Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Book Review: Shift by Jeri Smith-Ready

Pages: 384
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pub. Date: May 3, 2011
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

*If you haven't read Shade, check out my review here.
Goodreads says, "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."

Aura is still getting over her boyfriend Logan's untimely death and the fact that he is not only a ghost, but also "shaded," which if you are a ghost is not a good thing.  Logan needs Aura and although she loves him tremendously, she cannot deny her attraction to Zachary, which readers saw her struggle with in Shade.  Aura also learns more about her mother, her father and about the actual Shift.  It will leave readers in a whirlwind of a romantic adventure.  Jeri Smith-Ready's Shift is a captivating sequel to Shade and is definitely one of my new favorite series that fans of paranormal should NOT miss!

Aura is one of my favorite characters.  She's very girl-next-door, but spunky and easy to relate to.  Her relationship with Logan in book one had me grabbing for the tissues; it broke my heart!  But on the same hand, how could she not fall in love with the good looking Zachary who has been there for her all along? Shift delves more into this love triangle and for the first time, it had me wavering between the two male leads....it was hard to pick a side! 

I love that Shift incorporates adventure, paranormal elements, romance, as well as elements of realistic fiction.  Readers watch Aura and Logan's family deal with death, grief, and the final step of moving on.  Shift also has Aura dealing with memories of her mother and she finds out more details about who her father really is.   Even though this book seems like a traditional paranormal romance, it actually is SO much more. In fact, as I mentioned in my review of Shade, I love that Smith-Ready focuses on ghosts and legends in this novel and not the usual players in a paranormal romance, such as vampires and werewolves.  It's a such a fresh take on the genre as I haven't read too many YA books dealing with ghosts.

Smith-Ready is a fabulous author that I feel is often overlooked and deserves more recognition. If you are a fan of paranormal or even stories about love that include dreamy Irish and Scottish men, then you must start this series or pick up a copy of Shift.   Although I am excited for the third book to come out next summer, I am sad that it will be the final book in the series as, for lack of better words, this series is freaking fantastic!


*Pre-order Shift
*Buy Shade
*Read an excerpt

6 comments:

  1. Fabulous review Christina, I've heard such good things about this series. I haven't read Shade yet, but it's one of the ones I really want to get to soon:) I haven't read too many stories that deal with ghosts either, so I especially look forward to that aspect of it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had to skim read your review as I'm reading this atm, but I have to say that just like Shade I can't really get into this one. It's the love triangle - it isn't working for me. I just don't like either guy. I think Logan is a total douche and Zach is too much of a cliché and he's kinda aggressive at times...

    Hmmmmm....

    I still have a bit to read though, so maybe I will get into it by the end!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Welcome back!
    And great review!
    I haven't heard much about this one before.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Welcome back, I hope you had the BEST trip ever!

    I loved Shade so much. I can't wait to check out Shift. So glad you enjoyed it! I feel like I've forgotten so much about Shade though that I might need to re-read it first :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I haven't read Shade but I'm guessing that I have to :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Awesome review!!! Once again, I own the first book, but haven't read it yet. I need to get started reading these books!!

    ReplyDelete

I really appreciate your comments. Thank you!

 
Design by: Designer Blogs