Nightfall by Ellen Conner (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"Growing up with an unstable, often absent father who preached about the end of the world, Jenna never thought in her wildest nightmares that his predictions would come true. Or that he would have a plan in place to save her-one that includes the strong, stoic man who kidnaps and takes her to a remote cabin in the Pacific Northwest.

The mysterious ex-Marine named Mason owes a life-debt to Jenna's father. Skilled and steadfast, he's ready for the prophesied Change, but Jenna proves tough to convince. Until the power grid collapses and mutant dogs attack-vicious things that reek of nature gone wrong."

My Thoughts:

Books like this are why I love reading so much!  I was completely and utterly sucked into this book from almost page one.  Nightfall was filled with a dark and gritty atmosphere as the main characters (Jenna and Mason) tried to adjust to this new type of world that they found themselves in.  Their lives are changed in a way that they could never have imagined and they really only have each other to rely on.  This book was so intense!  The action starts from the very beginning and really doesn't let up until the very last page.  I read this one late into the night because I just wanted to keep going...I was so engrossed in this novel that I would lose track of time.  I flew through the pages and was left wanting more at the end.  This book wasn't a perfect read, in fact there were times that I wanted to bang Jenna and Mason's heads together when they were both being too stubborn or dense.  But it really didn't matter because I was so completely lost in their story that all that mattered to me was them surviving and finding their happy ever after.  Just talking about this book gets me all excited about reading the remaining two books in this trilogy....I CANNOT wait to see what happens next!

What else can I say?  I loved the fact that there was a bit of a paranormal bent to the book.  The demon dogs were quite scary and not like anything that I've ever really read about.  I was heartbroken at one point in the story, and couldn't figure out for the life of me how this book could possibly end well.  The authors did an amazing job of not only pulling it all together in the end but ending the story in a way that left me truly satisfied.  I cannot praise this book enough just for the single fact that I loved it to pieces. 

Nightfall is one of my favorites reads of 2013 so far because I found myself completely sucked into the world that these two authors created.  This is also the book that started my craving for more romantic action-suspense filled reads.  I NEED more books like this so if you've got recommendations shoot them my way!  I would definitely recommend this one....heck, I'm singing its' praises enough just right here.  So may I reiterate that  I would highly, highly recommend this book!

Bottom Line:  A no brainer for me when it comes to my best of 2013 reads list!

Disclosure:  Checked out from my local library but I'm thinking I will need my own copy at some point for a reread :)