The Shift Series books are deceptive. In part because they’re part of a larger suite of series and in part because they’re a YA/NA crossover, they have some little details stuck in that are easy to miss on the first pass. Here’s my top 5, but make sure to comment and tell me what I’m missing!
5. Collin is head over heels for Ferris within an hour of meeting her.
He likes to rib Drake about how quick and hard he fell for Leah, but Collin is worse. Drake and Leah fell hard because of genetics and magic–Collin and Ferris are just good old fashion in love. And Collin fell within minutes. He’s a total romantic at heart, he just hadn’t ever found the person who turned on his romantic side until he met Ferris. You can get more inside scoops about Ferris and Collin’s story in Waiting, which is free here on my website!
4. Cecelia and Samantha are best friends who also sort of hate each other.
Samantha and Cecelia have a complicated relationship. Cecelia has known Samantha’s husband, Harris, since they were kids, but only met Samantha when she was a graduate student (Cecelia was teaching a 300-level Art History class which Sam attended as an undergrad.) Cecelia introduced Harris and Samantha, knowing the two had a lot in common–besides being shifters. But Samantha has a judgmental streak that can rub Cici the wrong way at times (see RECAST, and LINKING for good examples of it in action). Cici also has very little patience for the way Sam and Harris don’t always get along.
3. Drake’s family dynamic is a little fucked.
Leah thinks it’s cool “the way D’s parents let him act like an adult–almost like his parents were landlords.” (RECAST, chapter 5) but that’s because she’s seventeen and from a near idyllic home. She doesn’t fully understand the depth of their dysfunction until she and Drake are adults, long after the conclusion of STAND. Sam and Harris argue–a lot. They love each other, and they love Drake, but they’re at each other’s throats a lot of the time. Sam has some unresolved resentment toward Harris, and, to be blunt, some regrets about becoming a mom. (See LINKING for a glimpse into how that wasn’t the plan.) She feels stuck, and as much as Harris would help if he could, she won’t let him get emotionally close enough to actually do it. Harris came from a family with parents who argued so none of it seems unusual to him. Sam is hard on Drake and has impossibly high expectations one second, and is a total pushover the next. As Drake grows up, his patience for it all wears pretty thin. So by the time we meet him in Shift, he spends many of his nights running on four legs to get out of the house.
2. Leah and Drake always open the door before the other knocks.
When I wrote the two of them meeting for the first time, it just happened. And then it kept happening. It took some time for me to realize it was because they could feel one another through walls–which is something most shifters can’t do, especially if they aren’t lifelong friends/family. (Check out LINKING for another example of a linked pair doing the same thing.)
1. Leah has an intuitive gift for self-preservation, which also extends to Drake.
We see it in every Shift Series book: Leah has a moment of knowing she needs to flee, or instinctually knowing she’s safe. RECAST in particular is the book where this shines most. Some have wondered if she has future sight, and I don’t think I’ve ever commented on it. Until now!
Leah does not see the future. She does, however, have an intuitive sense of knowing when she is in true danger. It doesn’t mean she knows what’s going to happen at all times. For example, she didn’t know that the authorities were going to go to her school and that what it would set into motion would change her life forever, but once she found out her name had been given to officers who’d come to her high school, she knew something huge was being set into motion. To put it simple, Leah’s instincts can make instantaneous, complex assessments with information Leah may not even be consciously aware of, especially in situations where her safety is at risk. Cecelia has a similar gift. You can see it referenced in RECAST:
Sam placed a hand on my back. “A little better?”
I just nodded without opening my eyes.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
I shook my head.
“This happens to Cecelia sometimes, when things change suddenly,” she went on. “When she can see the way–“
The front door opened and Cecelia’s warmth found me before her eyes did. She came straight into the kitchen and knelt on the floor in front of me, moving the trash can while she did it. It registered, vaguely, that she must have sped to get here so fast.
“You okay?” she asked.
I opened my eyes and nodded. Her face brought the story to my mouth–words instead of vomit, so I could tell it. “They know,” I said quietly as Sam went to get my jacket from the hall closet. “They know I didn’t come back. I’m so sorry.”
“I know, sweetheart,” Cecelia said calmly as he helped me to my feet. “Let’s get you home so you can rest.”
RECAST, Chapter 12
So here’s the crazy thing, Cecelia actually does have a touch of future sight. She can see a general impression of how a given decision will play out in some cases, particularly where her well-being is concerned, though not always. She gets “a good feeling” about things, like the investments she recommended to Samantha and Harris King when Drake was a kid. She knows when a particularly important idea is unsafe, like when she tells Leah it would be unwise for her to talk to the authorities in chapter 14 of RECAST. In fact, every shifter in the Brayton lineage has had an intuitive gift that aids in their safety. It’s why their family line is so long, despite there having been only one shifter in each generation.
Well, there you have it! So, what did I miss? Comment below and tell me what little details you’ve spotted, or ask your most burning Shift Series questions!
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