Nightshifted (Edie Spence Series #1)
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780312553395 |
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| Publisher: | St. Martin's Press |
| Publication date: | 05/22/2012 |
| Series: | Edie Spence Series , #1 |
| Pages: | 352 |
| Sales rank: | 668,491 |
| Product dimensions: | 4.10(w) x 6.70(h) x 1.10(d) |
About the Author
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Nightshifted
4.1 out of 5
based on
0 ratings.
57 reviews.
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A bit dark, a bit racy, fast-moving and engaging. Can't wait for the next installment around Thanksgiving.
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This is an amazing story! There were many times in the story when I asked myself how did the author come up with this? Who thinks about writing a scene with a dragon who has an STD? It was great and original. It also gave a great, yet supernatural view of the nursing profession. I recommend this book and I rarely ever recommend books :)
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Edie's brother has a drug problem. So when she is mysteriously offered a chance to help him stay clean (and alive) by working at the county hospital in a very unique setting, she accepts. Working on Y4 causes her no end of trouble both on the job and in her personal life, but if she quits what will become of her brother?
The world-building was just right. As readers, we know what the narrator, Edie, knows. It is clear that the world does NOT know about the exsistence of these creatures. Little by little as Edie learns more, you as the reader learn more.
A unique and fascinating story that kept me up past my bedtime more than once. I can't wait to read the next one.
Content warning: sex and language.
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I am going away against the crowd a little in my review of "Nightshifted". I loved the synopsis of this book and bought it as soon as I ran across it at the store. It is about a nurse named Edie who works in a secret unit of the hospital. Her unit cares for paranormal creatures. The cover is enticing; showing a nurse with a dragon outlined in a room behind her. Yes, please!Parts of the book are wonderful. I loved all the scenes at the hospital involving Edie's care of the supernatural creatures. I loved her co-workers and thought they were just great additions to the storyline. I loved Edie's cat and I loved the young vampire girl named Anna that Edie searches for at the request of a patient.But I struggled with the story in many ways. Edie makes poor relationship choices. It is to the point that I was annoyed. Even the main interest, a zombie (who I really enjoyed as a character) is insanely creepy and certainly not very moral. Again he was a great addition to this story but as a love interest he remains very questionable.My second complaint is the world building. There is none. It is never clear how the paranormals fit into the human world. The story sometimes seems like the creatures are known to most of the population and then in other parts of the story they are made out to be mostly underground. I need to know the `rules' to this world. How long have these creatures been around? How did they stay hidden previously? How did there come to be a secret ward in the hospital. In this book readers have to take everything at face value and use our imaginations to feel in the unknowns.Honestly the book could use more explanation on a lot of things. What exactly is `grandfather'? Why is he in this cd player? The final confrontation with the shadows and the two different vampire clans was also quite murky and hard to follow.I think this series has a lot of promise but the writing just wasn't very strong. I hope to see this evolve as the author becomes more experienced. I am currently undecided on whether I will read the next book in the series. There is a lot of good urban fantasy and paranormal novels out there and limited time to read them all.
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Edie is a nurse who recently took a job with the super secret Y4 section of County Hospital that caters to non-humans. She¿d done this as part of an agreement for an entity group known as Shadows who protect the hospital, in exchange for them preventing her drug-addicted brother from overdosing again.We learn as Edie does about the various non-human species, such as were-creatures, shifters, zombies, vampires and daytimers; sort of like a human servant, who if they live long enough, would eventually become a vampire. The supernatural aspect, while interesting, is also confusing as Edie isn¿t asking the questions we need answers to in order to have a better grasp of what¿s going on. Most of these issues are eventually explained to her, but for me, hitting these areas made for a somewhat choppy read.She inadvertently is the cause of death for a daytimer patient when he needs to communicate to her the need to find and free someone named Anna. She must purposely kill a vampire in order to free the young-looking vampire, causing her to face a vampire tribunal. As part of her quest she gets help from what was supposed to be a one-night stand, a zombie she first meets as a patient, a family of weres and a vampire lawyer and his daytimer.The hospital scenes where she¿s being a nurse are really good as is the romance angle and mystery. The story is definitely interesting and I give it high marks for originality. But the choppiness aspect I experienced due to lack of understanding made it easy to set the book down a few times.
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This debut urban fantasy, out next week, brings a fresh outlook to many of the stale tropes of the genre. A lot of books deal with the supernatural by making them regenerate quickly, which makes them easy to work into action, but takes away many consequences of damage, too. Alexander's world-building shines in this regard. Edie Spence works in a ward hidden beneath County Hospital where vampires can speed-up their rituals by using a ready supply of blood, or a zombie integrated with society can take a leave of absence from his day job as his flesh slowly regenerates.Alexander also makes things real. She's a nurse. Therefore, she nails the hospital atmosphere and the peculiarities of the job. It makes that blend of the real and extraordinary all the more interesting--and educational. I may be a layman, but I love reading about the medical field, so I loved that aspect.Edie Spence is a likeable heroine. She has a touch of snark, but the voice isn't overwhelming. Like most urban fantasy heroes, she has some darkness in her past: her older brother is a junkie, and Edie has continually scraped and sacrificed in her attempts to keep him clean. This creates some sad and frustrating moments for Edie, such as when she returns home to find her dear old brother has pawned her dining room set.There were some elements I struggled with, or wanted to know more about; in particular, what's up with the character/entity of Grandfather, and more about the nature of the Shadows. Since there are already two more books set for release, I hope those answers will emerge in those volumes.If you're looking for something new in urban fantasy and appreciate some medical realism, this is definitely a book you should read.Disclaimer: I received a gratis copy of the book for reviewing purposes.
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To save her brother from his drug addiction, Edie Spence, agrees to work at the county hospital on a special floor, Y4. This floor caters to supernatural creatures of all sorts. While trying to help a vampire's servant she gets bitten and that bite leads her on a mission to save a girl that is being held by vampires. To do this she ends up killing a vampire and that ;puts her in danger of losing her life and her soul, when she is called to trial for the "crime". To save herself, she must find the girl to back up her claim that the killing was in self defense. But the girl is not just a girl and finding her is going to be harder than anyone could have guessed. As she tries to save herself she finds herself searching a vampire attorney and falling for a patient, who happens to be a zombie. This book was loads of fun. Edie is an interesting character who is strong and loyal despite a less than stellar upbringing. I found myself pulling for her despite her low self esteem and questionable judgement. In the end she proves herself more than deserving of the readers support. I blasted through this book, something I have not done for a while. I can't wait for the next one, Moonshifted.
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A fast and fun urban fantasy centered around Edie, a nurse at the paranormal ward in the public hospital on the wrong side of town. I'm a sucker for undead, but only if the world-building makes sense. Alexander introduces us to her world of vampires, weredragons, shape-shifters and zombies in a gritty urban setting. I loved discovering what the undead might require in terms of medical attention but was swiftly drawn into the mystery of the little lost girl that a dying patient has asked her to find. The story progresses at a breakneck pace as Edie tries to sort out her life, save her addict brother, and rescue Anna from her cruel vampire captors before it is too late.This is an excellent combination of medical thriller and urban fantasy. Highly recommend.
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Nightshifted is book one in the Edie Spence series. This series revolves around Edie Spence, a nurse that works in a secret hospital wing that takes care of paranormal patients. The patients range from dragons, zombies, vampires, you name it she's probably seen it. It's an interesting start to a new to me Urban Fantasy series, and I already know I'll be getting book two soon.
Edie Spence is your everyday human nurse that trades working in a secret hospital wing caring for paranormal patients for keeping her drug addicted brother clean. The pay isn't great, but Edie is hanging in there. That is until one night when she accidentally causes a vampire to die. His dying words were to find Anna, and Edie decides to actually do a big of digging and see if she can. It opens up a huge can of worms and lands Edie in very hot water with the vampires. Now she's left trying to find Anna before she's taken before the vampires and sentenced to death. It's a rush against the clock with close to no leads.
I've had Nightshifted on my bookshelf for awhile now but I'm glad I picked it up the other day! I'm so used to seeing Urban Fantasy novels revolve around some sort of paranormal character, so this one stood out to me since Edie is 100% human with no powers at all. The paranormal beings were awesome and probably my favorite thing to see while reading. We get our run of the mill vampires, a hunky zombie love interest and a crazy STD infected dragon running around. It was a very entertaining book and I enjoyed the bits of Edie trying to figure out where Anna is and how to rescue her. All in all, I'd suggest you grab this if you're a fan of Urban Fantasy and want something a bit different from the norm!
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I really shoukdn't have to explain this to an "urban romance" writer, but one-night stands are in no way, shape or form "romantic." And is itreally necessary to oerpetuate the myth that off-duty nurses are litlee better than whores?
Every character in this book is loathesome. Passit by.
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I am in love with this series! Please keep the books coming!
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Nightshifted is my introduction to Cassie Alexander's fiction (it was, in fact, her debut novel) and what an introduction it was! Ms. Alexander is a nurse, and her heroine, Edie Spence in also a nurse. But I'm guessing that Alexander's patients are nothing like Edie's. She works in Y4. That's a special hospital department. And the patients there are ... different. Like in they have fangs, tails, fur, and there's an extra layer of protection from some very spooky groups in this paranormal ward.
Edie's living paycheck to paycheck. Life's not great and sometimes to block out the sad sack quality of her job she's been known to, well, enjoy a single evening with a gentleman of her choice. In other words, a one night stand.
But things are getting a little out of hand. For one thing the "daytimer" in her care (someone with a bit too much contact with a vampire on the way to full-fledged bloodsucker status) accidentally, er, dies. After the dust clears (literally - they vacuum the dude up) the bad news keeps getting worse. Because with his last breath he begs her to "Save Anna". Once on the trail of the mysterious Anna, Edie is in way, way over her head. The political sides in the vampire community are up in arms and after an aborted rescue attempt of Anna, Edie's got a vampire tribunal and a likely death sentence hanging over her.
Her one night stand may or may not be a syphilitic weredragon. And the hunky fireman in her care is not exactly alive. But he's a helluva kisser and he's loyal to a fault. You've heard of the saying he'd give his right arm for her?
It's a wild ride, with oodles of black humor, snark, fabulous world building with a wealth of creative detail, plenty of sexy interludes, tons of tension and drama and action adventure and a terrific cast of secondary characters, from the shifters, vampire attorneys, Edie's "super" brother whose heroin addiction has been held in abeyance because of her sacrifice and poignant moments that beautifully balance out this wildly original mysterious and romantic paranormal.
Best part? Edie Spence has a number more adventures for me to discover! This is one paranormal world you absolutely MUST visit. But forget the garlic - as Edie learns, it doesn't work!
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I recently was looking for something to read and this book caught my eye. I actually dismissed it the first few times I came across it, but decided to get it in the end. Nightshifted started off a little slow but after a few chapters, the plot definitely had my attention. There's a little of everything in this book including some fairly graphic "love" scenes along with a great mystery/plot and sweet romance. I'm a nurse who worked the night shift for many years-it's "medically correct". I'm actually on B&N right now to buy the second book in the series :)
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I chose this book with the understanding that this is not usually the type of paranormal novel I like. I normally prefer that the lead character not be the “token human,” as many times it feels to me as though many leaps are taken to make them important to the supernatural beings they're encountering. However, in this case I was pleasantly surprised. Edie is an interesting character with an open and sharp mind whose street smarts are a formidable weapon. I did question her reasoning behind accepting her position at Y4, as I wondered whether or not her brother's self-destructive tendencies wouldn't simply be channeled in a different equally destructive direction if he couldn't get drunk or high. However, the plot itself was intriguing enough to draw my focus. Cassie Alexander does an excellent job of weaving the complex threads of the narrative into an intricately organized story in which all plot points are neatly resolved by story's end. The other characters are all fully envisioned with strong personalities, and their relationships with Edie felt realistic and understandable. I had a small issue with the cover image in that the woman on the cover is definitely not the same face or body I pictured from the details given about Edie, and previous reviews are correct about the necessity for more worldbuilding, but the novel itself is smart and entertaining.
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Eddie is one of my favorite characters. I can't wait to see what she does in the next book. This is a great start to a series. Highly recommend this book.
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Excellent story....zombie love was just a bit gross.
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I really like the book. I really hate that you can't rate a book without leaving a review.
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