Shield & Shade: Ascended Guardians Series by Misty Hayes – Review by Roxsanne Lesieur.

Shield & Shade by Misty Hayes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Zoey Taylor is just a normal girl on her way to graduating early, she studies hard and is a bit of a loner apart from one friend who she hangs around with, this is due to being an introvert by nature, but also because her family are really overprotective ever since she walked out of the house and into the woods behind in the middle of the night when she was five years old. As Zoey goes through her normal routine of school, studying, more school, more studying and maybe meeting her friend at the local diner for a snack before heading home, she is coming to terms with her desperate need to escape from it, to escape from her family and its drama which comes from being the only girl surrounded by four brothers, its loud and distracting.

One of the days she goes to the diner, her friend did mention that one of the guys who works there has a crush on her, but she didn’t believe it, she is too plain for anyone to notice her, but when she starts talking to him, she realises he is actually a nice guy under the uniform and permanent scent of sugar and grease from the fryers. When her friend turns up she is annoyed with herself bevuase of asking a stupid question which pretty much wrecked any chance of further conversation and she regrets it so she decides to leave early, unknowingly leaving her bag charm behind, her friend isn’t overly fussed and just proceeds to chat up the girls in the diner instead.

As Thanksgiving approaches, Zoey is worried that she won’t be able to study with everyone being in the house and tries to extend her curfew a bit so she can get some work done at the library, but her parents are having none of it, so she struggles ahead like normal. When her older brother comes home a couple of days after school has broken up, she is happy, but when a friend of his comes to see him, things start to turn odd, so she calls on her friend to come over to help her investigate what is happening and he agrees to come over on Thanksgiving itself.

When the day arrives, the family is preparing the meal, but unknown to her, the guy from the diner is going to turn up as well to return her charm and bearing cake, while she is talking to him, tensions rise between the two guys when her friend arrives and she asks one to leave. However, the day proceeds to become more shocking when someone she never expected turns up on her doorstep, Gabriel Stanton is wealthy, popular to the point of celebrity status and a philanthropist in his spare time and completely out of place in her living room, but there he is nonetheless. How will Zoey react when he manages to turn her life upside down with answers she never expected to hear and what will happen in the aftermath of these revelations? This is a thrilling tale of secrets, revelations and family bonds that is a rollercoaster of emotion and action as the story unfolds to reveal its final conclusion.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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