The Best Reader + TIME

Shift — Jeri Smith-Ready

"It's definitely a page-turner-my-palms-are-sweaty sort of book." — Miss Remmers

Release Date: May 3rd, 2011
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge and 2011 eBook Challenge
Review of "Shade"

"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." I kept repeating "I need the next book" when writing my review of "Shade. " This mentality hasn't changed with the second story in this series. While the plot only takes place a short time after the first book, Aura, Zachary, and Logan have all matured tremendously. The added maturity made this book uniquely feel like the characters had matured right along with it's readers (unless, of course, you read these two books back to back). By this I mean, it's been five months since I've read "Shade" and in those five months a lot has happened — I've grown as a person. It's nice to read a novel where the characters have grown right alongside me.

I'm definitely still "Team Zachary" — but I very much appreciate Logan's maturity and his new attitude. It can't be easy to be him right now; a famous ghost who humiliated his (ex-girlfriend), a shade who can't "unshade," and a young male whose love is loving someone else. Now, does this mean he is completely innocent? Absolutely not. Even in "Shade" he still makes some pretty selfish and self-absorbed decisions that impact everyone around him. But I said his character grew, not became perfect. I'm glad that he still makes these mistakes, it's what shows that me that he's still the same person.

Zachary, surprisingly, made some serious mistakes in this novel. But he was the vision of (almost) perfection in "Shade" having waited patiently for Aura to make up her mind all those months; you can't blame him for getting frustrated.

The one thing that sort of still bothers me about these stories is the perception of love (prepare for a tangent). Yes, I was "in love" when I was a teenager and no, he is not the man I'm marrying almost a decade later. In retrospect, when I was sixteen I had no idea what real love was and I had assumed that love was meant to hurt rather than run smoothly (overall). I don't deny that some people are extremely lucky to find their "Prince Charming" at the playground, but I struggle with how absolute Aura's love for these two gentleman are. It seems that she believes that if she likes someone she loves them and if she loves them that she's going to marry them. What about dating? What about, oh I don't know, getting to know each other? Why does it have to be so absolute?

But that's just me.

Overall, for any reader who loved "Shade," "Shift" is a fantastic sequel. Some questions get answered. New questions arise. It's definitely a page-turner-my-palms-are-sweaty sort of book.

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Shift — Jeri Smith-Ready + TIME