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Slide

(Slide #1)

Jill Hathaway (Goodreads Author)

3.69 · Rating details · 7,158 ratings · 1,136 reviews

Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth - her sister's friend Sophie didn't kill herself. She was murdered.

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn't actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else's mind and experiences the world through that person's eyes. She's slid into ...more

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Hardcover, First Edition, 250 pages

Published March 27th 2012 by Balzer + Bray (first published March 1st 2012)

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2012 Debut Authors (Young Adult & Middle Grade)

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· 7,158 ratings · 1,136 reviews

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Jul 20, 2011 Emily May rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, 2011, mystery-thriller, arc

3.5
Crikey. What a very difficult book to rate. I'm still not sure I made the right decision.

The thought at the forefront of my mind when I finished Slide is that this author should have written realistic fiction about relationships and the psychology of the characters, rather than a mystery. I truly thought that the explorations of Vee's relationships with her father, her dead mother, her sister, her friend and her ex best friend were excellent. I took something memorable away from each and found the messages about forgiveness and moving on to be very poignant.

I also think that Vee is an excellent protagonist, one I could like and understand - even though she is unlike me in many ways. The way she learns to cope with her gift (or curse) and then eventually to control it is told very well. She has made many mistakes in the past and they have shaped who she has become, but she has used each one to improve herself and has learnt from them that popularity isn't worth the price of turning herself into a heartless bitch.

All this was excellent. But the mystery - for me - was very lacking. Yes, I didn't manage to guess what was happening, but I thought that was more because the truth was so very far-fetched, rather than a demonstration of how well the author concealed the mystery. When a mystery is unveiled, I want to go "oh yes, of course, it all makes sense now!" not "eh!? really???" I felt like the conclusion came from nowhere and I wasn't particularly impressed.

And another reason this author would be better suited to realistic fiction - I wanted an explanation for Vee's strange ability to slide into other people's bodies. A random paranormal element in an otherwise real-world novel just seems weird and out of place here. It felt like an attempt to be original that went wrong. The sad thing is that the author didn't need to write a paranormal novel, she didn't need to write a mystery, because Jill Hathaway obviously has a talent for getting inside characters' minds.

I want her future novels to focus on people, relationships and personal issues. Then I will gladly read them.
...more

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Nov 07, 2011 Reynje rated it liked it · review of another edition

Once my flatmate and I camped out in our lounge room and watched all three seasons of Veronica Mars back to back. We may or may not have also been eating Milo straight from a jumbo size tin with spoons and a bottle of milk, but that is beside the point people, beside the point!

What the actual point is, is that Slide has a similar addictive, easy-to-consume quality. As Veronica Mars, I mean, not Milo. (Although, one could argue it’s two sides of the same coin).

I can’t help but think that the VM ...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Giselle rated it liked it

Shelves: ebook, arc

Slide is a refreshing, fast paced YA mystery that has original paranormal elements along with great character building; a very quick read that I would recommend to all fans of thrillers.

Vee is able to "slide" into someone else's head when she gets these fainting spells. This is when she figures out there's a murderer on the loose. I loved this sliding ability. It's original, clever, and it can make for some serious amusement. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't elaborated more thoroughly, t Slide is a refreshing, fast paced YA mystery that has original paranormal elements along with great character building; a very quick read that I would recommend to all fans of thrillers.

Vee is able to "slide" into someone else's head when she gets these fainting spells. This is when she figures out there's a murderer on the loose. I loved this sliding ability. It's original, clever, and it can make for some serious amusement. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't elaborated more thoroughly, though. Curiosity gets the best of me and I want to find out why, how, and the purpose of these paranormal elements in books. Where do they come from? How did they get it? Who else is affected? When these bases aren't touched it simply feel out of sorts in an otherwise contemporary novel. Regardless, I still found it fascinating as it took us into the minds of several characters, and essentially enforced them with personalities.

I've been reading murder mysteries since I was in my early teens. I have always loved them - one of my favorite series was Veronica Mars (still sad it was cancelled). Consequently, I've developed quite the talent of figuring out who's guilty, so in my case I thought it was fairly predictable, but I wasn't too put down by it. I was still kept constantly entertained, mostly by the characters' relationships and family dynamics.

Jill's ability to write well rendered characters and their relationships is what I enjoyed the most in Slide. We've got very deep, emotional issues that are touched in this story. Absentee fathers, deaths (including suicide), bullying, affairs - she was able to create serious life problems that are dramatic, but also deeply realistic. It's incredible the way Vee deals with difficult situations she's thrown into. I loved her relationship with her sister the most. Being basically the one raising her, she has incredible patience and maturity to stand by her, supporting her through all her rights and wrong. This is only one of the many reasons why I absolutely admired Vee's character.

The mystery is fun, the characters are wonderful, and the pacing keeps you on your toes. Even though it didn't blow my mind, Slide is definitely a book I'd suggest for all fans of murder mysteries - a rare gem in current YA.

--
For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads ...more

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Oct 21, 2010 Nomes rated it liked it

Shelves: 2011, crime-and-mystery

Slide is a refreshing, energetic YA debut for fans of Veronica Mars.

Sylvia (Vee) can slide into other people bodies, bearing witness to what they are doing, but having no sway over them. It’s pretty much a perfect premise for a sleuthing novel as Vee can sleuth her way around people minds (helping progress the plot forward with conveniently witnessed scenes).

I liked Vee from the first chapter. She is funky without being try-hard. I loved her narration:

She is my sister and my exact opposite in e

...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Maja (The Nocturnal Library) rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, i-have-superpowers, totally-saw-that-coming, reviewed-in-2013

Slide is one of those exciting books that you can (and probably will) read in one sitting, and then gladly re-read it a year or so later. It is a fast-paced thriller with a single paranormal element. I was honestly surprised by how quickly I finished it and how much I enjoyed it.

The idea of slipping into the minds of others is certainly not new or unexplored, but I liked Hathaway’s version of it. Vee’s ability can be defined as a form of psychometry – touching emotionally charged objects causes Slide is one of those exciting books that you can (and probably will) read in one sitting, and then gladly re-read it a year or so later. It is a fast-paced thriller with a single paranormal element. I was honestly surprised by how quickly I finished it and how much I enjoyed it.

The idea of slipping into the minds of others is certainly not new or unexplored, but I liked Hathaway’s version of it. Vee’s ability can be defined as a form of psychometry – touching emotionally charged objects causes her to see things through other people’s eyes. Vee has only tried to share her secret once, with her father, who promptly sent her to a psychiatrist and refused to talk about it again. That experience has thought her never to reveal what she sees, not to anyone – her sister, or even her best friend.

I expected Slide to focus more on the romance, but the first half was practically romance-free, and I must admit I’m glad that was the case. It allowed me to take the rest – the mystery, Vee’s ability, her loneliness and her fears, more seriously and it gave the story more weight. By the time the romance came at the center, I was already fully invested in this page-turner and eager to discover the identity of the killer.

In style, Hathaway reminds me a lot of Kim Harrington, which is a big compliment in my book, with one very important difference. Harrington’s Clarity (or Perception), although equally long, never seemed rushed but rather perfectly paced, while Hathaway’s desire to be concise worked against her.

In the second half, things started coming together at a head-spinning pace. On the one side, this was good because there were no fillers, nothing to dilute the main storyline and as I already mentioned, I was kept on my toes the entire time. On the other side, though, it stopped me from forming strong emotional connections with the characters as there was simply no time to get to know them, and I was never given a chance to become fully invested in their relationships, be it father-daughter, boyfriend-girlfriend, or those between best friends.
By far the most impressive and memorable part, at least to me, was Vee’s relationship with her emotionally distant father. After Vee’s mother died, the brilliant pediatric surgeon started working himself almost to death, avoiding home at all costs and leaving Vee to care both for herself and her younger sister. Although Vee is full of resentment and feels utterly abandoned most of the time, she can’t find it within herself to stand up to him because he looks so utterly destroyed that her first desire is to protect him. Their reversed roles, their entire situation was done extremely well and it really struck a chord with me.

To make the short story even shorter, Slide is a thrilling read perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon when you need something to fully occupy you for a few hours and then let you go in time for work/school on Monday morning.

...more

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Nov 10, 2020 Sara rated it it was ok

Apparently i'm on a YA mystery kick as this is my third in as many days.
This was an interesting idea but i found i didn't connect to any of the characters nor did i care very much about the overall plot.
I also found the story lent a little more young on the YA scale than i usually go for so if you're a younger reader i suspect you'll enjoy it more than i did, so pick it up! ...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Beth rated it it was ok

Shelves: read-on-kindle, good-beginning-bad-ending, could-have-been-better, loved-the-premise, nothing-special, 2012-reads, march-2012, mixed-feelings, mehhh

2.5 stars

I feel so conflicted about "Slide." On the whole, I felt that it was extremely intriguing and promising but ultimately disappointing.

It really pains me to put this book on my "mehhh" shelf, because I really thought that it could have been something special. But, despite some really good scenes and Hathaway's fluid writing, "Slide" felt like it was constantly stuck in mediocrity.

I actually get a stomachache writing that, because I so wanted to love "Slide"! It was so intriguing. Vee is a 2.5 stars

I feel so conflicted about "Slide." On the whole, I felt that it was extremely intriguing and promising but ultimately disappointing.

It really pains me to put this book on my "mehhh" shelf, because I really thought that it could have been something special. But, despite some really good scenes and Hathaway's fluid writing, "Slide" felt like it was constantly stuck in mediocrity.

I actually get a stomachache writing that, because I so wanted to love "Slide"! It was so intriguing. Vee is a good heroine. Not great, not loveable but certainly very likeable. She avoided certain whiny- and stupid-girl clichés that I thought "Slide" might slip into. Her backstory is so interesting and really engaged me in her character. Her special skill is so promising - more of a psychological thriller twist than overtly paranormal, which appealed strongly to me - there's something about being able to see snatches of other people's lives that is really complex and full of possibilities. For the most part, Hathaway capitalises on this and the standout scene in "Slide" is one where Vee 'slides' into the body of her childhood best friend and discovers something he's been trying to keep from her.

Her relationship with newboy Zane is okay. Very okay. It's not exactly bursting with chemistry or swoony moments, but you know, it's there and it doesn't take over too much of Vee's narrative or cloud her thoughts too much. I was really interested in Vee's past as a once-popular girl, but I felt that this really could have been developed more, especially with regards to her little sister, Mattie, who is now a truly popular girl. It's all so full of potential and feels like it's "so nearly there" but NOT. QUITE.

The mystery, on the other hand, is a huge stumbling block for me. I love teen mysteries and this new trend for them. I love red herrings and surprises and the plotline "someone is killing all the cheerleaders and making it look like a suicide." I don't care if your characters are stereotypes (there were a lot of stereotypes in "Slide", from the jerk jock to the bitchy cheerleader to the sensiitve new boy) as long as there's plenty of energy and twists and intriguing stuff. And there seemed like there was lots of the latter in "Slide", especially coupled with the heroine's mindscrewy ability. The pacing was really good, so that I constantly felt suckered in by something else. This all started to falter in the second half with the revelation about Vee's ability. (view spoiler) This felt annoying and inconsistent with what we'd already read about what she could do but I was willing to overlook it until I realised that Hathaway didn't really do anything that new or exciting with it.

But the solution to the mystery...dear God, I felt that the solution was AWFUL. It felt patched together and totally implausible. Also, it whacked out the otherwise really good pacing of the novel in general, because it was rushed and disjointed. But still...all the potential this had hurts my soul! So, yes, I probably am going to read book #2.
...more

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Aug 07, 2013 Bèbè ✦ RANT ✦ rated it really liked it

”Her inky-black hair frames her white face. Her arms lie helpless at her sides, a long slash in each wrist.
This isn’t happening.
That’s when I see what I’m holding in my gloved hands. A long, silver blade.
Oh. Shit.

Vee was diagnosed with narcolepsy but it is so much more than that. If she touches an object that has an emotional imprint on it, she will “slide” into that person and will see the world from his eyes. She cannot control or hear person’s thoughts, she is there to watc ...more

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Jan 07, 2012 Mimi Valentine rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed, pure-awesomeness, arc

Wow! Slide defines what an awesome murder mystery novel should be like: twisting, original, somewhat creepy yet completely unexpected. I couldn't put this down until I was certain who the killer was, and in this rare case, it wasn't until the very end of the book!

Fast-paced and enticing, this is the kind of novel you should clear your schedule for because you won't be able to stop! Not only is this one of the most surprising mysteries I've read to date (and as a girl who dreams of being the nex ...more

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Dec 01, 2011 Isamlq rated it it was ok

hmm..my usual complaints of predictability, of having unnecessary elements and of telling rather than showing apply to slide.

vee slides into others consciousness... intriguing at first but not as properly executed as i would have liked. the girl simply had a tendency to jump to conclusions; to be led around too easily, quickly. given a set of facts, she always went to the obvious. which is sadly, unbelievable because looking at the whole thing, i could tell who the real culprit was chapters befo ...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Jesse (JesseTheReader) rated it liked it

Video review coming soon on: http://www.youtube.com/jessethereader ...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Lindsay Cummings rated it really liked it

Shelves: debutauthorchallengeread

My Thoughts-
WOW. I loved this book. Love, love, loooooved this book. Do you hear me, Jill Hathaway? I freakin loved your book, woman! :) Here's why:

The writing....is lovely. It's done in a way that its easy on the eyes, and the reader is drawn in right from the start. The use of descriptive language is something that I always look for when reading a book, and this one....yes. Just....YES.

Love the cover. It's trippy, is it not? Just like the main character, Vee's "slides".

There is so much I wis ...more

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Nov 16, 2011 Giselle rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc-electronic, 4-star, age-young-adult, genre-romance, requested-for-review, genre-paranormal, arc-physical, from-netgalley, genre-contemporary, 2011

An Electronic Advanced Reader Copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for review. Quotes have been pulled from an ARC and may be subject to change.

Sylvia isn't your normal high school girl. She's a narcoleptic, but not only does she have no control sleeping, she slides into a person when there's a strong imprint attached to an item. Kind of creepy if you think about it, but she has no control over it.

No one knows that she slides into people's lives, not even her best friend Rollins. T ...more

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Dec 10, 2011 Aeicha rated it liked it

THREE WORDS: Intriguing But Predictable

MY REVIEW: I’m a bit conflicted when it comes to Jill Hathaway’s novel Slide. There are things about this book that I really liked, and things that I either didn’t like or kind of disappointed me.

Everyone believes that Sylvia “Vee” Bell is narcoleptic, but she isn’t. Instead of falling asleep when she passes out, Vee slides into someone else, seeing the world through their perspective for a short time. The only person Vee has ever told about her sliding- he ...more

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Feb 16, 2012 Jon rated it liked it

Shelves: paranormal

Find this at Scott Reads It
***This review needs to be rewritten because it sounds extremely preposterous***
Slide was a good read, it wasn't great and it wasn't terrible. Slide is the story of Vee (Sylvia) who is diagnosed as a narcoleptic, but she really gets unconscious and slides into our people's bodies. She slide into a person's body just as they murdered her sister's best friend Sophie.

The whole idea of Sliding was very cool but it was very similar to [book:Wake|1661957. The pages flew Find this at Scott Reads It
***This review needs to be rewritten because it sounds extremely preposterous***
Slide was a good read, it wasn't great and it wasn't terrible. Slide is the story of Vee (Sylvia) who is diagnosed as a narcoleptic, but she really gets unconscious and slides into our people's bodies. She slide into a person's body just as they murdered her sister's best friend Sophie.

The whole idea of Sliding was very cool but it was very similar to [book:Wake|1661957. The pages flew by when I read Slide because of it's fast paced plot and skilled writing. I loved how it was a paranormal thriller and it really pulls the reader in.

The writing style was great and really pulled me in. Jill Hathaway is a writer that really writes characters well and their relationships. I couldn't connect with the characters at all because I couldn't relate to them. I love books when you feel like you could be in the character's situation but with Slide it wasn't like that. One of my favorite character relationship is Vee and her dad. Hathaway really nailed what a true father-daughter relationship is like. Vee's relationship with her dad and sister felt very realistic.

I didn't really like the love triangle at all because I felt like it was just a distraction from the action and mystery of Slide. Zane and Rollins just didn't cut it for me, they just were not that interesting. Rollins seemed to be pretty inconsistent with Vee and he really annoyed me at parts in the book. Zane seemed like he was pretty flawless for almost the entire book and that really annoyed me because nobody's perfect.

Slide is a great read for fans of The Lovely Bones and Wake. I kind hope in the sequel that the reason why Vee slides will be explained or maybe we will learn more about sliding. Hathway created an intricate story that is filled with surprises that readers will devour. Also I love the cover and the book trailer! I will definitely be reading the sequel Impostor!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdkdwg...
**Thanks NetGalley and Balzer + Bray for providing me with an ARC** ...more

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Aug 28, 2011 Sasha rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2012-debut-author, harpercollins, ya-qc-5, young-adult, read-in-2012, 2012-publication

Slide is a story about a pink haired girl named Vee. She’s just your regular teenager, except for the fact that she can “slide” into other people’s minds if she has something of theirs. Sometimes she can help it and sometimes she can’t. When her younger sister’s friend dies of a so-called suicide, Vee must put the puzzle pieces together to find Sophie’s killer.

This book wanted to be a thiller but it didn't meet the mark. It felt too formulated. The main character is a girl who is has traded in h ...more

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Feb 29, 2012 Jillyn rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Teens, young adults

Shelves: first-reads

I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.

Vee Bell is keeping a secret from everyone around her, out of fear that they will think that she's insane. Everyone has been told that she's narcoleptic, which excuses her random blackouts, but she knows that narcolepsy isn't her ailment. When she blacks out, she "slides"- goes into someone else's mind and sees the world from their eyes. It was random, at first, that she slid. But now, she's gaining control. It's because of this gift that she kn ...more

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Mar 05, 2019 Nemo (The ☾Moonlight☾ Library) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bookshelf-virtual, format-ebook, audience-young-adult, books-i-own, publisher-5-harpercollins, purchased-2012-or-earlier, 2012-published, genre-paranormal, kelly-s-project, source-home-library

This review was originally posted on The Moonlight Library

I've been thinking about this book for a LONG time (as in years) because I love the concept, and I built it up so much in my head and I think I assumed it was going to be SO GOOD…So I was a little surprised to find it was a pretty typical YA paranormal murder mystery.

There's the loner girl with the boy best friend/guy who's clearly in love with her, the slut-shaming girls, the ex-best friend turned Mean Girl, the mysterious new boy with a This review was originally posted on The Moonlight Library

I've been thinking about this book for a LONG time (as in years) because I love the concept, and I built it up so much in my head and I think I assumed it was going to be SO GOOD…So I was a little surprised to find it was a pretty typical YA paranormal murder mystery.

There's the loner girl with the boy best friend/guy who's clearly in love with her, the slut-shaming girls, the ex-best friend turned Mean Girl, the mysterious new boy with a secret, absent parents, and a supernatural power she can't tell anyone about. While Vee also listens to 90s grunge and studies astronomy as a hobby, she sees her love interest Zane only as a way to make the other girls jealous of her for a large part of the novel.

The only thing this book has going for it is the pace and the red herrings. I couldn't guess who the murderer was for a long time, and I felt like that part was done really well and it unravelled all at the right time. I wanted to keep reading it because of the mystery.However, I felt like there were some things that weren't resolved.

For example, everyone still thinks Sophie commit suicide.

And even though Vee did show some character growth in that she learned to embrace her gift/curse, I found it frustrating when she could all of a sudden control people when she slides into them, she never used the power for good. Like, taking over a girl passed out in a burning house and making her get up and run, which I was fully expecting her to do. But the ability to take over someone when she slides into them didn't even factor into the villain's demise. The villain was defeated by a complete accident, which meant that Vee had no agency and didn't resolve her own plot. Even so, Vee did have a crisis of conscience when she realised how violating her power was, but this wasn't explored for very long and was not a reason for her to not control people.

Overall I'm glad I read it because it's been bugging me for years that I bought this book when I was super excited for it, and I think if you really enjoy very typical and solid paint by numbers YA paranormals, you might enjoy this one too, but don't expect anything new or ground breaking or diverse in here. ...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Heidi rated it liked it

Original review posted here.

...it’s wrong that death is a loss. It’s something you gain. Death is always there, whispering in your ear. It’s in the spaces between your fingers. In your memories. In everything you think and say and feel and wish. It’s always there.

Everyone knows Vee has a problem, they just don’t really know what it is. Diagnosed as narcoleptic, Vee passess out on an increasingly regular basis. What everyone doesn’t know, is that when she’s unconscious, she slides. Vee finds hers Original review posted here.

...it’s wrong that death is a loss. It’s something you gain. Death is always there, whispering in your ear. It’s in the spaces between your fingers. In your memories. In everything you think and say and feel and wish. It’s always there.

Everyone knows Vee has a problem, they just don’t really know what it is. Diagnosed as narcoleptic, Vee passess out on an increasingly regular basis. What everyone doesn’t know, is that when she’s unconscious, she slides. Vee finds herself looking through the eyes of other people, an unwilling passenger to their lives, unable to look away. When her little sister’s best friend supposedly commits suicide, Vee’s the only witness who knows the truth--Sophie didn’t kill herself, she was murdered. Now, Vee is forced to remain silent for fear of being labeled crazy, but she is compelled to solve Sophie’s murder and stop the killer before more harm can come to her sister.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Guy and girl are best friends, but their friendship is on the brink of unraveling because it’s pretty clear that one (or both) of them has feelings for the other beyond friendship, but they’re too wound up to actually talk about it and instead start pushing each other away. New guy comes to town and sees said girl as ‘special’, and is totally into her even though she’s probably not hot/popular/his type enough for him and her life is completely screwed up right now, but he sees beyond all that to the unique flower that is her.

Sound familiar? If so, you might find aspects of Slide as tedious and wrote as I did. But (yes, there is a BUT), I will tell you that luckily, this played out love triangle is a considerably minor part of the plot. For me, there was plenty more to Vee and the mystery and suspense of Slide to keep me turning pages at top speed until I reached the end, leaving me liking Jill Hathaway’s debut much more than I was expecting to when I was about ⅓ of the way through.

Thankfully, Vee Bell isn’t just about the boys in her life. Vee is quite possibly one of the best big sisters I’ve encountered in recent YA. She doesn’t smother her sister, she lets her make her own mistakes (though let’s face it, I did have that scene from 10 Things I Hate About You where Kat tells Bianca why she ‘quit’ being popular running through my head...they have just about the same dynamic), and yet she has her back and makes taking care of her when she’s down her top priority. Of course, Vee doesn’t see that she has a choice. Her mother has passed away, and her father is largely absent due to his job as a surgeon. Vee has pretty much shouldered the emotional responsibility of an adult twice her age, which is common for the oldest children in this type of family, but the fact remains that she does have the option not to take care of everyone around her. She’s strong and she does, despite her own cavalcade of problems, and this makes her a winning lead.

Of course, there’s also the mystery. Slide was a fairly fast paced and thrilling read; Vee’s affliction in which she passes out and ‘slides’ into others was both unique and terrifying. Vee is drawn into other’s bodies through an empathetic connection made when she is touching an object with emotional significance to another person. This means she’s basically become OCD, avoiding other people’s belongings and used items (like books) with due care. When she does slide, she is stuck in that person’s mind. She cannot read thoughts, control anything, or look away. As a result, Vee finds herself the only witness to a murder, and knows that if she ever tells she’ll be labeled ‘crazy’ instantly. In order to appease her fears, Vee must learn to use her curse as a gift.

Slide, for me, brought up some interesting privacy issues. Vee cannot really control when she slides, and despite her efforts to control who, often seems to overlook items that might direct her. She realizes the secrets she knows about people because of her affliction are a horrible invasion of privacy, and yet, she also begins to feel that it is okay to invade someone's privacy if you have good intentions. I had a hard time with this sentiment, although I could see the logic that brought her to this conclusion. As someone who values our privacy and freedom with the utmost dedication, I found it hard to stomach the notion that this type of ‘spying’ might be justifiable in order to make someone feel better. It does help to solve the mystery, but it's also no surprise that it blows up in Vee's face as well.

I appreciated Slide’s nauseating typeface on the cover, but will say that I was disappointed in the story’s end. It just seemed too convenient to me. All in all, a take it or leave it kind of read. It went very quickly, and I enjoyed it, but I didn’t have to have this book in my life. The concept for me was cooler than the actual story. ...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Mike rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, reviewed, fist-person-present-tense, good-ya, good-books-have-good-covers, magic, murder-mystery, action, to-read-very-soon, thrillers

This is another one of my rewritten reviews, because, like most reviews I wrote back in the day, this one sucked. Plus, this one deserves a glowing review, because it's one of the most accurate and honest portrayals of teenagers I've ever seen. (Especially when compared to the sequel. Let's just pretend that never happened.)

Vee is a very well-rendered protagonist. She makes stupid mistakes, she's a terrible friend to Rollins at times, but by golly is she interesting, and she manages to be sympat This is another one of my rewritten reviews, because, like most reviews I wrote back in the day, this one sucked. Plus, this one deserves a glowing review, because it's one of the most accurate and honest portrayals of teenagers I've ever seen. (Especially when compared to the sequel. Let's just pretend that never happened.)

Vee is a very well-rendered protagonist. She makes stupid mistakes, she's a terrible friend to Rollins at times, but by golly is she interesting, and she manages to be sympathetic throughout. All of the side characters are equally well-done, and their relationships are layered and nuanced. Vee's relationship with her sister, Maddie, was particularly interesting. They're definitely annoyed by each other, but they also care about each other, to a realistic extent. Their supporting each other, despite their differences, was effective and touching. But really, all the relationships were realistically written, and all of the characters well-developed.

This shows up to an even greater extent in Hathaway's portrayal of Vee's high school. I didn't find out until after I read the book that Hathaway is a high school English teacher, but I probably could've figured it out anyway; she does an excellent job of portraying things realistically. I read this book when I was a lot newer to YA, and I might not be quite so impressed if I read it now, but I do remember it sticking out to me in its accuracy Things such as a guy getting arrested for having weed in his locker and the condoms under the bleachers rang true to my own experiences with middle school (I never went to a regular high school, thank god). Another thing I liked was that Hathaway avoided characterizing everyone as any particular characteristic. Sure, Matty's clique initially felt sort of like a hivemind at first, but by the end, we saw a realistic variety of personalities behind them. (Particularly in (view spoiler))

The plot was equally strong. Hathaway is clearly a master at pacing - the story goes at a breakneck speed, always tense, never giving anything unnecessary at all. You'd think this would feel rushed, but I don't think it did - Hathaway did a good job of inserting character-focused scenes into the story when they were necessary, and the pacing never felt obligatory, as it sometimes did in the book's sequel. The integration of the plot and the character development was yet another effective aspect of the book - the pacing was kept up, which is pretty rare these days, but the characters also got their fair share of time to shine. Vee's character arc coincided perfectly with the murder mystery; both were necessary to each other, and both worked.

Well, okay, the murder mystery didn't entirely work for me, because I knew who the killer was. It wasn't exactly hard to figure out; anyone with any level of genre savviness could spot the foreshadowing and the red herrings. The ending, while an effective climax, held few surprises for me. That said, the killer's motives made sense to me, and I liked that he/she wasn't portrayed as pure evil. Nuanced villains are harder to write than nuanced heroes, but Hathaway pulled off both without a hitch. The twist wasn't effective as a surprise, but it was effective as substance, which is more important.

The other thing that made me give the book four stars is the prose. It wasn't overly-bad; I was never tempted to throw the book against the wall. It just had many of the typical debut-author pitfalls: choppy sentences, oddly specific figurative language, that kind of thing. It wasn't a huge problem, but it was definitely a significant problem; the book would've definitely benefited from tighter editing.

But this is still an exceptional debut by a talented author. The sequel fell a bit flat for me, as you might've been able to pick up on, but this book itself was fantastically paced and realistically characterized. This is a textbook example of everything that makes YA so good at the moment, almost every single reason that I think we're in the golden age of the genre. ...more

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Mar 26, 2012 Sarah Elizabeth rated it liked it

Shelves: as, r2r-complete, amazon-sale, bought-2013, read-2013, read-with-abbie

(Source: Purchased on kindle from Amazon.co.uk for only 99p!)
16-year-old Sylvia (Vee), suffers from narcolepsy, or so everyone believes. Instead, when Vee loses consciousness it’s because she has ‘Slid’ into someone else’s mind and can see what they are doing. Unfortunately she can’t control what they are doing, or hear their thoughts though.

Vee has been coping with this problem by simply taking a lot of caffeine tablets, but the sliding is becoming more and more frequent. The only thing Vee can (Source: Purchased on kindle from Amazon.co.uk for only 99p!)
16-year-old Sylvia (Vee), suffers from narcolepsy, or so everyone believes. Instead, when Vee loses consciousness it’s because she has ‘Slid’ into someone else’s mind and can see what they are doing. Unfortunately she can’t control what they are doing, or hear their thoughts though.

Vee has been coping with this problem by simply taking a lot of caffeine tablets, but the sliding is becoming more and more frequent. The only thing Vee can do to combat this, other than taking the caffeine tablets is to make sure she doesn’t touch anything belonging to another person as this seems to trigger the sliding.

One night Vee slides and finds herself in the body of someone with a knife in their hand, standing over the dead body of a girl that Vee recognises – her sister’s friend Sophie.
Who can Vee confide in though? Who would believe her? Or should she try to work out who the killer is on her own?

This story had a very interesting premise, but it wasn’t anywhere near as thrilling as the blurb suggested.

Vee was a bit of a wishy-washy character. She had very few friends, and had no idea what to do with the information she had, so she basically did nothing. While this may be a realistic reaction to accidentally seeing someone get murdered, it doesn’t really make for an edge of your seat thrill ride.
This ‘sliding’ as Vee called it had been going on for a long time, several years it seemed, yet Vee had no clue what to really do about it other than to not touch things belonging to other people, and to take multiple caffeine pills (which as a friend pointed out – she took way too many of - to the point where she could have easily put herself into cardiac arrest). After at least 3 years of this sliding, you would have expected her to have tried to use her sliding in some way, or to see if she could slide into a specific person etc. only she seemed to have done nothing other than try to stop it. Again; not exactly a thrilling tale.
Vee was obviously upset over seeing Sophie murdered, but for me, telling no-one was not the right thing to do. Especially considering that this was someone she knew fairly well, and someone that her sister knew even better.

The murder mystery part was also a little dull for me. From the blurb I expected a gripping, thrilling mystery, and instead we just got Vee basically doing nothing other than speculating. There were a couple of likely candidates for the position for murderer – a girl who made fun out of Sophie, a guy who had had sex with her, and another possible lover too, but there was very little to go on, and no obvious culprit. By the 75% mark I just wanted to know already, and I was getting pretty tired of wondering who did it.
In the end the murderer was not easy to guess at, but not for any clever reason, just because the murderer barely featured in the book at all. It was kinda like someone conversationally telling you at a bus stop ‘they caught that killer you know; he lived next door to my best friends hairdresser.’; mildly entertaining, but not exactly nail-biting.
Otherwise the ending was okay, though not exactly happy, and like the rest of the story was pretty mediocre.
Overall; a less than thrilling, paranormal YA murder mystery.
6.5 out of 10.
...more

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Mar 04, 2012 Ferdy rated it it was ok

Shelves: whiny-annoying-blah-heroine

2.5 stars

Sylvia (Vee) has the ability to 'slide' into other people's minds, her abilities are triggered when she touches an object that holds some meaning to the person she 'slides' into. Vee has very little control over her powers and so she finds herself 'sliding' at inconvenient times, like when she is at school. Vee's family and friends believe she suffers from narcolepsy.
Vee inadvertently 'slides' into someone who is holding a bloody knife over her sister's best friend, Sophie. When Vee fin 2.5 stars

Sylvia (Vee) has the ability to 'slide' into other people's minds, her abilities are triggered when she touches an object that holds some meaning to the person she 'slides' into. Vee has very little control over her powers and so she finds herself 'sliding' at inconvenient times, like when she is at school. Vee's family and friends believe she suffers from narcolepsy.
Vee inadvertently 'slides' into someone who is holding a bloody knife over her sister's best friend, Sophie. When Vee finds out that Sophie's death is being labeled as suicide, she decides to use her powers to invesigate the murder.
I did enjoy the premise of Vee's powers, she could see through other people's eyes but she couldn't read their minds or feel their emotions. I would have liked her powers and it's origins to be explored more, it was suggested that Vee's mother had the same abilities, but other than that, much of Vee's powers remain a mystery. I think it would have worked better if their were other people with powers, I hope that the sequel will expand on why Vee has powers and if there are other people like her.
Vee was quite an annoying protagonist, she thought she was better than everyone else and she was also quite boring. I felt sorry for her best friend, Rollins - Vee expected him to do all the work in the friendship, whilst she did nothing. Vee got pissy with him if he didn't call, even though she made hardly any effort to call him or reach out to him. I really don't know why Rollins bothered with her.
The love triangle was boring: Zane - the hot new guy, who much to Vee's suprise was interested in her and then Rollins - the BFF, who is secretly in love with Vee but for some reason has never made a move on her. Seriously enough with the rubbish love triangles!! I have to say, I was pleased to see that the love triangle was no more by the end and I do hope that there are no additional love interests in the sequel.
Vee's dad and sister were not very likeable, I couldn't muster any sympathy for either of them. They both did horrible things and didn't think how their actions would hurt the people who they supposedly cared about.
I was suprised to find out who the murderer was, it just came out of nowhere. I was disappointed that there was no confrontation or satisfying resolution with the murderer, it felt like the author couldn't be bothered and just decided to get rid of the murderer because it was easier to write.
The girls in the book, apart from Vee are either 'slutty' or turn into bullies & heinous bit**es when some other girl 'steals their man'. I find it hard to believe that teenage girls would be that horrible to another girl just because said girl is involved with the guy they have a crush on. It's absolutely ridiculous and way over the top the way teenage girls other than the heroine are potrayed in YA novels.
I did feel that a lot of the book was quite simliar to Kim Harrington's Clarity - Girl is an outcast, said girl has power, 2 guys interested in girl with power, random girl is murdered, girl with power uses her power to invesigate, girl with power gets in danger whilst investigating, girl saved by a love interest, bad guys are bad, mystery solved, the end. ...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Kat (Lost in Neverland) rated it really liked it

Shelves: eh, cheesy-romance, stupid-heroine

WHEEEE! I won this.

Will write a review of it once I read it.

Damn, that was REALLY fast delivery. I was totally not expecting it. IT'S SO PRETTY.

Upon Finishing

DANG. I...was wrong?!

Well, sort of.

Vee is a narcoleptic; she collapses at any time without being able to control it. But what everyone doesn't know, is that when Vee passes out, she slides into someone else's mind.
Whatever she had been touching last, a coat, a button, an earring, she goes into the mind of the person who had imprinted on ...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Farah Jay rated it really liked it

Shelves: for-review

As I started reading SLIDE, I never expected to slide into a book full of a surprising and captivating storyline. SLIDE was definitely one of my most anticipated books of 2012, and I was so glad to get my hands on it. Jill Hathaway's writing was fun, and the flow of the book was good. I never felt bored, and always wanted to turn to the next page.
The main protagonist, Sylvia, known as Vee, has a special power. She slides into people when she passes out, and when she does, she see's the world thr ...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Veronica Morfi rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Rating: 2/5

Slide was a bit disappointing for me. I started this expecting an amazing paranormal mystery, maybe a bit creepy too, but that is not what I got. In Slide, we get introduced to Vee, a girl that everytime she falls asleep she can slide inside someone else's mind and see through their eyes. And one day she slides inside a killer that just murdered her sister's best friend. Still, the police thinks it's a suicide and only Vee knows the truth.

Let me start by saying that I loved the idea b ...more

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Jun 04, 2013 Isa Lavinia rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: owned, awful, paranormal, young-adult, boring, disappointment, trigger-warnings

Slide I really, really hate giving 1 star reviews because I know authors work very hard on their books. So I wanted to like this but, seriously, how is this any different from Lisa McMann's Dream Catcher series?

Apart from the main character having a severe case of

and there being a lot of girl on girl hate and slut shaming, I mean?

Maybe you have to have been part of that specific cultural experience to relate to these characters, but man, I thought American high-schoolers were only this hatef ...more

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Aug 21, 2011 Sarah rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, read-in-2011

Innovative and clever mystery about a teenage girl who can "slide" into other people's bodies and view life from their eyes, and how she uses this ability to solve a series of murders. Even in the midst of the thriller/terror aspects, the relationship the main character has with her sister was really poignant. I've never read anything quite like it and I hope it's the first of many! Great twists and turns, too. ...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Amanda rated it really liked it

I have no memory of reading this! But apparently I did!

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Feb 01, 2015 Kathy rated it really liked it

I slid right into this story, and cruised along to the conclusion in two weeks. Since I've been known to dally on a book for a couple of months, that's a high recommendation! ...more

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Mar 29, 2015 Teodora rated it really liked it

It was a quick book, a little predictаble, but still enjoyable enough.

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. young adult - girl with pink hair whose mom is dead? [s]	3	65	Sep 23, 2015 04:23PM
FYA Book Club of ...: January - Slide	12	10	Mar 05, 2015 05:03PM
FYA Book Club of ...: January 2015 Meeting	4	9	Feb 13, 2015 12:29PM
Any similar books -- regular world, character with 'special ability'?	4	14	Jul 02, 2014 03:40PM
Excited about book two?	7	29	Jul 20, 2013 03:16PM

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About Jill Hathaway

Jill Hathaway

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Jill Hathaway lives in the Des Moines area with her husband and young children. Having earned her BA in English Education from the University of Northern Iowa and her MA in Literature from Iowa State University, she teaches high school English and dual credit courses for Des Moines Area Community College.

SLIDE, her debut, was released from Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins in March 2012. The sequel, IMP ...more