Review: Haze by Paula Weston

Haze (The Rephaim #2) by Paula Weston
Publisher: Text Publishing
Publication date: May 22nd 2013.
My rating: 4 stars

"But what if we can’t find Jude?" He leans closer. His breath is warm on my ear. "We will." "How can you be so sure?" I want to believe him so badly, but this is Rafa. The guy who’s all action and no plan. His smile is tired, knowing. An echo of a shared past I don’t remember. "Because I’m not smart enough to give up, and you don’t know how to." Gaby Winters’ nightmares have stopped but she still can’t remember her old life. Still can’t quite believe she is one of the Rephaim—the wingless half-angels who can shift from place to place, country to country, in the blink of an eye. That she was once the Rephaim’s best fighter. That demons exist. That Rafa has stayed. But most of all, she can’t quite believe that her twin brother, Jude, might be alive. And Gaby can’t explain the hesitancy that sidetracks the search for him, infuriates Rafa, and sends them, again, into the darkest danger.

Haze was one of my highly anticipated reads of the year. After devouring Shadows, I just had to be back with these wonderful characters in this majestic world once more. When I found out Haze was going to be pushed back to October in the UK, it took me less than a minute to decide that I needed a copy in my hands right now and so was quick to order my copy from Fishpond. And let me say ordering my copy early was so worth it.

It seems like everything that happened in Shadows happened over a long period of time. But in Haze we soon come to realise that Gaby discovering who she really is and everything kicking off takes place in just one week. If Gaby thought everything has been turned upside its head, things were about to get a lot more crazy. In Shadows we’re left with so many unanswered questions with Gaby not able to remember a single thing before her accident, we’re also kept in the dark about what’s going on. The cryptic vibe still continues strong through Haze, every moment I felt as if I was about to discover something new people started clamming up. I found this at the same time both hugely frustrating as I needed to know the truth especially about Rafa and Gaby before now, but with Weston holding things back from us, I was even more enticed by the story.

The sole search of Jude in Haze is kind of turned on its head for a while. But everything that they had to deal with which turned things on their head was pure brilliance. There was many returning characters from Gaby’s past which made things more confusing for her but also several startling discoveries along the way too. At times I did want to get back on track with Jude, but these small stories which emerged along the way built up epically to the big climax at the end.

It was wonderful being back with such a fantastic set of characters once more. I had grown so fond of Rafa, Gaby, Ez, Zak, Maggie and Jason in Shadows so it was great seeing just how they far had come in Shadows. Especially with Gaby, she was thrown into this truly unbelievable world, but once again she took it in her stride. There was not one thing she would do to discover the truth. Her relationship with Rafa was once again a complicated one, but Weston was able to take it up a whole another notch with the swoon! Their entire relationship was riddled with so many unanswered questions, but it’s like there was a magnetic force field between them that couldn’t keep them apart no matter how hard they tried. Rafa once again easily confirmed why he is one of my favourite fictional crushes; he easily won me over and made my heart melt with his tender moments, but also made me smile with his cocky nature. There are some interesting characters which emerge in Haze and it’s interesting to see how everything will play out and where everyone stands in this epic battle that's still to come.

Haze goes to show just how follow up books should be done. Weston laced Haze with gorgeous settings, with us being taken from one place to another in a whirlwind of shifts. But also a great amount of mystery, romance and non-stop action. The way this series is going so far I know for sure I will be pre-ordering my copy of Shimmer.