Shadow of Time by Jen Minkman

All Hannah needs is a nice and quiet vacation after her first year of teaching French at a high school. She joins her brother Ben for the summer in their mom’s log cabin in Arizona. There, she meets Josh again, Ben’s childhood friend from the Navajo reservation. The little boy from the rez has grown up fast, and Hannah can’t help but feeling more for him than just friendship. 

But fate apparently has something else in store for her. And it’s not peace and quiet. Night after night, Hannah is plagued by strange nightmares about the past of Navajo Nation and terrifying shadows chasing her. They seem to come closer – and why is Josh always present in her dreams? 

Sometimes, the past has a way of catching up with you. (Goodreads)

"When I'm with you, I forget everything around me," he spoke softly. "It's like time stands still. I can step out of its shadow."

First of all I have to thank the author Jen Minkman who kindly sent a copy of the book to me for Christmas. Due to silly reasons (my birthday, exams and starting a blog (this baby, yay!)) I haven't had much time to read, but I was really curious about Shadow of Time so I took some time away from the madding crowd and dived into the world of mystery, love, Native American culture and paranormal. I must admit I was very pleasantly surprised to see how the book turned out. 

The thing I appreciated the most was the originality of the plot. I especially liked the mystery surrounding the three - three guys, three wolves, three girls aso, all creepy and spooky. I had no clue as to what could be going on (and usually I'm pretty good at guessing), and the mysterious events the main characters were involved in were intriguing and also creepy times. It is evident that Minkman did a thorough research into the Native Americans, the way she weaved the Native American culture into the story was brilliant and interesting to read, indeed; I love the Native American culture ever since I got my hands on Vinetou as a little kid. 

Hannah, the main heroine, is likeable, if a bit ... distant. She is also very insecure. At times I couldn't really relate to her, maybe because we didn't get much insight into her life and past (in this life time, I mean), but what I loved about her was her relationship with her brother, Ben. Well, mostly I was jealous. I'd like to have that kind of a relationship with my younger brother! 

Now let's talk about Josh. Ahh, even the name sounds sexy! I must confess I was baffled, perplexed, even flabbergasted (Stop it Inx, now you're just listing your favourite English words!) when his age was mentioned. If I wasn't already sitting I'd be thrown on my derrière. Vraiment! Ah mon dieu, at first I was like a ghetto girl: "Oh no, you di'int!", waving my index finger around and pursing my lips furiously, and I seriously thought: This is it, the end of the road for me. But as I thought about it for a minute, I realized that there must be a story behind it all, and it turned out there was, and a good one. Phew. As far as Josh's relationship with Hannah is concerned - I wanted to slap him senseless for constantly breaking up with Hannah. Yea I know he had his reasons and they were reasonable, but still! One doesn't just go 'round breaking young girls' hearts. But joking aside, I liked how mature their relationship was and how they managed to overcome all the problems that almost tore them apart. Again.

I must give props to Jen Minkman for translating the book from Dutch to English. As a fellow translator I can imagine it took a lot of time (and nerves) to translate it, and I think she did a great job. So, kudos for that, and for writing a unique story with parts that make all you romantics out there (I myself am not much of a romantic) go awwwww and parts that make us paranormal junkies go oujea! Or in plain words, this is not your ordinary paranormal story about love, revenge and mystery. It's much more.