Future Shock, by Elizabeth Briggs , (2016, 265 pages) is a YA New York Times bestseller with an unbeatable plot. This is the first book in a series of three. (Future Threat is the second and was published in March of 2017; Future Lost is coming April 3, 2018.)

Summary from Goodreads:

Elena Martinez has street smarts, the ability for perfect recall, and a deadline: if she doesn’t find a job before she turns eighteen, she’ll be homeless. But then she gets an unexpected offer from Aether Corporation, the powerful Los Angeles tech giant. Along with four other recruits—Adam, Chris, Trent, and Zoe—Elena is being sent on a secret mission to bring back data from the future. All they have to do is get Aether the information they need, and the five of them will be set for life. It’s an offer Elena can’t refuse.

But something goes wrong when the time travelers arrive in the future. And they are forced to break the only rule they were given—not to look into their own fates. Now they have twenty-four hours to get back to the present and find a way to stop a seemingly inevitable future—and a murder—from happening. But changing the timeline has deadly consequences too. Who can Elena trust as she fights to save her life?

The first book in an unforgettable series about rewriting your destiny in the city of dreams.

What reader wouldn’t want to root for a savvy foster kid who has had more than her fair share of bad luck but is still able to hold onto her dreams for the future? Like the protagonist in 23 Minutes, (my review) whom I also loved, Elena does not live with her biological parents and has had to develop the talent of quickly reading people. Sometimes she wrestles with herself–she tries to be cautious about trusting people without completely closing her heart. She is gutsy, smart and kind–just the kind of member you would want on your team if you were traveling to the future. The book is written in first person, and I love Elena’s voice, as well as those of the other characters. Their dialogue rings true.

Trent flicks his lighter on and off. “What about paradoxes and all that crap?” Trent asks.
“We won’t actually interact with our future selves, ” Adam says. “We’ll just look them up. That’s it. We should be okay.”
Zoe chews on the edge of her black nails. “I don’t know…”
“Screw it. I’m in,” Trent says.
“But won’t we go into shock or whatever?” Zoe asks.
“Maybe,” I say. “But that’s a risk I’m willing to take. I have a gut feeling something is very wrong in this future.”

I relished the vision of the future in the book, such as stores that don’t accept cash, self-driving cars,  smartclothes–it’s all believable. Oh, also the Internet is in our brains.:) I won’t say much about the plot except that because I was invested in the characters I really cared what happened next, and I didn’t know what was going to happen next.

I’m definitely going to read the next book in the series. In fact, I ‘m hoping it’s for sale at the school book fair where I’m volunteering this morning.