Shifting by Bethany Wiggins

SHIFTING
by
Bethany Wiggins
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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.

 ★★★★
This book has been on my To-Read shelf for a long time now. I wasn't really expecting too much when I started reading it out of boredom, and boy did it surprised me. I find it really hard to put down this book as I am always wanting for more action and revelations!

Magdalene Mae or Maggie mae, why can't her nickname be Maggie?, anyway, she's an orphan girl that has been to 12 different foster home since she was 5, and as if life wasn't hard enough as it is, the girl discovered that she's actually a shapeshifter. For me it was pretty cool! I mean, imagine how amazing it can be to be able to shift to an animal to your  liking? Wicked Sick! Except, Maggie Mae's shifting ability actually has a limitation.

"Ever since I started changing, I always looked like Mrs. Montgomery's big orange tabby,my foster mother's pet.Maybe I turn into whatever animal I'm closest to."

Well that's a little bit inconvenient. The girl got to be thankful she didn't turn into a Horny Toad. Say what?! I did a double take too, fortunately it wasn't what I and Maggie Mae was thinking.

I tilted my head to the side and studied her. Did she really just say that?"A what toad?"
Mrs. Carpenter chuckled harder and the reptile scurried away. "They're Horned lizards but we always called them horny toads." She explained. "It doesn't mean they're horny. Just covered with horns"

Thank you very much for elaborating Mrs. Carpenter.

Another downside of shape shifting is that, her dresses don't just magically removed and reappeared before and after changing. It gets ripped if she don't removed them herself before shifting. That was why she keeps getting picked up for indecent exposure. 

"Well, I knew you weren't up to no good when they found you naked in the streets. My gut told me you were a decent girl, and my gut has never been wrong. And Ollie thinks you're a Prostitute!"

I mean, seriously? Even Prostitutes wear clothes, as skimpy as it is, they still wear clothes, they don't stroll the streets naked.If I were to see a naked girl on the streets, I would think she's a little cracked up, or she has just been sexually molested, but not a prostitute.

Anyway, Mrs. Carpenter is actually the last foster parent she's been assigned to so she can finished her last year at high school, and since it will be the last, she atleast wanted to fit in even until the graduation day only, although, fitting in has never been easy for her being a shifter and an orphan and all. She always got picked on. So.. 

"I learned to run fast and hit hard"

That's my girl!

However, it seems that bully schoolmates should be the least of her problems, for there are creatures far more dangerous and deadly that exists in Silver City - Skinwalkers. Now that's creepy. 

"The Navajo call them witches. They steal the skin of an animal and become that animal. They are skinwalkers"

I was like..

That was the main difference between the two. Skincrawlers steal the skin of an animal to become that animal, it's limitless. It was actually pretty cool, being able to become any animal to your liking if not for the stealing of skin thing, Gross. On the other hand, Shifters are born with the ability to shift a specific animal. Both has its own downside and both are made to contradict the existence of the other, like if there is good there must be evil, light and dark etc.

Now let us talk about the characters..

It's usually the characters that can make or break a YA book for me. I mean, I don't really care if the main character is not that powerful or special or anything, I just hope that she isn't some stupid damsel in distress that's always waiting for someone to save her. Save that for character who isn't actually paranormal.

"I have been through enough crap to know I don't want some rich boy to try and save me."

Yeah right!

Magdalene Mae I really really liked Maggie Mae, she's one of those realistic characters. She can be innocent and clueless but has a very short temper that can be blamed for all the trouble she's had. She's kind of obsessed with Bridger, I mean, not really, it's just, she has fallen in love, hard and it was kind of believable which was a plus.

"It was like I'd been eating bread and water my whole life, and then one day someone gave me chocolate cake. And I liked how it tasted so well, I never wanted to go back to bread and water. But bread and water was safe. Chocolate cake? Totally dangerous."

She's aware of the painful danger of getting attached to someone. I mean, the girl has been alone her whole life, and so far so good, but all of a sudden, this stupid rich bad boy barged in her life and slowly destroyed all the walls she had built around her for years, the first ever boy at that, so can you really blame the girl? Atleast Maggie Mae's bravery is something I would like to commend too. 

"The will to survive is one of the strongest instincts a person has. Stronger, I found out, than the desire to die of a broken heart."

Atleast the girl knows how to sort out her priorities. She's not like those hateful, whiny heroine I get to read on most YA paranormal books. I can make a long list of reasons why I liked Maggie Mae, but this should have been enough to convince you that Maggie Mae, may not be perfect, but atleast she's one of the characters that most teenage girls would relate to, and would definitely root for her.

Bridger I can read a lot of hate he's receiving, and I can't blame them. At some point, I hated him big time, I am not sure if I even like him now. I struggled to keep my temper in check when I read some of Bridger's stupidity throughout the book, I don't even know where to begin. The ditching in the prom, I can't even explain how angry I was for Maggie Mae, 

"Yeah. And sorry I ditched you."

Dude, seriously, you didn't just ditched her, but ditched her in the middle of the dance floor of the prom night for everyone to see! How unfair can that be? The boy got a responsibility resting on his shoulder so if you look it on his Point of View, you can kind of understand his side too. Let us just not talk about the shooting issue, because I still can't really make excuses to defend him yet!

In this case, the boy needs to sort out his priorities.

The only good thing I liked that Bridger has done was falling in love with Maggie Mae. 

"It has to do with everything! Once I fall in love, I can't fall out of love unless you die or I die. I am bound. To you."

That totally sounds really lame, but I wanted to throw party for Maggie Mae, atleast, for all the shitty things that has happened in her life, something good has finally happened!

Mrs. Carpenter She was the best mother figure Maggie Mae could have hope for. 

"I hadn't been held this way-like I was loved-since my last family member had been killed. Not only loved, but loved by someone who felt nearly like a mother."

There are a lot of characters that was really commendable in this story and I know that it will take time if I am to enumerate them one by one. You just have to read the book for yourself to meet them yourself..

The story or plot itself of Shifting isn't unique. Shifters, are quite popular in paranormal YA books, but this is seriously one of the best book I've ever read, too bad I only just read it now.

What are you waiting for? You definitely have to get your hands on this book! It's a must read for everyone who loves YA paranormal book!

                                                                                                                     

Shifting by Bethany Wiggins