Book Review: S.H.A.Y. by Christina Leigh Pritchard

Title: S.H.A.Y
Author: Christina Leigh Pritchard
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Age Group: Adult
Rating: 4,5 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.

Shay is scientific experiment #318. Science may have created her, but she refuses to allow it to blind her to the difference between right and wrong…

Synthetic Hominid Assumed Youth (S.H.A.Y.) is eighteen years old, which means she has completed Phase One: Developmental. Shay no longer requires the assistance of her Optional Human Parent, Darla, who has guided her in the process of discovering her morality. Shay loves her easy, charming life aboard the marine research facility and doesn’t want it to change.

Phase Two: Experimental. All S.H.A.Y. ages 18-20 will experience loss…

Darla shouldn’t have to die because of an experiment. The thought of losing the only parent she’s ever known is too much. Determined to make sure the scientists at the facility don’t get their way, Shay entraps Darla in a transport device to escape across the Miami Border. There, on the mainland, law enforcement will keep her human parent safe.

Escape Mission: Failed…

Shay crashes into one of the lone keys off the coast of Florida, abandoned to all humanity, except for the stranger who drags her ashore. Shay must get Darla to safety or she will die of radiation poisoning trapped inside the freeze portal, but Shay can’t do it alone.

The boy who found her, an Ersatz Reproduction Intelligence Clone (E.R.I.C.), is her only hope. He has adaptation skills she needs to complete her mission. Eric was created by the same scientists who want to kill Darla, though. She tries to keep their interaction strictly business, but it’s hard to hate him. He’s flirty, charming and not to mention devastatingly handsome.

Shay must put her trust in Eric’s hands if she wants to save Darla from her fate. It may be worth her heart, but will it be worth her life?

S.H.A.Y is science fiction romance at its finest. Shay, our protagonist, has just turned eighteen, which means she has completed phase one: developmental, and that she no longer requires assistance of her optional human parent. She’s a synthetic hominid assumed youth (S.H.A.Y.) created by science… but that doesn’t mean she wants science to define her. She has morals, she has feelings, and when phase two : experimental, means she has to experience loss, in the form of losing Darla, her parent, she is determined to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Shay has formed an escape plan, but it all goes south very soon. She crashes into an island off the coast of Florida, and is rescued by E.R.I.C, a boy whose adaptation skills she’ll need if she wants to keep Darla safe – but he is created by the same scientists who want to kill Darla. Can she trust him?

This was an amazing read. The story was so original, and so fast-paced and thrilling that once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down. Since this is a novella, it’s a short read, but an intriguing one all the same. I’m excited to learn more about the characters in the second book.

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