it turns out it was a part of her fellow freshman. Now poor Apple the selkie is magically crippled and there’s big-time discrimination against her and the other sea peoples — kelpies, mermaids, dolphin shifters… how is Shade supposed to make this world better when she knows so little about how anything works?
On top of that, her mom’s pity party turns out to be a very real heart problem. If not for Oceanview support, Shade would be a washout sent home in a bucket from the stress. Is the magical school her future, or is it all too good to be true?
Peake is hitting her world-building stride the farther she ventures from mundane USA reality. Watching Shade and Kai get their bearings is very satisfying, and her next four years are going to be good reading.
Shade is now a freshman in college. Now it is yet another new environment. The book reveals more paranormal creatures. It had an element missing. Something that is illusive to me. It was a good read but not as stellar as the previous two books. I got this book from storyorigins and this is my voluntary and honest review.
Ok, it’s binge reading time, and trust me, after just binge-ing on books 3 and 4 of Marilyn Peake’s glorious Shade Series, there’s no better time to do it. I totally adored both Shade and the Castle by the Sea (Book 3) and Shade and the Pure-Blood Faeries (Book 4). The star of these stories, ghost whisperer Shade, is perfectly crafted. The world-building, with Ocean View College hidden in its island off the coast of California, and it’s witches, faeries, selkies, shapeshifters, et. al., simply superb. The supporting cast with characters like Kai the empath and Apple the selkie, all really well developed and with their own “voices”, and each books storyline full of action fantasy yet somehow totally relatable. Really fantastic stuff here and I highly recommend both books.