Numbers by Rachel Ward

Summary from Amazon:

Ever since she was child, Jem has kept a secret: Whenever she meets someone new, no matter who, as soon as she looks into their eyes, a number pops into her head. That number is a date: the date they will die. Burdened with such awful awareness, Jem avoids relationships. Until she meets Spider, another outsider, and takes a chance. The two plan a trip to the city. But while waiting to ride the Eye ferris wheel, Jem is terrified to see that all the other tourists in line flash the same number. Today's number. Today's date. Terrorists are going to attack London. Jem's world is about to explode!

Review:

Numbers was a spectacular book that has brought yet another talented newcomer YA author to light!

Jem had such a unique voice; a voice that completely caught me off guard with the bluntness, honesty, and sorrow it posed. Leaving her to be a character that I loved right of the start, and because of that, I often wished I could've told her throughout her troubling, action packed journey that everything was going to be okay, that she would get through her problems and still find everything she needed and wanted in life. Spider was the same. He came from a troubling background, yet he still managed to have hero like qualities that brought him to be far more then the underdog he was meant to be in society. Further I loved the bound Jem and Spider shared. It felt so real to me, which in turn, let me complete flabbergasted at the end of what came to it at the end.

If you've read the summary above you could probably tell that this book is extremely unique when dealing with it's premise, and it certainly was. From the moment I heard about Numbers, I found the idea of being able to tell someone's death date from looking in their eyes completely intriguing, and when reading the book I found it to be even more so. I kept thinking to myself throughout, 'What if I had this ability? How would my life be different? How would I come to terms with it? Would I hide? Would I be brave and go on with my life?'. It was just completely mind reeling, and let me to finish this book in less than four hours because of the excitement it brought to the story.

Though, while I did adore this story a ton, I did have a few problems with it. Such as the fact that it kind of ditched the terrorist attacks during the middle; never completely resolving what occurred that dreadful day. Further more, while I did respect Ms. Ward for dealing such a bittersweet end to this book, I felt that it was just a wee bit predictable. Since there was so many different ways to have this book go that would have given me lots more hope at the end with Jem's life and upped this book to be even more original.

In all, Numbers is a must-read for just about any teen out there!  And Rachel Ward? Well, she's a author to watch! I'm truly looking forward to reading the sequel to this.

Grade: A-

Numbers is now out!

Source: Chelsy at Big Honcho Media. Thanks!