 | Title: Shift
 Sexual Content: Kissing. Scenes of sensuality. References to sex. Rating:
Near Perfect - Buy two copies: one for you and one for a friend. |
Description
Aura’s life is anything but easy. Her boyfriend, Logan, died, and his slides between ghost and shade have left her reeling. Aura knows he needs her now more than ever. She loves Logan, but she can’t deny her connection with the totally supportive, totally gorgeous Zachary. And she’s not sure that she wants to.
Logan and Zachary will fight to be the one by her side, but Aura needs them both to uncover the mystery of her past—the mystery of the Shift.
As Aura’s search uncovers new truths, she must decide whom to trust with her secrets…and her heart.
Review
There are a few elusive books that leave you with a blissful smile on your face when you finish them. A feeling of pure contentment. Not necessarily because the ending is perfectly happy, or even that the good guys fully defeated the bad guys. But just because it’s the exact right way that this book needed it end. Well that’s SHIFT. A beautiful story that is haunting in ways that have nothing to do with the ghosts inside.
SHIFT is a very mature YA novel with none of the superficiality and self absorption that can plague this genre. SHIFT deals literally with life and death and that reality lends itself to very mature characters and themes. The worldbuilding, the character development, the various relationships, and especially the romance. Everything works so well. I especially responded to the character growth of Logan. We saw him both alive and as a ghost in SHADE, and without loosing the volatile, impulsive, charismatic nature of his character, he grew up in SHIFT. It was painful to see him watch everyone around him, especially Aura, move on, but it was the kind of pain that becomes addictive. I couldn’t put this book down.
And it wasn’t just Logan who I loved. Aura and Zachary also burrowed deeper into my heart, but for other reasons. Aura was so believable as she anguished about Logan, felt guilty about her conflicting feelings, and yet acknowledged them completely. She never once hid from her emotions, regardless of how raw they were.
Not just my favorite Paranormal YA ghost story, it’s my favorite ghost story ever. As much as I loved SHADE, SHIFT is even better. The pain cuts deeper, but the pleasure does too. My heart soared and plummeted right along with Aura and Logan and Zachary. Jeri Smith-Ready is clearly steering us towards a very definite conclusion (the final book in the Shade trilogy will be released in Summer 2012). This book doesn’t just set a set up the final book, it reveals a number of shockers, serious jaw droppers about Aura and Zachary, the nature of ghosts, and details about the Shift itself. How will I ever endure the year long wait for the conclusion?
Shade was my #1 read of 2010, so to hear that Shift is even better is so awesome! I can't wait to get my hands on it. :)
ReplyDeleteSara - It's amazing! Seriously wow! Have you joined the ARC Swap on Goodreads? There is a copy of Shift up for swap right now.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goodreads.com/group/show/46799
Awesome review! I absolutely loved Shift and it's going to be an agonizing year waiting for Shine! I love all of Jeri's books :D
ReplyDeleteTwo Chicks - I really had no expectations for this book. I loved Shade enough that I was trying to treat this one as a completely different entity, but wow did it just knock my socks off. So beautiful.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree! I posted my review yesterday it took me a few days to figure out what to say. I didn't want to sound like a rambling idiot ;)
ReplyDelete