Overall, I enjoyed this one. I did feel that the world building in terms of how the body swapping happens was a little muddied but other than that, this was an enjoyable read.

I really enjoyed reading this one so much. The cinematic details were giving Down to Earth, Bourne Identity, Freaky Friday, or Hot Chick type vibes but a bit different with the YA twist. From the first chapter the action and mystery unraveled flawlessly and continued until the end. The plot was perfectly structured and I loved the concept of the body swap. It added an intriguing twist to the narrative and seeing the fate that lied ahead for the MC’s was golden.

On the night of their friendiversary Megan and LC shared more than a bonding experience and some fake drugs but bodies as well. Megan with no recollection of the things that transpired after she’d taken the fake Molly awoke to find herself no longer as herself‼️ At this point the author begins to create this sense of urgency and suspense around Megan getting to the bottom of what happened, having to pretend to be LC, and figuring out how to get her life back.

The novel explores themes surrounding advanced technology, research, friendship, identity, family bonds, forgiveness, and a battle between right and wrong. The unpredictability throughout is what will keep you engaged and on the edge of your seat. The twists unfold so intricately with a few shocking reveals like what really happened the night of their friendiversary. I wanted so bad for it to be some kind of crazy ritual LC performed that caused the swap. That was probably the only thing that disappointed me with the book and how rushed the ending was to me.

Overall, it’s so worth the read. The pacing was fast, details were vivid, and the character development was great. You’re in store for an endless adventure, hidden secrets, action, a nonstop manhunt, and fake identities (plot twist). If it’s not on your TBR definitely recommend you add it. Special thanks to the author & @macmillanusa #BalzerandBray for my gifted copy‼️

Rating: 4.5/5⭐️

This is a unique story that was lots of fun to read! It is fast paced and has well developed characters. The suspense was steady throughout. I would recommend this! Special Thank You to Nia Davenport, HarperCollins and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

I would give this book 10 stars if I could. This book was different than what I initially thought it would be, but in a good way. I couldn’t put the book down. The plot, character development and everything was amazing! I thought I had people figured out in this book and then I was wrong.

This was a different genre than what I am used to but after reading this book I’m invested in this author. I have to read her other books. This book will make you mad and make you yell at the characters naivety. While reading, I was like “don’t trust her” throughout. I was expecting a different ending but it was still really good. Tess was such a “Karen”. I wouldn’t have trusted that lady period! Sophie was super smart in the book. She knew something was up but just couldn’t quite put her finger on it. I can’t believe LC did Megan like that. You really can’t trust anyone!!!

I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

Seee this is why we don’t trust people doing a piercing at the crib — tattoo parlors only. Avoid Flesh Pedestrians (FP).

-
-
As a fan of Nia’s NA BLOOD GIFT duo, this book was many things. A shocker (YA?! Super short?!), dual perspective, but also a bit flat compared to her previous works.
While the concept was super cool and fresh and an amazing intro to scifi for a non-scifi-reader, I feel like there were some plot points that weren’t fully fleshed out.
Why was [redacted] so hell bent on being mean? Was there a specific reason that FP chose to do the thing to these people? At one point [redacted] brings up the social justice issue of Black American vs. white woman tears…I’m not saying go full woke, but maybe pull at that a bit.
-
-
Overall, this was a short, quick read and I feel that if given like…5 more chapters, Nia could have rocked my personal world. In conclusion, not terrible. I would recommend this to newbies to the scifi genre and people that are fans of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Thank you netgally and the publisher for approving this ARC for me. I love Nia Davenport and her writing. I think this was an interesting scifi story. I think it did lack in the area of being a thriller like getting my heart rate up from suspense but I think it did an overall good job with twists and turns. Overall I think it was a great read!

I love a YA sci-fi thriller and was so excited to try this book out! It was a little hard to get invested in this story initially, because it jumps right into the action which is inherently confusing, but I think it got better and better as it went on. I enjoyed the periodic twists and reveals and really enjoyed some of the bigger commentary that the book made towards the end. I would totally recommend this to anyone who thinks the synopsis sounds interesting and am interested in reading more from the author in the future!

Out of Body was the black girl sci-fi book I never knew I needed. I love the body switch premise but it was so much than that. I loved the details and the characters. I was speeding through the book to find out what was going to happen I enjoyed the dual POVs while also following Megan's fight to get her life back, understanding LC's reasons for the switch and who the real villain really was.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This book engaged me from the beginning! I am sorry I didn’t read this before. I really hope to use excerpts from this text to help my students understand magical realism, character and plot development, and just good writing! The stage that is set for the plot to unfold is thrilling from the start. A bumping party that evolves into a page-turner that you never want to end. I’ve never wanted to be a teenager more. Megan is so lovable and relatable. Even LC, the “antagonist” has a desire to live that leaves the reader torn about how to feel about her.

I am a big fan of Nia Davenport, so I was excited to see that she was writing a YA thriller with a bit of sci-fi, so I had to read this book. I will say that I think it was more suspense than thriller. I wasn't jumpy or anxious about what was around the corner when it came to this book but that didn't really bother me.

Sometimes, I did get confused with the different characters and I did want more of an explanation as to how all of this was happening. With that said, I still really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to people.

It’s no secret that I’m not a huge fan of science fiction. I always have trouble with the science part lmao But this one was Black and I was promised that the science in it was light, so really, that was all I needed to hear. And even with some small things I would have changed, I really did enjoy this.

Ok so let’s start with the things I didn’t care for. I was NOT a fan of the way this is described as a thriller and they put Tiffany D. Jackson’s name on it. I didn’t feel like this was a thriller at all. And when I read it I got mad because it didn’t speed up my heart rate and I wasn’t like saying, “Omg!” every three seconds or anything. Had it been classified as just a sci fi book I would have been like BETTTTTTT! But adding that thriller on to the end because there’s a lady that doesn’t want secrets to get out seems a bit misleading. To be honest with you, it was just like she was the villain in a sci fi novel. There was no thriller elements in my honest opinion. Can we please get publishers and other content creators to STOP putting the wrong info out there? because if I was to rate this really low, they’d say I was mean.

And I need someone to write this down for me………… Ready? Ok. So I don’t think there was enough explanation into the dscience for me? Was she a robot? Like an AI? The original was a real person who got a chip put inside? It felt too murky and I guess I wanted more of an explanation. It just seemed like all of this was happening, but I didn’t know why? The world building just wasn’t great. Hopefully there’s a second book and that part is addressed. But I just wonder why they wouldn’t add this into this book. Like it wasn’t even 300 pages. I think there was room in there to add it. And it wouldn’t have even been like an info dump because they were all trying to figure out what happened. But idk.

BUT none of that was enough for me to not enjoy it or DNF it. The beginning had me HOOKED. I could not stop thinking about this book once I started it. I had to know how she did what she did and why. This was so weird to me because where in the world did that same crazy go? I wanted to see that carried into the rest of the story. But still, if this is a series, I’m excited to see where the sequel takes them.

The characters were a little hard to follow too. It got a bit confusing on who was who during their time on the run together. They all had different stories, but the ending was always the same. But even that was ok with me. I think their time before they met was always different enough for me to keep them seperate. But I can’t say I actually liked them all. Because some of them did some crazy weird stuff. And I know they were in danger, but there’s just some things I could never do. Like smashing my hand in a door. Not no, but hell naw lol

This book was different from what I normally read, but that didn’t make me not like it. In fact, I thought it was refreshing that I had something different than the norm. Add on to the fact that this was Black Sci Fi, I was happy to read and recommend it. Because regardless, I’m always happy to have something to know I can offer a teen who’s looking for something like this.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat wanting more on how Megan was going to solve her problem. I definitely loved the message of just being you instead of trying to fit in.

Oh, I could not put this book down, friends! If you are looking for a story that will keep you up reading far too late, look no further! I was hooked. As this is a mystery, I will be keeping this short and sweet. Suffice it to say, I was hooked from the start, and the book never let up. We're thrown right into the switch from the beginning, which did feel a tad overwhelming, but nothing too crazy. But obviously you cannot help but feel for Megan, whose body is literally stolen from her.

The twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat, and like I said, I basically needed to know what happened next! A lot of the twists I did not see coming, and it was very readable. I also liked how much the characters grew during the book, especially considering it was on the shorter side and involved an intense mystery.

Bottom Line: Tons of twists and excitement, and great character development, this was an unputdownable win!

4 stars

This is a book that will leave you breathless.

Hits:

- This was a small book that packed a big punch. Though it was short, it was well-developed and didn’t feel incomplete.

- For a good 60%, I was completely engulfed in the plot. It was SO good, and I was absolutely hooked. The author did a great job building the suspense with a steady and consistent flow. I was on the edge of my seat, biting my nails and trying to keep my blood pressure from skyrocketing.

- I loved that the story didn’t waste any time jumping into the suspense and thrill. By the second chapter, I was already saying wtf.

- I appreciated that romance wasn’t made to be a major part of the plot. Although there were moments between Ryan and Megan, they were minimal and weren’t focal points of the story. If there’s one thing I despise, it’s romance added to a suspense/thriller.

Misses:

- The suspense started to fall flat after about 60%, and that steady and consistent flow began to minimize. The plot also started to drag slightly, and the pieces became a bit difficult to keep up with. It’s hard to explain, but it seemed like it ended almost too smoothly. The events that happened from 60% onward fell into place a bit too perfectly and easily. It felt a bit predictable and unrealistic. Having the suspense be so strong and consistent for that much of the story, it was disappointing that it didn’t stay that way until the very end. By setting that tone, I was expecting something more sinister, dark, and twisted to occur, but that didn’t happen. The story definitely had the opportunity and chance to go out with a bang, but it fell short.

- Megan was so naive and gullible, which became extremely annoying and frustrating.

Overall, I had a good time with this read and would recommend it.

CW: Drug use, child abuse, physical abuse, violence, death of parent, gaslighting

Out of body is an YA body-swapping thriller that has a mix of Get Out, The Matrix and Freaky Friday. Megan Allen is trying to fit in with the cool kids until she meets LC, they become friends for three months. They celebrate their friendversary by attending a party wearing matching piercings. Megan tries using drugs for the first time but when she wakes up, she is not in her own body. LC is nowhere to be found, she has taken up Megan's life and ignoring Megan's frantic calls and texts. Now Megan must find a way to get her body and her own life. Twists and turns from beginning to end.

Love me a good body snatching thriller. Oh this was good. And it starts off jumping right in with LC taking Megan to a party, snatching her body and Megan goes to Lc’s home, or who she thought was LC but was really Jade. Tess?!! She was definitely on some Get Out type stuff. And of course the bodies of young Black female teens/women was of subject. Tess definitely took advantage of Lc’s situation as a Black foster teen with no family. Who would miss her? But the ending, when Megan tells LC that they were actually childhood friends made me tear up, and now LC lives with Megan and her family. I absolutely loved this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was an interesting sci-fi/mystery that was a little confusing but a fun read.

Megan is tired of her boring identity. She’s always been a bit of a nerd with a love of anime and has become tired of being seen as someone who can’t take risks and have fun. Then she meets LC. LC is cool and teaches her how to get out of her shell. After only 3 months, Megan and LC are inseparable. After a party goes horribly wrong, Megan wakes up in LC’s body and things really hit the fan.

The science stuff went waaay over my head. When they weee explaining the body swapping my brain switched off. I didn’t hate it, just didn’t get it. I liked the idea of the girls really banding together to beat the big bad at the end. I also liked how Megan was able to embrace herself and understand the at friends can like every part of you and you don’t have to hide who you are. Also the dedication at the beginning had me smiling so much. It’s so beautiful. This book was empowering and had a great message if even some parts of it fell flat for me. I did enjoy it a lot!

Okay, here's the thing: if I think too hard about parts of this book, especially the ending, I have questions and critiques. I wish that we'd been able to see more of the tech, that the ending wasn't left wiiiiiide open (unless there's going to be a sequel), and there's a plot twist that felt more like a deus ex machina than an earned reveal.

BUT.

There is a B-movie, sci-fi-flick loving part of me that kind of didn't care about any of those things. The story was fun, this book was fast-paced, the concept was interesting, and the characters were likeable inasmuch as we got to know them. Would I have preferred more character and technology development, and some sort of meaningful closure at the end? Yes. Did I rip through this book in two sittings and hear "duh duh DUUHHHHNNNN" dramatic music playing in my head at the end of almost every chapter? Also yes. It had big X-Files energy.

I don't know that this book tread particularly new ground, but it was heckin' fun to read and would make a great pulp film. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book as an ARC.

4.5 stars

This book was unlike anything I've read before, and I loved it! I can't wait to check out other books by Davenport.

I had a hard time putting this book aside. The premise had a horror and sci-fi vibe, sort of like a futuristic "Freaky Friday." The active pace, especially once the body switching starts, will keep readers turning the pages. Character development and the YA themes of friendship and finding one's self are well done. The cover is a great fit for the story. It'd be awesome to have a sequel!