After Dark

by Emi Gayle

The 19th Year Trilogy, Book One

Book Description

What eighteen year old Mac Thorne doesn’t know will probably kill her.

In exactly eight months, five days, three hours and thirteen minutes, Mac has to choose what she’ll be for the rest of her life.

She has no choice but to pick. As a Changeling, it’s her birthright. To Mac, it’s a birthchore. Like going to school with humans, interacting with humans, and pretending to be human during the pesky daylight hours.

Once darkness descends, Mac can change into any supernatural form that exists — which makes her as happy as she can be. That is, until Winn Thomas, the biggest geek in her senior class figures out there’s more to what hides in the dark than most are willing to acknowledge.

In this first of the 19th Year Trilogy, Winn might know more about Mac than even she does, and that knowledge could end their lives, unless Mac ensures the powers-that-be have no choice but to keep him around.

MY THOUGHTS: 5 OUT OF 5 FLEURS DE LIS

After Dark by Emi Gayle

Mackenzie (Mac) Thorne is a changeling–a supernatural being that only comes around every hundred years, and has the ability to change form to ANY being in the supernatural world. Vampire, ghost, gnome, demon…Mac’s giving them all a try. She just has to choose which one she wants to be for the rest of her life by her next birthday. And that decision’s not getting any easier for her.

Mac tends to stay far away from humans, but unfortunately she has to go to school with them. So when a chance meeting makes her run into Winn Thomas, one of the smartest guys in school, she really wants to run the other way–until she sees he’s holding a book which may contain the answers to all the questions she’s ever had about her life. Mac and Winn reluctantly begin to work together, but some freaky things start happening every time they are together. Could someone from the paranormal world be trying to sabotage Mac’s future?

It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a paranormal YA book this much. Between the sarcastic Mac, the cast of amazing supporting characters, and the romance between Mac and Winn, I flew through this book quickly!

God, I wish I could sufficiently express how much I LOVE Mac. Seriously–she is my bookish girl crush. She’s sarcastic, witty, funny, snarky, smart, and completely relatable. I adored her whole attitude and how she dealt with everything in her life. Winn was so perfect for her, because he is hard working and focused, while she is…not. He helped keep her head in the game instead of in the clouds.

I am also impressed by the way their relationship progressed. When Mac and Winn first “met” (I use this term loosely since they already knew each other from school), all she knew about him was that he was a nerd, and all he knew about her was that she was beautiful but rather anti-social. As they began working on their research project, Mac had an ulterior motive but soon found herself getting closer to Winn. He came to realize she was nothing at all like he thought. There was no insta-love here, and as they slowly fell for each other my heart melted. It was made all the better because Mac is such a tough girl.

After Dark was also unique because it involved so many varieties of supernatural creature, and they all had their own personalities. Suze, a demon, is friendly and weird, and Raven, an angel, is kind of a mean girl. All of them came together to give a huge dose of hilarity and heart to the story.

I cannot wait for the sequel to this book–I have no idea what form Mac will ultimately choose…but I know she will have fun trying to decide!

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