shift by jeri smith-ready

Published 5/3/11

Shift | Jeri Smith-Ready

Simon Pulse

Hardcover | 367 pp.

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.

Brent’s opinion of the novel:
If you have followed me on my miraculous journey into blogging from the very beginning, you may or may not remember me raving about this book called SHADE. It was this teen sci-fi / paranormal romance that I couldn’t get out of my head. Well, 98 years later, the sequel SHIFT has been released.

It only took a few pages to remember what happened in SHADE + get back in sync with Aura’s story. The book starts right where SHADE left off, with Aura and Logan trying to figure out (1) what the hell is going on and why Logan’s switching from ghost to human to shade, and (2) what their relationship is. It’s really tense (the whole book is, really) and it reminded me why I enjoyed SHADE so much.

I love Jeri Smith-Ready’s world building. In the SHADE trilogy, ghosts roam the earth, and the teenagers born before the Shift have the ability to see & communicate with them. Which makes it less tragic when Aura’s boyfriend, Logan, dies of a drug overdose. The ghost thing is perfectly pulled-off in these books, and very fresh. There’s a whole lot of Scottish influence in the books, so that spices it up and makes it even more fun to read.

SHIFT, like all good sequels, answers a few burning questions readers were left with after SHADE. We find out more about Aura’s mother, as well as what really went down the night of the Shift.

And now I’m to my last point, the boys! There’s Logan, the hot bad-boy-turned-ghost-turned-shade-turned-ghost-again, and Zachary, the sexy Scottish guy. Aura has a hard time deciding who fits her better, where her heart belongs, and the consequences of her choice, but she’s not the only one! I was completely torn between the two up until the very last pages. TEAM ZACHARY, FTW.

My point is: SHIFT is an excellent sequel, one that didn’t disappoint me at all. Definitely check these books out, if you haven’t already!