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Book Review of Numbers

Numbers
Numbers
Author: Rachel Ward
Genre: Teen & Young Adult
Book Type: Paperback
GeniusJen avatar reviewed on + 5322 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


Reviewed by Lynn Crow for TeensReadToo.com

For as long as she can remember, Jem has seen numbers whenever she looks into people's eyes. Numbers that tell her the exact date they will die. Orphaned as a little girl, bounced from foster home to foster home, Jem has kept her ability a secret and shunned human company.

But then she meets Spider, a boy almost as much a misfit as she is, whose eyes show he has only a few weeks left to live. Despite Jem's attempts to dissuade him, Spider stubbornly works his way into her life.

Then Jem and Spider end up mixed up in a terrorist attack in a spur-of-the-moment trip downtown, and find themselves running from the police. As they hurry across the country, just trying to stay alive and free, Jem allows herself to really open up to another human being for the first time. With Spider's time ticking away, she decides to do whatever it takes to keep him alive and beat the numbers.

NUMBERS is a different sort of paranormal romance. Spider is hardly suave or handsome, in a way that's completely refreshing. Jem's feelings for him develop naturally as she sees his true colors, and their relationship is based on mutual affection and respect rather than blind passion. Jem herself is totally believable as an outcast with an understandable chip on her shoulder, and it's a pleasure to watch her grow as circumstances force her out of her comfort zone.

Highly recommended for fans of the paranormal looking for more realism in the stories they read.