Review: Lacking Focus
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 06 16, 2012
Shift follows seventeen year old Leah's journey to control her shifter genes after she shocks her family and best friend during her birthday dinner. It's really about her finally having a boy interested in her and losing her virginity. There's also random focus on the Occupy protests for no real reason (in this debut- although I understand that the story arc which is mind numbingly reiterated finally has a point in the second book).None of these arcs are satisfactorily addressed by the novel. Without giving away any spoilers, even the most complete part is left vague and uncertain.I think the main issue is that there is no key conflict.There's some tension with her and her "other" friend which brought up REALLY uncomfortable parallels to racism and how you should be proud of your genetics and stick together with your kind, not "them." I continued reading despite that, but the story just got more and more muddled. It turns from a (somewhat misguided) attempt to accept yourself into a weird bonding attachment between Leah and Drake. In other words, the book negates its own point in the beginning by having the couple start to share an identity.Would I recommend to a friend? No.