::POSSIBLE SPOILERS::

~I received a finished copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review~

Shine is the conclusion to the Shift series by Jeri Smith-Ready. It follows the continuing journey of Aura and Zachary on their search for the truth behind the event known as the Shift, which gave everyone under a certain age the ability to see and communicate with ghosts.

I am very pleased to say that this book was much, much better than Shift. I read this book in two days, half one day and half the next. I was really able to get into the story much like I did with the first book of the series. This is another series where I really feel like the third book should have been the second book instead, but oh well. I am just glad that I did not let my dislike of Shift keep me from finishing the series. All in all, it was a pretty good series. It had a decent storyline and it was neatly tucked into three books instead of a ton of books. Without further ado, I will start with my thoughts on the plot then get into my thoughts on the characters.

My biggest problem with the plot of the second book in the series was that the relationship drama almost drowned out the underlying, and in my opinion more important, plot of the characters trying to solve the mysteries of Newgrange and the Shift. In this book, there was little relationship drama. Everyone had their significant other and stuck with them for the most part. New relationships were forged and old ones were rekindled. So that was nice. So long, love square, you will most definitely not be missed. I was really worried that a certain someone might come back into the picture even though at the end of Shift it seemed like they were finally gone for good. Luckily that also did not happen. Instead of focusing on how many people one girl could mess around with in about 400 pages, the story turned back to the mystery of the Shift and Aura and Zach’s abilities. There was a lot of action and spy work and chases and fight scenes. I have to say though that I was very disappointed with the amount of sex that was in this book. I do not think that that kind of thing is necessary in a young adult novel. Also, I feel like sex is not necessary for a meaningful relationship especially when the people are so young! I could go on and on about this topic, but I will just say that I wish that there was not so much emphasis put on sex in young adult books. Aside from that, I liked the plot a great deal and found it refreshing after the disappointment of Shift.

My feelings for the characters have not changed much since the last book. I do like Zachary a tiny bit more, but I am still not entirely in love with him. I like that he seems to really care about Aura and wants to do what is best for her. I just sometimes feel like he is a little TOO in love with her if that makes sense. It was a little sickening at points to hear them going on and on about each other. I dislike Aura, but that is not surprising. More often than not I dislike the main girl character of the books that I read. I don’t really know how to describe how I feel about her. I think she is way too full of herself. She could stand to get a little humility. I was annoyed by her constant thoughts of how hot she looked in certain colors and how much Zach needed and cared about her. Ugh. The other characters pop in here and there, but they do not have a huge, huge role in the over all story. Mostly it focuses on Aura and Zach, which is fine.

I have mixed feelings about this series. I love, love the plot idea about the Shift and the ghosts and everything, but I just cannot quite get passed the relationship dramas and the sex scenes and the not very memorable characters. That being said, I think that the books are a decent and easy read. If you like books with lots of romance and underlying themes of paranormal, then you’ll like these books!