A review by keysmashhh
Short Shift by Emma Barlowe

emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Plot: 3.5/5
Character: 3.5/5
Relationships: 3.5/5
World-Building: 4/5
Genre: 3/5

a good sequel to Redline, the characters are still just as lovable as in book 1 - Noah is still a great MC and I'm still very attached to David and hate seeing anything hurt him. I liked the extended cast more in this book 2 - Finley's still great, Ethan was a good addition and Jenson was a nice change and showed that there can be good team principles (who would have thought) The plot of this book for the first half felt very similar to redline, alternating between racing and Noah's personal life but realy ramped up towards the end - especially when Noah nearly got arrested and of course the accident. I actually felt super emotional reading the description of the accident especially knowing how Robbie died (which there are echoes of throughout the book) In fact the allusions to Robbie is what really humanises Noah as a character, the way he sees Robbie in everything he does, even little descriptions like Finley keeping Robbie's copy of Risk in a glass case with his trophies just show how thorough the author is in building up these little rituals in the world building which I find to be super compelling. the ending I'm pretty disappointed in, on the whole i liked where the direction of the book was going and I felt like there was enough loose ends to warrant a book 3 already (especially seeing Noah's recovery) but the final "twist" felt sort of cheap and a bit random - I totally get that it's to set up more conflict for book 3 but I don't know i just felt like it was meh. I suppose i could be proved wrong so i reserve judgement until I read book 3 and see how the author resolves the twist :)