Nightshifted

Edie Spence, Book 1

By: Cassie Alexander

Narrated by: Tai Sammons

From debut author Cassie Alexander comes a spectacular new urban fantasy series where working the night shift can be a real nightmare.

Nursing school prepared Edie Spence for a lot of things. Burn victims? No problem. Severed limbs? Piece of cake. Vampires? No way in hell. But as the newest nurse on Y4, the secret ward hidden in the bowels of County Hospital, Edie has her hands full with every paranormal patient you can imagine - from vamps and were-things to zombies and beyond.

Edie’s just trying to learn the ropes so she can get through her latest shift unscathed. But when a vampire servant turns to dust under her watch, all hell breaks loose. Now she’s haunted by the man’s dying words - Save Anna - and before she knows it she’s on a mission to rescue some poor girl from the undead - which involves crashing a vampire den, falling for a zombie, and fighting for her soul. Grey’s Anatomy was never like this.

In addition to being a writer, Cassie Alexander is an active registered nurse in California. Nightshifted is her debut novel.

©2012 Erin Cashier (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“The best debut I’ve read all year. Nightshifted is simply amazing!” (Kat Richardson, best-selling author of the Greywalker series)

“A winner of a debut novel.” (Kate Elliott, author of the Cold Magic series)

“Medical drama and vampire cold wars intersect in this solid urban fantasy debut.… Alexander’s zombies are particularly well designed, and the hospital environment adds an intriguing additional dimension.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Intriguing, Gritty, Tastes of Real Life

The author has written a richly detailed mystery that is satisfying (and scary) to read. The narrator sounds like an adult woman, which is rare in audiobooks these days.

Most of us make life choices for reasons besides what's actually good for us. We compromise and make the best of decisions that seem rather self defeating.

Rather than explain the plot, let's just say that Edie Spence is doing the best she can with a life that seems to be off the rails. She puts up with a low paying, high stress nursing job in the county hospital because it keeps her junky brother alive. And not only does he not know what sacrifices she's made for him, he still seems determined to destroy himself.

But this book is not a soap opera. It is well designed urban fantasy complete with vampires, ghouls, shape shifters, and "others". The setup simply serves to put Edie into the path of these creatures. A patient leads to a mystery which leads to much danger and a gripping story.

And boy does she get involved. From rescuing patients from a syphilitic dragon, to rescuing a vampire princess, she goes deeper into her patient's lives then she ever intended. Edie is not a larger then life heroine. She is a person who makes mistakes, like most of us, but she does try as best she can. She does get by. I am not a nurse, but the details of the daily grind in a hospital ring true to me.

I highly recommend this book and the sequel (I've listened to it twice already and will return to it again sometime when I can't find something new to listen to).

What a great story!!!!

I must say that I purchased this book not really knowing what to expect. The reviews on it were mixed. I have to say it was great! So much so that I was downloading book two before I finished the first. There are wereanimals, shape shifters, vampires and some really cool new creatures. There was humor, sex, great dialog and great characters. The narration is perfect for the characters in the story. I have already finished book two and I am REALLY hoping that there will be MORE! Worth the credit or the price. I'll be looking for more by this author :)

good story

Narration was okay. Liked the story. Mostly accurate medical terms and information. As a nurse I can relate to some of the characters challenges.

Interesting Story Boring Narrator

1. Good story. Great idea and the execution of the story wasn't bad. There were some things that were confusing--jumps in timing or where a character was (physically) from moment to moment--but otherwise it was entertaining. I liked the world and the idea of a night nurse is a new one for the genre

2. The narrator was...Less than ideal. She read the book. That was it. She read it. There were some Russian accents and a British accent but the characters all sounded flat and emotionless and bored with their lives. There was nothing in her narration that pulled me into the book and made me want to stay. If it hadn't been a fairly good story I wouldn't have stayed. The narration was just that bad.

3 stars: 4 for story and 2 for narration (and that's being generous.)

Fun New Series

What did you love best about Nightshifted?

I liked the background of working on the night shift of a county hospital.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Nightshifted?

The memorable moments for me happened with the young nurse with other nurses and clients in the hospital.

What about Tai Sammons’s performance did you like?

She did a good job with the narration but nothing stands out, to me.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I did but it took a bit longer.

Any additional comments?

No.