Review: Slide by Jill Hathaway

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 her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body.

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can’t bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting off lately, more distant, especially now that she’s been spending more time with Zane.

I cannot explain how excited I was when I got this book through the post, I have totally been looking forward to it, I've heard great reviews and the synopsis sounded awesome. Did it live up to my expectations? Absolutely.

One of the best things for me was the narration. Vee is this very anti-popular and punky character but this isn't thrust in the readers face as these characters so often are, it's hinted at within the story but only for storyline purposes. The narration is great, it's very well written with some absolutely beautiful passages.

The storyline is kind of original but you could compare it to books such as The Body Finder or Wake/Gone/Fade. I also feel as though there was an element of predictability in the way that the romantic aspect developed. The murder mystery side of things was totally unpredictable though, I really kept me guessing all the way through so I was gripped by that. The book is quite short and whilst it's never on-the-edge-of-the-deat page turner it has pretty good pacing and I never got bored.

The romance in this book was amazing. Not really a love triangle, but I totally knew that Rollins had feelings for her even if Vee wasn't admitting it, I loved Rollins but I was not keen on Zane, he was okay but I didn't really feel the romance. There are also family relationships that are so authentically written. I liked the relationships between Vee, Mattie and their dad, they were so real.

Overall, a great read despite some similarities to other books. there was great romance and fantastic writing. Well recommended.

Overall Rating: B+

Released by HarperCollins on 1st March 2012.
Book received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.