After Shadow by Kim Pritekel

Clara has always known she isn’t like other people. As far back as she can remember, she has been able to see visitors from the spirit world. At first, she thought it was normal, what everyone saw. But her gift was promptly squashed by her mother when she was very young. Her family really had no idea of the range of Clara’s talents when she was growing up.

Clara found herself on some incredible journeys through the after shadows in her quest to help earthbound spirits pass over.

Clara’s life is spent living in the shadows of darkness, no one seems to understand her. Not even the few girlfriends she’s had along the way. Clara begins to despair of ever finding her soul mate. Can it be that she’s already met her one true love and doesn’t know it? Will Clara find her niche in life as well as the world of darkness that is so much a part of her everyday life?

I always enjoy Kim Pritekel’s books. They are always really well written. Each one is so vastly different from her others. It’s been a while since we’ve had any new books, so I was really pleased to see she hadn’t stopped writing.

This book follows Clara through her childhood, teens and adult years. It shows the development of her skills as a medium and the path she chooses to take regarding her abilities.

The story clips along at a nice pace, it’s spooky in parts, heart breaking in others and there is an added touch of humor too. The book is a page turner right through. I loved Clara. Her character has many different sides. She had a raw deal growing up having her talents supressed. But eventually she comes in to her own and and her talents evolve. Her story is not a typical story of a regular girl growing up. There are many ups and downs and twists and turns, making this exciting reading. There is a wealth of characters throughout, some nicer than others of course. But each and every one of them essential to the progression of the story.

After reading such a long book, I was a little surprised by a rather abrupt ending. I would like to have seen a little more of Clara’s life after she’d found her true love and how they settled down together. There was also a few story lines that had a build up, just to fizzle out and not be concluded. I have no intention of putting in any spoilers here, so I’ll leave it there. I will just say, that it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the book.

I would love to see a sequel with Clara and her partner. I look forward to any book Kim Pritekel writes. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait so long for the next one.