Reveal (Cryptid Tales Book 1) by Brina Courtney

 I'm Shay Tafford.  Just a high school senior, trying to get through the last year of school and on to a good college.  I'm smart enough to get into one too and was planning on going to James Madison after I graduated.  That is until I met Hugh.  Tall, dark, and handsome Hugh.  After we met everything turned upside down.  You see, I can see and talk to ghosts.  I can even touch them.  I keep that side of myself a little secret from...well...everyone.  People would think I was crazy.  And then there is Hugh, who knows about my little gift and doesn't think I am crazy.  Why?  He kind of shares this gift too.  But he can only hear the whispers from the ghosts.  Turns out my gift is very strong.  It also turns out that Hugh and his family knew my dad who disappeared when I was six.  The day after he disappeared I started seeing ghosts.  It was when I met Jeremy, my best ghost friend.  Hugh is from a family of Cryptids.  They are humans who have some animal mixed in basically.  A few Cryptids have more prominent animal features, like me.  The Cryptid part of me gives me my abilities.  But it also shows in my hair and my eyes.  My eyes start turning more of a golden color after meeting Hugh, and my hair has always been very black and sleek, like a cat.  Things get complicated when I go down to meet Hugh's family.  They all live in a pretty tight little community.  Apparently there are a lot of things I don't know about Hugh and about the Cryptid community he used to live in before going to college.  It will be a real challenge for me to learn to accept what these strangers are telling me about myself, my dad, Hugh, and what they call The Darkness.  And unfortunately The Darkness is after me.  I am no longer safe.  I must learn to embrace the Cryptid in me and learn about my gifts so I can protect myself and those around me.  The Darkness already got my dad.  I'm not about to let him get me or those I love.



   I kind of decided to go a different way on writing this review.  This was a much easier way for me to show a little of what this book is about.  It has quite a bit going on, but it all ties in together.  And obviously Shay has a lot going on.  One thing I didn't mention is a ghost named Wendy who Shay is trying to help in the book.  I just found it hard to get a handle on what side Wendy was on for pretty much most of the book.  You get this weird trippy "I might be evil" vibe from her the entire time you are reading.  It's downright creepy.  And then there is the sense that there is definitely more going on with Shay's mom than what is being let on.  She isn't supposed to know what Shay is or about her abilities, but you still have to wonder a little.  Then there is the secret of being a Cryptid and what it means for Shay in particular.  It seems that her destiny is very complicated and will inevitably involve Hugh.  That is, if she can accept it all.  Well, I am definitely interested in seeing what happens next!