4.5 stars

"Shutter" was interesting with a great concept. The ghosts, pictures, and obscura were intriguing. The book wasn't as scary or creepy as I expected, and I didn't care about the characters' personal dramas very much. This book was okay for me.

And they lived happily ever after...

Had my life been a movie, like I often wish it was, that would have scrolled across the screen as I flipped the last few pages of this book. Shutter and I started out on rocky terrain. I just wasn't sure we were compatible, and worried we wouldn't go the distance. Then, about halfway through, something magical happened. My eyes were glued to the page. My heart was beating a mile a minute. I was hooked. Redemption!

If you want to know why I chose this book, look no further than the fact that the Helsings and Stokers are involved. Descendants of the vampire elite? Yes please, and thank you. I had visions of stakes flying, havoc being wrought and all manner of creepy baddies appearing as I turned the first page of this book. As it turns out, I was right on all accounts! I'll simply say this: don't give up on this story. The beginning does start out a bit slow, but once things pick up? You'll be holding on for dear life.

I think my favorite piece was that Shutter is a "girl saves the boy" type story. Micheline isn't afraid of things that go bump in the night. She doesn't need anyone to save her, except herself. She does, however, appreciate the way a perfectly synchronized team works. I loved her fire. I was attracted to her strength. What sold me indefinitely though was her willingness to admit when she'd been bested, although not by the creatures she'd assume would ultimately take her down. Cryptic you say? Yes, intentionally. I won't spoil a minute for you.

Although this started slow, I can't give it any less than four stars. The middle, and the ending, were completely brilliant. They caught me up, covered me in necrotic gore, and left me breathless. I'm so happy, I could cry.

The first few pages of Shutter had me scared that the badass heroine would prove to be simply reckless and impulsive. I've encountered a few of these protagonists in other books, women and men who are characterized as heroic for behavior that lacks planning. I'm not sure it's bravery if one is ignorant of a situation but chooses to throw oneself into it anyway.

Although Micheline Helsing's decision to charge into the hospital at the beginning of Shutter still strikes me as ill-informed, the author did a great job of giving the reader Micheline's backstory as the Helsing heir.

I loved the world Alameda created, one in which characters with the surnames of Helsing, Stoker, and Harker can trace their lineages back to author Bram Stoker and the people mentioned in [b:Dracula|17245|Dracula|Bram Stoker|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387151694s/17245.jpg|3165724]. It's a world in which ghosts and demons are acknowledged to exist. Priests can perform exorcisms, but one calls a reaper from the Helsing Corps to put down the reanimated dead. The descriptions of battle techniques could be a little clunky, but I appreciated all the details Alameda included on ghosts—how they manifest in our world, how to capture them, how to interact with the ghost world.

I could have done without the almost-love triangle, but at least it fit into the narrative of the Corps' history. The mystery isn't difficult to see through, but it was still neat to see how it would be resolved.

Shutter was a fast-paced, thrilling read. I thought it was an excellent debut novel, and I look forward to reading more in this series.

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

I knew I wanted to read Shutter as soon as I heard about it. I mean who wouldn’t want to read about one of Van Helsing’s descendants that exorcises ghosts with a camera?! Awesome premise, right? Well, Shutter definitely didn’t disappoint!

I’m really glad I had a chance to read Shutter around Halloween to help me get into the Halloween spirit. But, I would’ve enjoyed reading it at any time of the year because I loved every minute that it took me to read Shutter. It was intense from beginning to end. The characters hardly had any time to rest and I only did because I had to put the book down to sleep! The way Courtney writes made everything very vivid in my mind. I could imagine everything she described in awesome detail.

One of my favorite things about this book played on the fact that Dracula was real and that Bram Stoker was the historian that wrote everything down instead of an author writing fiction. How cool is that?! Many of the characters are descendants from the central characters in Stoker’s novel, which made it fun. I kind of wish I had read Dracula before I read Shutter. At the very least, I’ll try reading Dracula soon.

I really liked Micheline. She was strong yet vulnerable, so she felt real instead of unbelievable. I loved Ryder and loved his Aussie-isms. I wish all leading males could be as cool as him. I really liked Jude too. He was funny, witty, and added an interesting dynamic to the group. Oliver seemed a little more aloof to me, but maybe that’s because he was the observer. He’s smart, but he just didn’t seem very observant for being as smart as he is. Maybe, he just paid attention to only the stuff he wanted to. Fortunately, the rest of the characters carried the story enough for me that he didn’t bother me at all. I just wish I could’ve got a better read on him.

I think Shutter is a very strong debut and will show the world what Courtney can do. I definitely look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

Alright, alright, alright. So this book was both a let down and an interesting read. I certainly didn't regret reading this but I also wanted more from the characters.

Meet Micheline, a kickass heroine who hunts ghosts with her ragtag pack of boys. When an entity starts causing havoc in the city, it's up to her to figure it out, overbearing father be damned and all that. We get to know Micheline's family and past at length throughout the book and overall, it was fantastic. There's enough nitty gritty details to keep you wanting more, and enough badassery (that's not a word, is it?) to keep you on the edge of your seat.

My problem with the book was the romance. It definitely wasn't the focus point of the novel, but there were a few cringeworthy moments concerning the other characters. Overall, sometimes it just felt shallow and I wasn't quite on board with it. The brief moments of action were enough to keep the page turning, but at the end of the book, I had absolutely no emotional connection to any of the characters except for Micheline and even that was sparse.

But hey, if you like ghosts, mind-fuckery, and creepy shit this book is for you. It sent shivers up my spine on numerous occasions but I like a little more meat on the bones when it comes to the books I read.

To properly enjoy telling this review, I'm going to need some epic music accompanying me in the background.

'kay, click the link into a new tab. It's cool.

I'll wait.

Are we ready? Let's begin.

This book was crazy awesome. Was it good? It was SO good. Standing ovation for Courtney Alameda. Way, way, way too many writers and publishers seem to think "YA" is a synonym for "stupid". Especially the supernatural themed stuff, if you're a fan of both YA and the paranormal you'd better grab one of those obnoxious halogen flashlights and a snorkel because it's friggen murky out there. This book was just fantastic. It was fun, a full speed and totally engrossing page turner unafraid to define the world created within the pages.

Shutter is the kind of crazy, silly, wonderful all out fun that makes me feel like adopting my monster truck rally announcer voice:

You want paranormal excitement? WE'VE GOT GHOSTS AND MONSTERS AND ZOMBIES OOH YEAH! You want action? EXPLOOOOSIONS! MOTORCYCLE CHASES! LOTS OF GUNS! Fight scenes! TACTI-COOL CAMERAS! Hand to hand combat! Action sequences that would make Mission Impossible era Tom Cruise proooooud #IDOMYOWNSTUNTS ! Did I mention the VIOLENCE? BLOOD GUTS AND GORE! Violence so X-treme YOU'LL GOUGE YOUR OWN EYES OUUUUUT! But what about romance? We've got FORBIDDEN LOVE! Chaste YA style sexual tension! ANGST THICK ENOUGH TO CHOKE A WOMMMMMBAT! Mansions! Underground lairs! WE'VE GOT DADDY ISSUES! What about the mom? Oh you know we've got a DEAD MOM! XTREMEDEADMOMISSUES! Secret ancient societies! Elite fighting academies! Leather jackets! Unsupervised minors out to save the world! Creepy dead guuuuys with pedo tenancies! ALL THIS AND MORE!

But for real though. It was fun.

Shutter tells the story of Micheline Helsing, a 16 year old with the ability to see ghosts and other paranormal entities through their auras, called a tetrachromat. Which is handy, as this is all set in an alternate version of our world where dead things occasionally run amok and kill lots and lots of people. Micheline is part of an elite fighting group, Helsing Corp, which acts more or less like the zombie/ghost slaying special forces. She does her part to hunt down the baddies using a specially modified camera and because I suck at jacket blurb write ups, I'm just going to leave it there and tell you to read the actual blurb if you want to know more.

Shutter is a story that feels very, very familiar. It's shades of Buffy and Blade and The Matrix and Supernatural and every single "Super special, ultra cool 16 year old and her super cool band of friends out to save the universe" you've ever encountered. But the author is absolutely fearless and unflinching in her ability to build a strong world and real, well rounded characters. I mean, our lead character is named Micheline Helsing and yes, we do mean that Helsing (Van Helsing from Dracula, for the criminally obtuse). We've seen this before, so many times before, the whole "descendants from the Dracula good guys" schtick and usually it's corny as all get out. But Alameda commits completely to the universe she's created in Shutter. The lore feel solid, no idea if the science-y talk behind how the ghost hunting cameras work is legit or not, but damn me if I wasn't nodding sagely at the explanations thinking it all sounded on the up and up. And yes, there are stock tropes here and familiar scenes, but it's never derivative or sloppy. Somehow, even though we recognize all that we're seeing here, it's done in a way that's fresh and inventive.

The story lore and world building in this book were phenomenal. When I was about 150 pages in, I started to feel uneasy because I was pretty sure I'd yet again picked up the first of a new series. Nothing for nothing, but it can be kind of heartbreaking when you start a new book, only to learn that you just committed the next three to five years (or more, with a nod to the Game of Thrones fans) of your life to getting resolution to a story. I actually stopped at the midway point and did some careful, suspicious searching online, fully expecting to see the dreaded "First book in an exciting new series!" label slapped somewhere. On one hand, it's somewhat rare to see a stand alone book in these trilogy plagued times. On the other, if ever a book needed a series, Shutter would be it.

Yet another on my favorites of 2015 list. I can not wait to see what else this author dishes out.