Review: The Advice Girl

The Advice Girl (The Dalara Series, #1) by L.A. Shaw 
Publisher: Self Published
Format: Ebook
Source: Author  Amazon | Goodreads
★★★★☆

Kira and Sophia have been best friends since they were five years old. They share an apartment together, and tell each other everything.
Everyone loves Sophia, and she is often called the advice girl by people who know her. Kira believes she knows her friend better than anyone. But in a mysterious accident, Sophia loses her life.

Kira is mourning the devastating loss when she finds a note addressed to her from beyond the grave. Kira realizes she doesn't know her friend as well as she thought, as she starts to uncover the truth. She falls into a deep depression, confused and lost, until a visit from a strange man puts her in the middle of a war between two secret societies.
Kira soon understands that she is in danger, and doesn't know who to trust. She has to fight for her own life now

Don’t judge this book by it’s summary! There is a lot more going on in this quick read than you might think: Assassins, secret societies, romance, suspense, mystery. There is quite a bit of story packed into this less than 200 page book.

To begin: This is Shaw’s debut book! How exciting right? I’ll be totally honest that I was a bit skeptical after reading the blurb on goodreads. I was given an opportunity to read the prologue and first two chapters and I was hooked. I needed to find out what was going on! Please note that I will not be able to reveal much of the story for fear I may spoil something… I definitely don’t want to do that!

This story centers around the friendship between Kira and Sophie. I found their relationship to be quite realistic and believable. We learn that Sophie has always been extremely intuitive and that she tends to see the best in everyone. After what appears to be Sophie’s violent death, Kira is lost. Upon finding a note left behind from Sophie, everything changes. This is where the story really begins…

I enjoyed this book very much! Shaw had more than enough suspense to keep me hooked and make The Advice Girl hard to put down. I loved that there was a lot of action in this book as well. I actually tensed up a few times while reading it, thinking that something might pop from around the corner. Kira, our main character, was portrayed very realistically. We see a lot of emotions from her and not once did they seem forced. Shaw certainly has a knack for writing emotion.. I also enjoyed the underlying love story as well, though it did develop quite fast.

As much as I liked this book, there were still a few things I would have preferred to be done differently. I really wanted the entire story fleshed out more… I feel as though only 1/2 of this story’s potential was tapped into. I mean, there is a really amazing base story here that could be SO epic, but something was missing! The ending, which was a cliffhanger, seemed more like the end of the chapter not the book. I could think of much better points in the story for Shaw to have concluded this book. Like Sophie, who always sees the good, this means two awesome things: There will be a sequel and there is an an opportunity to tap into that unused potential in the next book!

I’m most definitely looking forward to reading the sequel to The Advice Girl and I recommend any lover of YA or paranormal books give this a shot!