The Shadow Man (CELESTE Book 1)

This is a fantastic story! A new premise on demons which is very well written. I loved the characters and suspense. Will check more out by this author.

If you are looking for a book that will make you afraid of every shadow that moves one moment and cause you to laugh out loud the next, I offer The Shadow Man by Amélia Cognet as tribute. The first book in Amélia Cognet’s Celeste series is built with expert story weaving, but the well rounded, relatable and at times, very funny characters are what makes the book shine. Riley, the main character, is hunted by a creature that wants to eat her from the inside out. However, Amélia manages to bring depth to the scare factor by giving the reader the opportunity to get to know Riley and the people she cares about.We learn very early on that Riley has the ability to see emotions as colors, and those colors can affect her own feelings. Riley is also hard of hearing, and these attributes become overwhelming at times, and makes social interaction complicated. Being someone who is hard of hearing myself, I was cautiously excited to read about a character like me. I’ve never read a book that managed to capture the reality of being deaf before. By including tiny details like the wind rushing over Riley’s hearing aids as she spends time in her backyard and the importance of being able to lip read, Amélia gets it right without overplaying this aspect of Riley’s character. Even more impressive, Riley’s deafness remained consistent throughout the book rather than popping up when it was convenient for plot.Amélia’s story building was masterful, and I do not use that word lightly. The first several chapters of the book involve some time jumping between 1997 and the current book time, 2005. The information revealed in each era exposes missing pieces and puts them back together until the puzzle of what happened to change Riley’s life so drastically is complete. Then, the story continues forward.Just read it.While The Shadow Man is the first in a series, the novel stands strong on its own. The conclusion was satisfying, and the plot wrapped up well. It’s my love of the characters and Amélia’s writing style that leaves me excited to keep reading.

The story and characters are super strong and interesting. The plot is solid. It's a good read, plus it's the beginning of a series.

This book grabbed me from the start. The author paints a brilliant canvas of the characters that seemed so real. The author does a fantastic job weaving back and forth effortlessly between the years of Riley. Reading about the teenagers love affair was sweet and pure; made me reminisce to my teen years. Looking forward to reading more from Amelia Cognet.

This book surprised me a lot . I loved the characters. I loved how it went from the past to present explaining things but it wasn't a slow burn , not a crazy amount of detail but enough to keep the book flowing . I also thought it was going in a completely different direction at first , was very surprised . I recommend this 100 percent

This book was so good! I haven't read a ton of physic/ghost thrillers but this one made me a believer.I loved how the book flipped back and forth from past to present and how intuitive and empathetic the MC Riley was created. The father-daughter bond between Riley and her adoptive dad was so sweet and the world-building was done exceptionally well.I really related to the MC in this book and her deafness added to the storyline and I thought it made her such a full character. I loved that this book included the HOH/deaf community and I learned a lot just from the nuances of the book.She's one of the BEST MCs I've read in a while.Definitely worth a read!

Riley Winter is a teenage empath who has always viewed the world differently. Apart from being moderately deaf, she has the ability to feel and absorb other people's emotions. This is both a blessing and a curse as she attracts a sinister entity that will stop at nothing to devour her whole...This story had me interested from the very first chapter and kept me invested through out. It's written in a way that's easy to follow, with good pacing and a likable cast of characters.We learn about our protagonist Riley, on such a deep level. From suffering at the hands of her abusive father, to getting adopted by her next door neighbor Rudy, (who also happens to be a ghost hunter!) to experiencing first love. She is a well realized character that seemed to be bursting out the page.While the villain itself didn't exactly give me the heebie jeebies, it was still menacing enough with unpredictable moments that kept me wanting to flip pages to learn more about it.The ending was well done, everything tied up pretty nicely with an unexpected surprise I didn’t see coming! Book two should be a blast!This is a perfect read for fans of YA horror looking for a supernatural good vs. evil read with some mild gore. Also a good spooky winter read!Content Warnings - Bullying, Child abuse, mild profanity.Many thanks to the author for an e-arc copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.Celeste - Book One: The Shadow Man out now!

The author and I, recently joined an amazing group on discord for an author we both adore. She was talking about her books and mentioned that her writing was just compared to our beloved Darcy Coates.Since Darcy is my hands down favorite spooky author, I thought I would give this author a try. Let me just say, I am SO glad I did!I love the characters! I connect with Riley on so many levels. (Even if I am a 40-something mum!) Rudy and James are the kind of guys you want around when things go down. Molly and the rest of the kids are friends I wished I had growing up.The writing was so smooth and the story flowed off the page!Luckily this author has a few more books out to help me kill some time!!Highly recommend reading this author!

When I read my first book by Amelia Cognet (Whispers of Blackwell house) I was in a complete reading slump. And then I couldn’t put it down. Since then I’ve been able to keep reading again and I’m loving it. So thank you to the author.After a while, I was really eager to try another one and was advised to try the Celeste series. And I loved it.The main characters are perfectly flawed, and easy to identify to because of that. Their relationships are also a great part of the book.And the story is very well delivered. The MC is an active character which is a must in my opinion.Can’t wait to try the rest of the serie and highly recommend it !