I finished Em Bailey's first YA novel very quickly. Well, quickly compared to how long it usually takes for me to read one book. After reading the last words, I did something I normally don't: I put the book away and didn't think about anything to do with the book. For days. It was not that I hadn't liked the book nor that I was full of it or anything like that, but more that I felt like I needed to process the book, but at a later time and unconsciously for the time being. A couple of sunrises and sunsets later, I am now more prepared to take the book back into my thoughts.

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Shift was a book very different from many other books I've read. It was even unlike other books of the same genre, thriller, that I had read too. In addition it was nothing like I had expected. The back-cover was rather mis-leading if you ask me. Again, I do not mean this as a bad thing at all.
I was not expecting anything extraordinary or superstitious to be associated with a book where the new girl is said to have murdered her parents. So when Olive, the protagonist, first comes across the concept of shapeshifters, I was a bit thrown off guard. That was for sure only the beginning of several other similar feelings, as the plot was highly unpredictable. As the reader I was never left without a whole lot of suspense.
Due to the unusual plot, I gave up trying to pick up clues to see how the story was going to proceed very early on. I had literally no idea of what would happen on the next page, or even next sentence, sometimes. This was partly caused by the minds of the main character and Miranda, which where  very interesting. The most unexpected thoughts kept accuring. I even found my heart racing of fear at some point.
So, if you feel like reading something with a crazy story line, here's your next book. It is full of unexpected twists and turns that come out of nowhere. Even as it is told to the reader on the back cover that a character named Katy will die, I found myself shocked when she did eventually die.
I feel like I might still come back to write about this book as I am only beginning to go through the mess of thoughts it has brought up in me.
I really recommend reading this. Even just for the reason that it is Australian, which was new and exciting for me.

-Anna