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.

Book Review 9: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Once again, a book I wasn't sure about. I remember someone I'm friends with on Goodreads.com putting this on their to-read list, and at the time I thought it sounded good. But when I picked it up to read for this list, I wasn't sure. It was about a girl named Jenna Fox who wakes up from a coma and can't remember her life. It sounds like a realistic fiction book, but is actually a sci-fi book. It takes place in the future. Most natural plants have been wiped out by strains of genetically engineered plants. Many people have died from problems with vaccinations, and cloning, appendages and organs anyway, are now standard, up to a point. It is into this world that Jenna wakes up to parents that keep her home, won't really talk to her about what happened, and a grandmother who for some reason doesn't seem to like her. I really enjoyed the book after all. I wish it had gone more into some of the science type stuff, but the story itself was good. I know it was a teen/YA novel, but would love to see the same story pulled out a bit more into a longer novel. So much more I would have liked to know about what happened, what was really wrong with her classmate Dane? And more.

Onto book 10 from the lists, which means I'm a fifth of the way done. I started it today, it is is Shift by Jennifer Bradbury.