Forever Obsession: Shifting

ISBN: 0802722806

Pages: 353

Appearance:

Summary:

After bouncing from foster home to foster home, Magdalene Mae is transferred to what should be her last foster home in the tiny town of Silver City, New Mexico. Now that she's eighteen and has only a year left in high school, she's determined to stay out of trouble and just be normal.
Agreeing to go to the prom with Bridger O'Connell is a good first step. Fitting in has never been her strong suit, but it's not for the reasons most people would expect-it all has to do with the deep secret that she is a shape shifter. But even in her new home danger lurks, waiting in the shadows to pounce. They are the Skinwalkers of Navajo legend, who have traded their souls to become the animal whose skin they wear-and Maggie is their next target.
Full of romance, mysticism, and intrigue, this dark take on Navajo legend will haunt readers to the final page.

Hey guys! Today I have a really awesome mythology YA chick-lit book to share with you guys. Let me just say right now that if you love mythology in general, you definitely have to check this out!

I absolutely fell in love with the cover when I first stumbled across it. Just look at it seriously, it's so beautiful. Our female gal is Maggie Mae who has been moving families for as long as she can remember. Recently, another grievance has been added to her list: Public Disturbance for she has been caught several times by the police walking around places completely naked. But, you must understand that this is not her fault. Maggie finds out that she can shift into whatever animal is closest to her. To others it'd seem pretty cool, but to her it's all one big nightmare. She hopes that in her newest home in Silver City, everything will be fine. But it's not.

Next you're introduced to Skinwalkers, but not directly. They're hinted at as Maggie finds herself being shadowed by strangers and various animals. Her boss at the local Navajo Restaurant, Naalyhene, also sense the air of darkness that seems to be lurking behind her. I loved the Navajo legend addition to the story because it just made everything seem more fun and interesting. I haven't read that many YA novels that deal with Navajo legend specifically. Greek mythology is all over the place, but Navajo not so much. It was just such an awesome addition, I can't even explain it.

Okay, let's talk Bridger. There's a lot of negativity around this guy on Goodreads, but I'm not 100% why. I get that his attitude and personality is less than stellar, but at the end of it, this guy is dealing with some major pressure. I don't understand why everyone is calling him abusive for his "handling" of Maggie and why they're getting so offended with him telling her to shut up. For one, while he was "man-handling" Maggie, he was either jealous (jeez he's human!) or he was freaking out. There's no need for male protagonists to be completely perfect, sometimes seeing a more realistic even rougher version of a male character makes them a bit more human that the typical perfect prince. Ya get?

Even if I am defending Bridger, the romance in this story wasn't the best. There are a couple times where I wish that Maggie would just leave Bridger. One thing that I didn't like about Maggie was that she couldn't seem to deal without Bridger. At the beginning she was all about getting through high school and taking off. After meeting Bridger, she slowly becomes more and more dependent to the point where when he shows up with Angelene (French family preferred girl-friend) and she literally has a breakdown. Girl really? But, let me just say, that scene in front of all the Skinwalkers and Maggie's attitude, kudos girl, kudos.

Shifting started off a bit slow, but towards the middle things started picking up really fast. Don't get me wrong, at the beginning we got to know that characters and that was definitely fun. The second half of the book though, whew! That was something. It wasn't super intense and action-packed, but everything just happened, one after the other which eventually led to the big finale. The ending was amazing, I loved the climax and the fall after it. Everything began to fall into place and it was pretty satisfying.

So that's my review! I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes mythology, it's a super fun read, I really could not put it down. If you do read it, please let me know what you think in the comment below!!