Num8ers

Jem is a 15 year old girl, living by her foster mother, Karen. People give Jem a bit of a blind side when she gives them attitude, because she saw her mother die from a drug overdose in front of her eyes. But there's one thing they don't know. They don't know that she knew she was going to die.

You see, Jem has a special gift, but she doesn't see it as a gift, she sees it as a curse. Jem can see the date of anyone's death whenever she looks in their eyes. And so she keeps away from people. Doesn't let them get close. 'Cuz she knows they're just going to die. But one day, she looks into Spider's eyes. What she saw changed her entire life.

Jem saw that spider had only three weeks left. She tried to stay away from him, but they just got closer. Until one day they were spending an afternoon waiting on line for the London Eye, when she realizes that quite a few people on line with them had the same number, TODAY.

She told Spider they need to leave, without telling him why, and they run, while the London Eye blows up behind them.

Security cameras caught Jem and Spider running away, and now their on the run, because only criminals run from the scene of the crime.

Now Jem grows closer to Spider, but so is his Number. Can Jem change his Number? Can she stay with Spider?

Num8ers is a suspenseful, romantic, young-adult book that hooks you in right away.

The relationship between Jem and Spider develops without the reader noticing it, and you assume that its without Jem noticing it either. This book is exceptional when showing "the other side of the story", when most books show the upper-class/middle class life, this book unapologetically shows the lower-class lifestyle these children are trapped in, and the conflict between the bureaucracy and normal people.

Author Rachel Ward's debut book is, quite honestly amazing, and she has two sequels on the way.


 * Now or Never Kiss While they don't think they'll die, they want to spend as much time together.