Shapeless

Jolene Hall is dead…sort of.

She said her final goodbyes and even had a funeral and a memorial service. But Jolene Hall is also stubborn. The girl refuses to die. Especially since the scientist who created her also managed to upload her to the internet, where her memories and consciousness can zip-zip-zip across the world.

Her first task upon waking up in the cloud is to reunite her friends, who’ve scattered to opposite sides of the worlds. Lucy’s hunkered down with her mom, the ambassador to a tiny country in the Middle East. She’s not sure which is worse – dealing with over-protective security guards, or a mom who doesn’t understand she’s battling PTSD. Eli’s found solace by working with a couple of computer hackers, chasing down conspiracy theories in an effort to take down the Order that destroyed the girl he’s sure was the love of his life (even though he struggled with commitment problems when she was still alive).

Too bad their being together only seems to snowball the problems they face. Jo’s contact with her pals is only as good as their internet connections, and the Order’s army of femme fatale robots is growing in strength and smell (the funk, OMG!). When the Order’s creepy scientist offers a way to keep Jo permanently in touch – by implanting her as a computer chip in Lucy’s brain – they figure, why not? What else could go wrong?

Plenty, of course. Blending elements from The Matrix with Austin Powers in a darkly comedic sci-fi adventure, SHAPELESS is the second installment in the Jolene Hall HEARTLESS series by Leah Rhyne.