abby doesn't want to ever become her mother, even though this is what she thinks will happen. paranoid schizophrenia is genetic after all, and aren't all little girls destined to become their mothers? when she meets james kingsley and all her fears come true. because suddenly she's seeing things, things that aren't real, things that can't be true. and james seems to be the trigger, but staying away from him proves to be difficult.

she's not crazy. she worries she is, but she also knows she's not crazy. and she really isn't. the visions that james triggers in her are scenes from a past life, a life she shared with james. a past life that she also shared with mack her new neighbor. and the connections between the three of them lead to a wrong she needs to right before the drifts in time end her life.

drift is a new adult romance with time travel elements, the past has a lot of bearing on the future. but it's pretty clear from the get-go that the central person in abby's life is james. he's the reason for her drifts and making sure their story ends differently is the key for their romance this time around.

Drift is a stand alone debut book for Amy Murray. I want to admit up front that I’m not a huge reader in the time travel trope. But something called to me with this book. Was it the cover, the synopsis, I don’t know. But I decided to go for it. This book blew me away. I was riveted. I literally could not put it down. Maybe in the next few paragraphs I can convince you to give it a try as well.

Drift (noun) - a continuous slow movement from one place to another.

“A single lifetime would never be enough.”

Abigail Swift has never known a normal mother/daughter relationship with her mother. Her mom has suffered her entire life with schizophrenia. The older Abigail got, the worse her mother’s condition became. It’s been three months now since her death and it is Abby’s twenty-second birthday. Her best friend forces her to go out for the evening to a bar and that’s where she first saw him. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. But it was when they touched that everything went wrong.

“It was happening - everything I’d ever feared. I was becoming my worst nightmare. I was becoming my mother.”

Abby starts seeing things, a woman that looks just like herself with a man that looks just like James, the man she met in the bar. But it was in another time. Abby soon learns that she isn’t crazy at all but has the ability to travel back and forth from this life to a past life. It’s called to drift. She can’t do it at will. She has no control over it at all. Why is this happening now?!

The connection she shares with James is instant and strong. James can’t drift but is an artist and he’s been drawing Abby’s portrait for the last year. Her face just comes to him, but now here she is in person. But their connection isn’t just in this life. They were connected before as well, in their previous life.

“It was just a kiss, but somehow it was more than that. It was like coming home.”

There is so much more to this. There are many other players in this story, some good and some not. There is a priceless diamond, murder, heartbreak, and love.

“We were two halves of the same whole, bound together for eternity, and this time, I wasn’t letting go.”

Can Abby and James find a way to avoid history repeating itself? Can they find a way to stay together? Can they right the wrongs that happened a century ago?

This is a heart stopping, heart breaking, wonderful book. I instantly fell in love with both Abby and James, as well as Colin, oh my dear Colin, who is also a very important part of this story. I think he is the one most of all that is still swimming around in my head and heart. I finished the book late but when I turned out the light, sleep wouldn’t come to me. I laid there with my eyes wide open thinking about these characters. So, Amy Murray, I hope that by itself tells you the impact this had on me. The characters are still, the next day, swimming around in my head and heart. I don’t think they’ll be going anywhere anytime soon. Thank you for this wonderful book. I so look forward to seeing you are doing next.

“I’m yours, for all of time.”

I really thought this would wind up on my DID NOT FINISH pile. But I kept going, and I'm glad that I did. It was different (in a good way). I liked the idea of it. Abby's character could get quite annoying. I didn't completely understand why the FBI was so involved with "drifting" or if they really were. That part of the story line was a bit off to me.
I enjoyed to book as a whole.

Drift is a paranormal romance with a very unique storyline. The paranormal elements are not what you’d normally see in this genre of books.

The main characters in Drift are Abigail (Abby) and James. Abby’s mother has recently completed suicide, due to being unable to live with her schizophrenia anymore. Abby is your every day college student, except she carries around this burden of being very concerned that she is going to end up like her mother, especially when she starts experiencing hallucinations and memories of a man she has never met. Then, she meets this “mystery man,” James, one night, and realizes that her hallucinations and memories are more than just that. She actually can “drift,” which I won’t go into too much detail as to give away the plot line ☺.

James, just like Abby, can “drift,” but in a different way. He is able to draw pictures of his memories, and they all seem to revolve around Abby. So, needless to say, when he meets her, he is just as surprised as Abby is. There is another main character in the story, Mack. However, I will also not share too much of his involvement, except to say that he works for the FBI, is drawn to Abby, and is looking for a diamond necklace. The story comes to an end with an epic showdown occurring, and not everyone making it.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I struggled a little bit with the “drifts,” just because Abby would go in and out of them, and it was oftentimes hard to determine if Abby was in the present or in a drift. I must admit, though, this wasn’t a book that kept me hooked and unable to come up for air until I was finished. I would read a little bit, and then have to put it down for a while. I’m not saying that I didn’t like the book, because I DID, I just don’t think this type of story is what I needed at the time. I also am super bummed that I did not get all of my questions answered by the end of the story.

Please don’t let me review or personal opinions deter you from reading Drift. Amy Murray is a wonderful author, and I would hope that you would read it to form your own opinion!

I love paranormal books and with time travel it is even better. I liked the characters and the premise of the book. What I do not like is a love triangle. So unfortunately this effected my rating. The author has a lot of potential I'd say a diamond in the rough.

Wow, just wow. I read this in one entire sitting. I just couldn't put it down. Who needs sleep, right. From moment one, page one I was hooked. There was no way I think I could have waited to find out everything. But be prepared you will get a case of the feels. Its like Outlander meets Dr Who. There is mystery, murder, mayhem, with a dish of romance, just WTF moments. The past is not 18th century Scotland, but 1920’s Texas. The author is new to me, and I must say I will be following her work from now on. The story flowed very well, with the time alterations smoothly and was seamlessly done. You know how sometimes with time travel book where there is a rift or the shift doesn't read well, this book did not have any of those flaws. I knew when I was in the past, I knew when I was in the present. The characters were very developed. The plot well thought out. A joy to read.

So many twists and turns. A few thing will lead you to tears, some will raise your eyebrows to your hairline, others will have you thinking uh huh right. The main characters were James, a painter with a few extra talents, Abby, the gal with the mostest (I think so anyways), and Collin (aka Mack or as I call him McDreamy). I think while James was perfect for Abby, I could not get over the connection I felt with Mack. His story, past and present, really gets you in the heart strings. Is he perfect, no he is not. Is anyone, who knows. I really was rooting for him in the end, but was satisfied with the major characters outcomes, as I felt it did give some sort of closure, or redemption if for a better word.

A solid five star read. I recommend you get comfy because you will not be going anywhere once you start this awesome book. I hope the story continues in future books, as this concept is a brilliant one.

Reviewed by Rose from the GothicMoms review team

I did not finish DRIFT. I was super intrigued by the description and loved the first few chapters. Abby, the main character, is complex. I loved the internal challenges she had and the constant worry of becoming sick like her mother. What bothered me was the instant click between Abby and James. It happened too quickly. I felt very unreal and over dramatic. But my big problem with this galley, and the reason why I stopped reading, was because of how strange the premonition scenes were. Because of how quick the relationship between Abby and James developed, I felt like Abby's emotional breakdowns over the premonitions were ... *eye roll.*

Overall, I was greatly disappointed by this story. I felt like it went from a contemporary YA/NA to a paranormal story, which I did not love at all.

Please note: I received a copy of DRIFT from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the publisher and author.

Holy moly! Can I please give DRIFT 20 stars? What an emotional thrill-ride!

First, I love the title because it truly reflects part of the story. DRIFT isn’t just a romance; there are paranormal elements that play an integral part of the story, but without hitting the reader over the head with them. The premise is out-of-this-world unique, and it hooked me from the get-go.

Typical college student, Abby fears she will end up like her mother who killed herself after suffering from schizophrenia. When Abby starts to experience similar symptoms like hallucinations and visions, she fears the worst, but then realizes, be careful what you wish for because as it turns out, her mother could drift through time and apparently, so can Abby. What happens next involves Abby in a love triangle with Colin and James as Ms. Murray starts to unveil bits and pieces of their woven past with the way Abby drifts and threads such details into the present.

This book left me breathless. It's been two days and I’m still thinking about the characters. Maybe it's happened to you, maybe not. But sometimes you encounter a person, and the world just stops and divides into before and after meeting this person. You realize in that moment, that this person could very well become your everything. Your soul connects with theirs and it's a perfect match. This isn't just a love story or a story about time travel. It's a journey. It's a journey full of beauty, suffering, and pain; but more than that, it's a story about hope. But that's life. And that's how I got hooked by this story. Highly recommend.

It’s been a while since read a paranormal romance of any kind, so if course I couldn’t pass this one up and from the start this had my attention.

Abigail’s mother has had shizophrenia for as long as she can remember, so after her mothers death her fears come to the surface of if she will turn out to be like her mother. Especially when memories start to come of a man she doesn’t know, places she’s never been and she remembers things she shouldn’t. That is, till she meets him one night and all the memories draw her to him even more. There was a whole lot more to all of this though and there is another person that comes into play and just complicates Abigail’s life even more. There are people after her, after James, after some mystery item and she is trying to piece all of it together.

The main character Abigail was a fairly strong young woman, watching her mother go through all those years suffering, and then being away at college too, it had to hard for her. But somehow she stayed strong, not only for her mother but for her father too. Now, James is the mysterious man, and it wasn’t hard to tell that he cared for her and he trying to figure out why he is so drawn to her as well. There is that other person that I mentioned that comes into play, and he’s a big part of it all and this is where is the whole dreaded love triangle things that takes place. I’m not going to give anything about that, you will just have to read that all for yourself. The cast of characters were actually pretty enjoyable and I really did like them.

The story itself was great, but my issue was with the “drifting”, which is where Abigail would go back and relive a memory, is kinda confusing, she had the memory and then she was back in the present and I wasn’t really sure what time frame the memory took place. I guess it just added to the mystery aspect a little more. So I was still able to enjoy the mystery of who was after Abigail and James and I was happy with how everything ended. I think fans of this genre will enjoy this one as much as I did.

This book was not what I expected but it was an okay read. From the excerpt, it sounded like a wonderful novel that had a lot of twists and turns but this one fell flat for me. Thank you for giving me a chance to review and read your book!

It's a very unique and intriguing story. it pulled me in from the very start. I loved the characters, and it's well-written. Abigail is worried that she will turn out to be like her mom. She lives in fear of loosing her mind. And now it's happening. She is seeing things, imagining things, and she has no idea how to deal with it. One thing is for sure though, for some reason James is in the middle of it all. She doesn't even know him at first....
James has this image of a girl in his mind, and then he finds out that she is real. He simply can't stay away from her. No matter how strangely she acts, and how much she is trying to avoid him. Still he wants to see her, to be with her. May be together they can figure out the truth...
I've to say that it's not an average book, but it's also not something which everyone will like. The story is quite interesting, and there is a sense of mystery, as well as, looming doom. But it's also a little annoying at times. So, I think if you're looking for something different, something out of the ordinary then sure this is for you. But if you like books that follow set rules/structure then you might not like it. For me the topic alone was enough to love this book. I love how it portrays human mind, the things it can do, and make us believe, or may be it's all real. That's the question; Are you crazy or something else entirely?

Even though the book wasn't focused on it, I great factor that I liked in this book was the representation of mental illness. The mental illness wasn't romanticized nor was it treated as something curable. Going on, I found that I loved the characters as well. In fact, my only problem with this book was that it was often times difficult to process the change from reality into memories. Maybe it was written like this on purpose to make the character seem a little less reliable but I found it to be a turn-off (and the only turn off that I found).

The blurb intrigued me from the start and I thought I was going to be pulled into a New Adult book that crosses several genres into suspense the paranormal. And ‘Drift’ does in fact, defy categorisation in a sense and its uniqueness stood out from the start when there is the eerie sense that there’s nothing right with the world as Abigail knows it when her supernatural abilities to ‘drift’ into her past lives start to show up.

But the more I read on, the harder a time I had getting into this, not least because the frequent jumps between the present and an unknown time when Abigail and James were fleeing something or someone weren’t exactly demarcated properly, either by paragraphs or by italics. Admittedly this might be a formatting issue, but it left me confused nonetheless. For the longest time, I couldn’t really figure out what was going on and my own state of disorientation only grew when things happened without sufficient explanation of the paranormal happenings for both James and Abigail. The characters themselves were confused and flailing to understand what was going on with themselves, save for the ominous confirmation that it will end in tragedy and regret. What isn’t clear is the time periods in which Abigail’s and James's ‘past lives’ take place and while some partial revelations come through another character, it’s clear that the pieces wouldn’t fall into place right up until the end.

I couldn’t finish ‘Drift’ in the end, just as it was shaping out to be a complicated love triangle with past lives affecting the present. I’d struggled through it for several days, unable to get fully into it, despite the initial excitement that I had about this…and finally decided that this just wasn’t a book for me.