Nightshifted

Edie Spence, Book 1

By: Cassie Alexander

Narrated by: Tai Sammons

From debut author Cassie Alexander comes a spectacular new urban fantasy series where working the night shift can be a real nightmare.

Nursing school prepared Edie Spence for a lot of things. Burn victims? No problem. Severed limbs? Piece of cake. Vampires? No way in hell. But as the newest nurse on Y4, the secret ward hidden in the bowels of County Hospital, Edie has her hands full with every paranormal patient you can imagine - from vamps and were-things to zombies and beyond.

Edie’s just trying to learn the ropes so she can get through her latest shift unscathed. But when a vampire servant turns to dust under her watch, all hell breaks loose. Now she’s haunted by the man’s dying words - Save Anna - and before she knows it she’s on a mission to rescue some poor girl from the undead - which involves crashing a vampire den, falling for a zombie, and fighting for her soul. Grey’s Anatomy was never like this.

In addition to being a writer, Cassie Alexander is an active registered nurse in California. Nightshifted is her debut novel.

©2012 Erin Cashier (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“The best debut I’ve read all year. Nightshifted is simply amazing!” (Kat Richardson, best-selling author of the Greywalker series)

“A winner of a debut novel.” (Kate Elliott, author of the Cold Magic series)

“Medical drama and vampire cold wars intersect in this solid urban fantasy debut.… Alexander’s zombies are particularly well designed, and the hospital environment adds an intriguing additional dimension.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Interesting Story Boring Narrator

1. Good story. Great idea and the execution of the story wasn't bad. There were some things that were confusing--jumps in timing or where a character was (physically) from moment to moment--but otherwise it was entertaining. I liked the world and the idea of a night nurse is a new one for the genre

2. The narrator was...Less than ideal. She read the book. That was it. She read it. There were some Russian accents and a British accent but the characters all sounded flat and emotionless and bored with their lives. There was nothing in her narration that pulled me into the book and made me want to stay. If it hadn't been a fairly good story I wouldn't have stayed. The narration was just that bad.

3 stars: 4 for story and 2 for narration (and that's being generous.)

Intriguing, Gritty, Tastes of Real Life

The author has written a richly detailed mystery that is satisfying (and scary) to read. The narrator sounds like an adult woman, which is rare in audiobooks these days.

Most of us make life choices for reasons besides what's actually good for us. We compromise and make the best of decisions that seem rather self defeating.

Rather than explain the plot, let's just say that Edie Spence is doing the best she can with a life that seems to be off the rails. She puts up with a low paying, high stress nursing job in the county hospital because it keeps her junky brother alive. And not only does he not know what sacrifices she's made for him, he still seems determined to destroy himself.

But this book is not a soap opera. It is well designed urban fantasy complete with vampires, ghouls, shape shifters, and "others". The setup simply serves to put Edie into the path of these creatures. A patient leads to a mystery which leads to much danger and a gripping story.

And boy does she get involved. From rescuing patients from a syphilitic dragon, to rescuing a vampire princess, she goes deeper into her patient's lives then she ever intended. Edie is not a larger then life heroine. She is a person who makes mistakes, like most of us, but she does try as best she can. She does get by. I am not a nurse, but the details of the daily grind in a hospital ring true to me.

I highly recommend this book and the sequel (I've listened to it twice already and will return to it again sometime when I can't find something new to listen to).

What a great story!!!!

I must say that I purchased this book not really knowing what to expect. The reviews on it were mixed. I have to say it was great! So much so that I was downloading book two before I finished the first. There are wereanimals, shape shifters, vampires and some really cool new creatures. There was humor, sex, great dialog and great characters. The narration is perfect for the characters in the story. I have already finished book two and I am REALLY hoping that there will be MORE! Worth the credit or the price. I'll be looking for more by this author :)

Fun New Series

What did you love best about Nightshifted?

I liked the background of working on the night shift of a county hospital.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Nightshifted?

The memorable moments for me happened with the young nurse with other nurses and clients in the hospital.

What about Tai Sammons’s performance did you like?

She did a good job with the narration but nothing stands out, to me.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I did but it took a bit longer.

Any additional comments?

No.

A Quirky UF series

Nightshifted had a kind of slow start for me. It took me about half of the book to really get into the story. But I think the biggest part was due to the narration. Tai Sammons didn't change her pitch enough so I was confused sometimes as to which character was speaking. I felt like she was just reading the book to me instead of "acting" the story out like some great narrators can do. With that being said I will be listening to the next book, Moonshifted because it's free through my library and I'm on a time crunch to get it done so that I can read the 3rd book, Shapeshifted. And that will be the real telling point for me if the narration is what brought Nightshifted from a 4 Halo book to a 3 Halo book. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

What drew me into Nightshifted is the fact that the story is set mostly in a hospital so I knew that it would be a different kind of book. (Cassie Alexander is a nurse by day (or night) so I was a little worried that the medical parts would be a little too technical but she did a great job of keeping it in dumby terms.) I thought of the hospital scenes in Larissa Ione's Demoncia series when I started and was wondering if Edie's hospital would be similar. There was a few small similarities in the fact that Y4, the supernatural underground level of the county hospital is a secret from the humans and they only treat the supes. But that was about it.

Edie is not your usual urban fantasy heroine. First she is just a plain human, no special abilities. She's just a nurse working the nightshift that switched over to Y4 to help get her drug user brother some help. She made a deal and now he can't get high or drunk no matter how much he tries. We'll have to see if he change the type of person he is in the following books. (I'm assuming we will see more of him.)

While Edie is working a shift at Y4 she makes a rookie mistake with a vampire patient causing his death. But before he dies, he asks Edie to help Anna. So now our everyday human nurse has a mission to save a girl that she has no clue where or who/what she is. Not only is Edie is trying to keep afloat in her life by working to pay her rent, trying to keep her brother from ending up dead by a drug overdose but now she has to keep her promise to a patient that she feels she killed.

Alexander kept me entertained with the developing mystery within the plot about Anna and I grew to like Edie as the main character. Some of the secondary characters have potential. But one thing I didn't care too much for was the romantic relationship that Edie has with the zombie patient (I don't even remember his name). He was a good guy but the part where he has to replace his body parts with other people's was just a little off putting for him to be the romantic lead IMO.

Another thing I had a hard time with was the grandfather speaking German through a radio. I was very confused by who's grandfather it was. I'm not sure if the grandfather was Edie's or one of her patients. I don't know if that was just not written well to be clear or if I had tuned out during the part it was explained. (A bad side effect of having a not so great narrator.)

There was some funny moments. One that sticks out for me is the scene where a dragon shifter with syphillis get loose in the hospital and Edie wonders at one point if she had slept with the dragon shifter while he was in his human form.

In any case I enjoyed Nightshifted enough to check out the next book to see if Edie and her world will grow on me more.

A must read urban fanasty

Would you listen to Nightshifted again? Why?

Yes. It was so funny and amusing to view the world from Edie's view point. She cares and respect her paranormal patients. When others would turn their backs on a paranormal patient she goes the extra miles

What other book might you compare Nightshifted to and why?

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. Both book have strong female characters who find themselves in unusal situations, paranormal, and deal with it with aplomb. They grit their teeth and use common sense and creativity. They are both confused of the inability of "regular folks" to make sense of their world.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Edie is working on the "normal" ward and a dragon is loose in the hospital. Because she works with paranormal patients and seen paranormal incidents she is protecting herself by locking herself and the patients in the bathroom. A regular nurse is trying to make logical sense of the rising temperature and noise; when in essence Edie tells her to get a grip.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Any additional comments?

I hope this will become a series.

Could be better. Could be a lot better.

If you don't mind heroines who make questionable choices, this is an okay read. The narrator is not the best. The voice and the inflection do not match the character. This book is a better read than listen.

great book

the only thing I didn't like is that it ended toooooo soon. this is like the 4th time I've listened to it and after the next one I'll have to get the books because audible doesn't have any of the others in here. so that would be the only reason not to get it

darker than I care for

A new take on waning subject. It is really well written and narrated. I didn't find it a fun read.

Oh my goodness

This was one of the better books I've listened to.... I loved it ❤ romance....action....great read