Shade Me written by Jennifer Brown is a YA fiction about crime, mystery, and murder. The main character Nikki Kill has lived her whole life with a condition called synesthesia. This causes her senses to overlap and gives her the ability to see colors when presented with emotions, information, and various other experiences. One day she receives a mysterious call from the hospital asking for her help to identify a young woman in critical condition and Nikki’s number is the only one listed in this Jane Doe’s phone. After arriving at the hospital, she recognizes the girl as Peyton Hollis, a very popular girl she goes to school with. Intrigued by the mystery of why someone would try to kill Peyton as well as why Nikki had been roped into it, she decides to launch her own investigation with the help of her synesthesia. Faced with love, betrayal, trust, and crime, Nikki follows the clues left for her by Peyton to solve her mystery.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys murder mysteries and plot twists. Another aspect that drew me to this book was the added layer of Nikki’s synesthesia and made me wonder how she would choose to use it to her advantage throughout the book. I would rate this book four out of five stars as it was very enjoyable to read and some of the twists truly surprised me.