Book Review 11: Jump the Cracks by Stacy DeKeyser

So, I'm now over a fifth of the way through the books I've got to read by December 1st. yay!! This book was not too bad. The main character is Victoria, her parents are divorced, happened soon after 9/11. Her dad lives in New York city, so she has to take the train to go visit him. On her trip there she notices a teen mom with a little boy, the little boy has bruises on his arm. The mom seems to not really want the boy around, and leaves him in the bathroom when she gets off the train. Victoria feels for the boy, especially when her dad isn't there at the station to pick her up either. She decides to board the next train leaving and try to make sure that people start taking care of both her, and the little boy she calls Wills. She won't let him slip through the cracks, the way she feels she has sometimes. On her journey it turns out the boy gets reported as being kidnapped, and now she has to decide how to get him home safely to a person who will take care of him, and to not get herself in trouble, making sure people know she only had his best interests at heart.

An interesting story, not sure about it though compared to the others I've read so far. Tonight I started "The Otherworldlies" by Jennifer Anne Kogler.

Book Review 10: Shift by Jennifer Bradbury

I must admit once again I was not expecting to be thrilled by my latest book on the list. And once again I was wrong. In fact, I really, really, really liked this one. I think it would make a good movie. In fact, at the end when the main character, Chris, is watching a slideshow of the pictures from his bike trip across America, I can just see that as the end of the movie. The book starts out telling about how Chris and his friend Win biked across the country. Not motorcycles, actual bikes. They decided their senior year on a whim to do it, and Chris was encouraged by his father to do it for sure, since his father had ended up not taking a drive across country when he was younger because life came up and interrupted him. Win is Chris's best friend, and he comes from a rich, but not close family. He is in therapy because of emotional issues. The story is told in between Chris's present as he starts college and we find out Win never made it back from the trip, and flashbacks to the summer trip. Near Seattle Win took off when Chris got a flat tire, and Chris was unable to find him again. While they remained friends throughout the trip, Win kept mooching off of Chris, although early in the trip, Chris found a ton of money stashed in Win's bike pack. Chris never brings it up. But it irritates him as he runs low on money and Win never offers to pay, when Chris knows he has the money.

Soon an FBI agent shows up to question Chris about Win's whereabouts, but Chris honestly has not talked to him since Win rode off and left him with the flat tire. Win's dad buys Chris's dad's company and threatens to have him fired, all trying to find where Win is. Soon Chris gets some postcards that give him some reminders of the trip, as well as possible hints. If Chris finds where Win is, he has to decide whether to tell his family, or whether to figure out why Win has disappeared and if he should let him stay. I highly recommend this one, it will get a five on my rating scale.

Next on the list is Jump the Cracks by Stacy DeKeyser.