About the Author

"Em Bailey" is Australian but currently lives in Germany. When she s not writing, she is generally getting lost, losing stuff, reading, hanging out with her friends and family, and listening to Radiolab podcasts. Like Olive, she doesn t like leggings that look like jeans but has no problem with tofu schnitzels.
Em has written several books for children, but "Shift" is her first young-adult novel. You can visit her online at www.em-bailey.com."

Reviews

Gr 8 Up-After her suicide attempt, Olive shuts herself off from most of the world, transforming from one of the popular kids to an outsider. She drifts through high school, mostly hanging out with her mum and kid brother. And then orphaned Miranda moves to town, along with the rumor that she murdered her parents. Though she's bizarrely unremarkable, she forces her way into the in-crowd and slowly takes the place of Olive's ex-best friend and the high school's queen bee, Katie. As Olive tries to accept that romantic overtures from handsome new guy Lachlan might not be just a cruel joke, she struggles with painful memories of her dad leaving her family and worries about Katie. She slowly realizes that Miranda is a "humanoid shifter," a being that can "take on the characteristics of other humans," until the shifter has become the person he or she latched onto, leading to the victim's death. When she's done with Katie, Miranda sets her sights on Olive. This psychological, supernatural thriller is creepy and fresh. Bailey spreads revelations throughout the story while simultaneously building suspense. The unhealthy relationships are disconcerting and just as intoxicating for readers as they are for the characters. Teens will be hooked after the first page.-Emily Chornomaz, West Orange Public Library, NJ (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.