Shift Paperback – 7 May 2012

I will start my review by saying, I absolutely loved this book. It kept me gripped all the way through and I will definitely be reading anything else Em Bailey writes. I really enjoyed this book. I read it in just over a day. It was fantastic.I couldn't believe all the twists in this book. I found myself shocked in places. I would read this again due to those shocking revalations. It will be interesting reading it again knowing certain things.One thing that annoyed me about this book was that for ages I cound't quite tell if it was English or American. Theres lots of English refences but I wasn't sure. The only thing that made me know for sure that it was American was when Olive said something cost so many dollars.I would have like them to go more in to the romantic side of the book. I felt Lachlan wasn't in it as much as I would have liked.I have no book I can think of to compare to this book. All I can say is that I loved it. It was so interesting. I loved the characters. I would definitely recommend! 5 out of 5!

Hmm. TOTALLY not what I was expecting. Although now to be fair I'm not sure WHAT I was expecting. The reason for the 3* rating is that to me it feels like a fair one. Some parts of this book for me were facepalm 1* and some parts of this for me were sheer brilliance 5*Nothing like sitting on the fence...Anyway on the plus side I read this cover to cover in one sitting, it is an addictive tale and one that has many surprises. The main story revolves around Olive, who is recovering from a breakdown. She has dumped her "popular girl" friends and hangs around with Ami, a girl who understands her. Then Miranda arrives, mysterious Miranda who it is claimed murdered her own parents. Thereafter I'm not really sure what was happening a lot of the time if I'm honest. But whatever it was it was strangely compelling.There is a beautifully constructed little twist in the tale that had me full of admiration. Olive as a character appealed to me because she was an odd one and I found it tough to get a handle on her. Love interest Lachlan was a bit up and down, but anchored the two parts of this story (mental illness v bullying I guess) well.What I didnt like so much was some of the blatantly stupid actions that Olive took, especially towards the end of the novel. Mostly this is a terrific mix of horror and psychological thriller but you know, the age we live in EVERYONE knows the rules right? Those old horror movie rules. Olive herself at one point makes the observation to herself that this was the part in a movie where everyone would be yelling at her "DON'T DO IT" Yes. Indeed. So why did she then? A little forced in order to move the story along to the ultimate conclusion I guess but to me felt a little lazy.The end as well was enigmatic, not fully satisfying for this reader,a bit passive aggressive.Overall though I really enjoyed it to be fair because despite the faults it really is a right old page turner. I really really did not want to stop until I got to the resolution. Even if that resolution was a little not to my personal liking, the journey ultimately was worth it. For the twisty goodness and those 5* sheer creepy brilliant moments.Happy Reading Folks!**Purchased Copy**

Shift features around a girl, whose age we never know, called Olive. The story is almost two stories in a way, the tragic tale which centres around Katie whilst told from Olive's perspective, and the romantic yet thrilling tale of Olive.Olive is at school with her best friend Ami. Ami is the pretty, headstrong version of Olive, apparently with better hair. Ami always has her back, a perfect friend who understands her completely. They sit apart, but play, eat and hang out together. And they conspire. Against Miranda- the murderer.Miranda the murderer is coming to their school. A shady, slim figure with glassy reflective eyes. Slipping in and out of vision, never in focus, just a blur in the background. But only Olive knows

This has become one of my favourite books. I absolutely loved this book.Some shocking twists, humour, tragedy, romance - pretty much everything you'd want in a book.Well written and easy to read, I couldn't put it down. I will definitely recommend this book to my friends.Delivery was excellent - it came the next day.

Definite 5 star book.Unusual YA real world setting - rare break from dystopias!The blurb on the back cover - that Miranda killed her parents - made me suspect it could not generate enough shock or surprise value: I was wrong.In the midst of the book I re-read a page 3 times because I totally had not seen a surprise coming and had to process how I could have been totally fooled - all in a good way & that has never happened to me so convincingly before.I would definitely read her future books.Sure I could be picky about minutia within the book, but a must-read and unique amongst great modern YA fiction.

I didn't really know what to expect with this book. Having never read any by this author before, it just sounded interesting from the synopsis. Once I started though, I couldn't put it down. Don't be fooled! This book will have you sure of the ending right until the very last sentence.

i have wanted to read shift for as long as i can remember. A good friend recommended it to me when i wa only 9 but my mum decided that it was an inappropriate book for someone of my age and i am so glad that she mad that movement because it has led me to enjoy this book way more than i would have then. This book is amazing and more people need to read it.

I found this book amazing, as it interacted on both readers level, and a personal one. As a reader you hear the story and the love, romance, tragedy... but at a personal level you learn of the mixed feelings and emotions of instability. This book was close to real life, I loved the 'grey' theory, and found the book an inspiring novel. Read it now (I may have just made it seem soppy) but it's a great book and communicates well with the audience