Review: Shift

Shift by Em Bailey
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Flicking through books on offer, I stumbled upon two Em Bailey novels. Intrigued by both, I decided to give one of the books a read. Without looking at the books on Goodreads, without any idea of the reviews and ratings, I decided Shift sounded like the more interesting option – and if I enjoyed it, I decided I would be back for the other Em Bailey novel.

Despite how interesting Shift sounded, I found myself rather disappointed by this one. It is a book where I was stuck between a two-star rating and a three-star rating, where the former won out as it really wasn’t quite enough for me to round my two-point-five-star rating up.

In truth, I really should have known better. No matter how interesting young adult thrillers sound, I’m always let down. I threw myself into adult thrillers before reading young adult thrillers, and due to this my standards have always been set higher. For me, young adult thrillers are always too predictable for my liking and fail to have the high impact of their adult counterparts. I’m sure there are plenty of good young adult thrillers on the market, I simply have trouble enjoying them as much as I would like.

Even by my mental standard of young adult thrillers, Shift was a bit too predictable. It was filled with far too many clichés – in terms of situations, characters, and events – which made it difficult for me to get down deep into this story. It was a quick and easy read, meaning I was able to finish it in next to no time at all, but at no point did the story shock me or really get my heart pumping.

The story had potential, but it didn’t quite do it for me. I may give the other Em Bailey novel a read, but I doubt I will be going back to the bookstore and buying it anytime soon.

View all my reviews