Bunny's Reviews: Shadow Gaze Review Spotlight

We're celebrating the release of Shadow Gaze by Yara Gharios this week! Available on September 19th!

Shadow Gaze is the first season of the Silver Series by Yara Gharios. Shadow Gaze compiles the first three serials from the original, and publishes it all together for readers who prefer to read serials in one big book so that they get a better experience. At first glance of this book's cover, you get the sense of paranormal, drama, with a mix of fantasy mixed in. The character displayed looks like a real bad-a$$ and someone you'd be interested in learning about. Question is - does the author deliver on what the cover hints at?

Shadow Gaze had a rocky start for this reader. You get back and forth chapters between past (so many years into the past) and present day. Initially, I didn't get the premise of the "past" chapter. It paints the picture of when Silver aka formerly Shiloh, crosses paths with Levi and Quinn. As you read this first chapter, you learn a few things about Levi and Quinn. But it's not long before Shiloh (soon to change her name to Silver) enters the picture. She's being hunted, and her hunters? Are hot on her heels.

What happens next? Well, it's bizarre. There is no explanation for what happens, but Levi does what he believes is the right thing. Quinn on the other hand...is more reserved. The author gives no indication as to why Quinn is more reserved and hesitant to help, but you just have to sit, wait, and hope for an explanation to come.

When the story shifts to the present day, it feels like there is a bit of a disconnect. I say this because there was nothing to connect the first chapter to the next one. So, I decided to take a step back from the book for a minute and come back to it. Once I did that, the story actually started to flow better for me.

Silver is an interesting character, but you're going to have to be patient in learning about her past, who she is and much more. The author gives these facts in small pieces to keep you coming back. When the blurb says that Theresa or "Reese" is strange...believe her. This girl gets kidnapped, and rescued and is just way too calm for it all. She's too excited! LOL! Most people would be traumatized, but she bounces back with the enthusiasm of a pre-teen. I honestly forget that she's supposed to be attending college with how she acts.

There are some elements that don't make sense about this book. Theresa's quick desire to trust Adam. Silver deciding to along with the decision to allow him to come along? Why is there no skepticism? Why doesn't Silver fight the suggestion instead of just giving an incredulous look to Theresa and then caving? This is just in the first few chapters. It's a touch bizarre. I know it's meant to lead up to more later in the book/series, but regardless...it's a real headscratcher.

This series has potential, and so it will be interesting to see where it all leads and how things continue to unfold when it comes to Silver and her "new" friends.

4 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to the author, Yara Gharios, and R&R Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book. I look forward to what comes next.

Shadow Gaze (Silver Series Season 1)

Publication Date: September 19, 2023

Genre: Urban Fantasy

⭐Supernatural Beings
⭐Bad-A$$ Female MC
⭐New Adult
⭐Forced Proximity
⭐Grumpy/ Sunshine

Shadow Gaze is the first season of the Silver series, which combines the first three episodes, already digitally published, as well as an exclusive bonus episode titled Rebirth.

Set before the timeline of the main series, Rebirth follows the titular Silver in the early days of her life as a supernatural. Shedding her human identity, she starts over at her skinwalker friends’ sanctuary for supernatural runaways where she has to navigate complicated new relationships while mastering her mysterious powers. Meanwhile, back at the estate, Adam struggles to come to terms with his own supernatural existence and adapt to his horrifying new reality.

Series Overview

After months of captivity, Silver ran away from the evil vamphyr that had turned and imprisoned her. Shedding her old identity, she went into hiding and spent years in training. Knowing full well that her old Master has been looking for her, she has been preparing herself for the day when she would go back to her old prison and carry out her revenge.

However, nothing in the world could have prepared Silver for the hybrid and the human that were forced into her life one day. The hybrid, Adam, could report her back to her old Master at any time, but their shared history puts them on the same side—for now. Tolerating the human, on the other hand, presents a huge challenge.

Bubbly, energetic, and raging with excitement about everything supernatural that she discovers, Theresa has the complete opposite reaction a normal human should have to the secret world of vamphyrs, werewolves, and skinwalkers. At first, Silver was intent on keeping the girl safe, since she made it her life’s mission to protect humans. But the girl’s overactive imagination and string of never ending questions are a constant headache and keep derailing Silver’s plans.

Nevertheless, no matter how much Theresa pesters her, the one thing Silver will never reveal to anyone, least of all her two unwanted stowaways, is the secret behind her having silver pearls for eyes.

Available Here!

About the Author

Lebanese writer Yara Gharios has been making up stories for as long as she could remember. She was a double–major undergraduate student studying both Translation and English Literature. Under the pen name Sahar Ghayar, she wrote several novels in her free time since she was 11 but didn’t actively pursue publishing them yet. In 2016, she graduated from the University of Leeds with an MA in Writing for Performance and Publication and started working as an Analyst.

After a small publishing house came across one of her stories, written in French intermittently when she was 13 to 15, they signed her for a one–book–deal. She released her first novel at 17 in her home country through traditional publishing. It was only when “Masked SheWolf” garnered some attention at online reading websites that she considered self publishing.

Yara Gharios