Tag: fiction

ARC Review: Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige

Ali@abookishlife8 Comments

Stealing Snow (Stealing Snow, #1)Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“Maybe I really was crazy. I’d followed the word of a boy I didn’t know to look for a Tree in the woods to save the life of my boyfriend who had disappeared through a mirror”

Hmm…. where to start with this review.

I wanted to like this book so much but unfortunately it was a little bit of a letdown. I’m a huge big fan of any kind of re telling so I was very excited when I spotted this on NetGalley. I did begin to have some doubts about it when I noticed there were so many negative reviews but I was ever hopeful they were wrong.

Synopsis

The story is a re telling of the Snow Queen, which I have to admit is not a story I know particularly well, and begins with main character Snow in a mental ward where’s she’s been for most of her life after trying to walk through a mirror as a child. She has some anger management issues, which they try to control by giving her a cocktail of drugs she’s named after the seven dwarfs (sleepy, dopey, grumpy, happy etc). She also has a major attachment to one of the other patients, Bale, who she’s been forbidden from seeing after they kissed and he deliberately hurt her.

Frustrated, one night she manages to sneak out of her room to see him but when she gets there something very strange happens, a set of arms appear through a mirror in his room and pull him through. Unable to follow through the mirror she has to find another way to get to the land beyond to try to save the boy she loves.

When she gets there she finds that she is the lost Princess of the realm with a powerful destiny but all she really wants is to rescue her friend. She’s offered help by witches, monsters, robbers and others but who can she trust and who is after something from her.

Thoughts

I think there are the bones of a really good story in this book but frustratingly for a number of reasons it just didn’t quite work. It actually started quite well and I had high hopes that the other reviews would be wrong. The scenes in the mental hospital are probably the best in the book and did draw me in but unfortunately as soon as she made her escape the story somehow lost its way.

For me the main problem, I’m sorry to say, was the writing. The whole thing feels a little too rushed and a bit disjointed. It seems to jump from one scene to the next at breakneck speed and, while I like a lot of action and dialogue in a book, it felt like it needed to stop and take a breath. There wasn’t enough description and world building and definitely not enough character development, criticisms I very rarely make as I’m not a fan of lengthy and flowery descriptions.

Everything seemed to come too easily or be revealed too quickly. There was no struggle and therefore I didn’t feel any of the emotion. Characters immediately revealed their deepest, darkest secrets to each other, magic was instantly available and battles seemed to happen every few pages. There was so much going on and being revealed it was difficult to keep up.

Snow was ok as far as characters go. I did quite like her at the start but eventually found her to be so changeable and flighty that it became a little frustrating. She’s a little selfish and far too ready to give up and be rescued to make a convincing heroine.

The current dragged me down, and I could feel the pressure of the air I was holding in my nose and behind my eyes. I needed to get to the surface. I needed air. I felt myself give up.

The other frustrating thing about this book is the romance. I’m afraid I didn’t buy into the Snow and Bale relationship. Bale is abducted pretty much at the start so we mostly learn about their relationship through flashbacks but I just didn’t feel it and consequently couldn’t understand why she was willing to go to any lengths to rescue him.

This was further confused by the introduction of two further love interests. Yep there’s a love quadrangle. I’d expected this from the other reviews and wasn’t particularly against the idea but again it doesn’t quite work. I think it’s the fact that every single male she meets just so happens to be her age and seems to be in love with her and she’s attracted to them. I know being locked in a mental ward she hasn’t gotten out much but I’m still not convinced you would fall in love with every boy you met and get all confused about your feelings.

Despite these negatives it’s not a bad book. There are some good writing moments and at the start I did find myself highlighting the odd passage here or there that I liked. Some of the other characters are interesting and it would be good to see more of them. With some editing and a slower pace I do think this could be a really good story (it feels like it’s in there somewhere) but it’s not quite working yet. It may be different for younger readers (unfortunately I’m no longer a young adult) who’re looking for a story with plenty of action, romance and some magic so please don’t be put off by my review.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

Book Review: Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent

Ali@abookishlife5 Comments

Lying in WaitLying in Wait by Liz Nugent

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One of the best books I’ve read this year.

“My husband did not mean to kill Annie Doyle, but the lying tramp deserved it”

From that very first line I was hooked. It’s one of those books that will keep you reading late into the night and at every other opportunity (including sneakily under the desk at work).

Main character Lydia is deliciously horrid, unlikeable in almost every way, but it makes for compulsive reading as you keep turning the pages waiting to see what she’ll say or do next.Read More »

Book Review: Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick

Ali@abookishlifeLeave a comment

Every Exquisite ThingEvery Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Every Exquisite Thing is the first book I’ve read by this author and I have to say I’m impressed.

It wasn’t at all what I was expecting but was just what I needed. It’s a story about not fitting in, figuring out what you want to do with your life and what kind of person you want to be.

It’s quirky, emotional and strangely addictive. If you like books that are a little bit different from the norm I would recommend you read it now.

Synopsis (from GoodReads)

From Matthew Quick, bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook , comes a heartfelt, unconventional and moving novel for readers who love John Green and Annabel Pitcher.

Nanette O’Hare is an unassuming teen who has played the role of dutiful daughter, hard-working student, and star athlete for as long as she can remember. But when a beloved teacher gives her his worn copy of The Bubblegum Reaper – the mysterious, out-of-print cult-classic – the rebel within Nanette awakens.

As she befriends the reclusive author, falls in love with a young but troubled poet, and attempts to insert her true self into the world with wild abandon, Nanette learns the hard way that sometimes rebellion comes at a high price.

A celebration of the self and the formidable power of story, Every Exquisite Thing is Matthew Quick at his finest.

Thoughts

OK first up, I hate that it’s compared to John Green in the blurb. It seems at the moment that every contemporary YA read is “for readers who love John Green“. Personally I’m not a fan of John Green and found Looking for Alaska to be pretty boring. This book is so much better than that and that comparison nearly put me off reading it. In my opinion Every Exquisite Thing is also for readers who don’t particularly like John Green 🙂

Anyway, minor John Green rant over….

It’s actually really difficult to put into words what’s so great about Every Exquisite Thing as it’s such a hard book to describe. It is a sort of coming of age story but it’s very different from the usual and I think that’s what I loved about it. I’m a big fan of anything that’s kind of weird and this book is definitely that.

The story centers around Nanette who from outward appearance seems to have everything sorted. She has plenty of friends, gets good grades and is looking at a very bright future but in reality she’s not sure it’s a future she wants. She’s doing everything she can to hold everything together and trying to please everyone but once she reads a book titled the Bubblegum Reaper she decides to just stop.

The Bubblegum Reaper starts her thinking about things and desperate to know the real meaning behind it she tracks down the reclusive author and develops a friendship with him. Through him she meets others who have been captivated by the book including a poet who she begins a relationship with.

I loved how the ideas in a book somehow managed to inspire her to act, to stand up for herself. As an avid reader I can certainly think of a number of books that have inspired me to some kind of action. I could also definitely relate to that feeling of being trapped in a life you’ve somehow fallen into but may not actually want. Going through the motions for lack of a better idea of what to do. It was fascinating to watch Nanette rebelling as she fought to be and do what she wanted. She’s a well written and engaging character and you can’t be sure what she’ll do next.

The other characters were equally fascinating. All flawed in their own ways. Struggling to find their place in the world and in some cases very troubled and mixed up. There’s a lot of emotion and feeling in the story and I think that’s what made is so appealing to me. It’s not an action packed story but the pacing is just right and the dialogue is pretty much perfect.

I was going to say I enjoyed it immensely but enjoyed isn’t quite the right word. It’s probably more that it kept me enthralled from start to finish. Definitely a read I’d recommend for all who like a good YA contemporary (whether you’re a John Green fan or not).

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

Book Review: The Paris Secret by Karen Swan

Ali@abookishlife3 Comments

The Paris SecretThe Paris Secret by Karen Swan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’m a big, big fan of Karen Swan so was very excited to receive her latest book from NetGalley, particularly considering the title. I love a bit of mystery and j’adore Paris so it seemed like the perfect summer read, and it almost is.

It’s packed full of glitz and glamour, from the clothes and the parties to the exotic locations and rich and handsome men. There’s an exciting story set in the world of art and antiques and a passionate and fiery romance. Just what you need when you’re relaxing on the beach on holiday or like me hiding from another rainy day.

Synopsis

The story begins with the discovery of an apartment in Paris which no one has set foot in for a long, long time. Inside, under a mountain of dust they discover hundreds of works of art. High flying fine art expert Flora is called in by the Vermeil family, who discover they own the apartment, to catalogue the collection and discover it’s history.

As she starts to dig into the history of the pictures and the apartment she has to spend more and more time with the family which would be fine if son Xavier didn’t unsettle her so much. He seems to hate her and wants her prying eyes out of the families lives but what is he hiding and why does he fascinate her so much?

Meanwhile back home Flora’s own family are dealing with a shock that leaves them all reeling and Flora finds herself torn between supporting her family and getting to the bottom of the mystery behind the paintings.

Thoughts

I absolutely loved the story in this book and found the whole thing fascinating. I have to admit I don’t have a huge knowledge of art or provenance but the author gives just enough details for it to be interesting without bombarding you with a lot of facts. It’s almost like a detective story as Flora traces back through the history of the paintings to get to the bottom of the mystery and there are a few shocks and twists along the way which took me completely by surprise.

The other highlight for me were the locations. I absolutely love Paris and France in general and the author creates such a vivid picture that you can almost imagine yourself there in the heat of summer. There’s a real sense of atmosphere particularly when the story moves to the south of France to Antibes. It’s hot, sensual and completely enthralling.

Main character Flora is likeable enough. I didn’t totally take to her as she came across a little bit weak and indecisive (not sure those are the right words but I can’t think of better ones). She clearly loves her job and her family, and is very determined but there just wasn’t a lot of fun in her. She’s not in the easiest situation but there was something about her that just frustrated me a little. I think I just wanted her to let loose a little (and not in the ways she did).

Xavier was also a little bit of a let down. He’s the dark and brooding type, who doesn’t really say much throughout the book. He mostly seems to glare or stare at Flora which is a little on the creepy side and I think this is what made this book a little less than perfect for me. You can feel there is something brewing between Xavier and Flora but it’s difficult to see it as any kind of serious relationship given they never have an actual conversation.

Despite these minor flaws I did enjoy it immensely and would recommend to anyone looking for a great summer beach read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: All is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker

Ali@abookishlife3 Comments

All is Not ForgottenAll is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

All is Not Forgotten is actually proving to be downright impossible for me to review. I finished it a couple of days ago but honestly I still can’t make my mind up what I think about it. What I will say is that it’s a book with a lot of different and fascinating ideas and concepts that really gets you thinking.

It wasn’t at all what I was expecting from the blurb in both good and bad ways. It’s a lot more intelligent, more thought out but also much slower. It’s not an edge of your seat thriller but rather a slow building story about the lengths a parent will go to protect their child, the importance of memory and closure and the effects that a brutal event can have on a close knit community.

Synopsis

The story begins with the rape of a teenage girl Jenny Kramer and this is a brutal and horrific ordeal. Her parents, trying to spare her the emotional effects of the trauma, approve a treatment that will remove the memory of the ordeal. The treatment is a success but while the memory is gone from her mind, her body remembers the trauma, leaving her feeling unsettled and out of place somehow.

Her mother Charlotte is trying to forget it ever happened and restore normality for the family but her father Tom, feeling guilty that he couldn’t protect his baby girl is determined to find and punish the culprit. As time passes and the perpetrator has still not been found cracks start to form in the family and the community as a whole.

Thoughts

This story completely hooked me at the start. The description of the attack on Jenny is fairly graphic and brutal and yet is told from a seemingly objective and emotionless perspective that is somehow even more compelling. It almost feels at the start that some omniscient presence is telling the story of the events that unfolded. As it turns out this omniscient presence is the psychiatrist, Dr Forrester, who is treating both Jenny and her parents but also helping the police with their investigation.

He’s slightly on the outside of events and for me this created a lot of my problems with the story. Dr Forrester is a sort of independent distant observer who knows (or finds out) more details than probably any other character. This objectivity however creates a bit of a distance from the events and the emotions of the story. This isn’t particularly helped by the fact that Dr Forrester is not the nicest of characters. He comes across as superior, arrogant and unsympathetic to the other characters. He sees them as a problem to be solved and he is the only one up to the task.

He also has a bit of a tendency to wander off on tangents and talk about things that seem unrelated to events, the science behind the memory loss, other patient he’s treating and his own background. This seems to slow the plot down a lot. He does raise some fascinating questions which I’m sure book groups could spend hours discussing but at times I just wanted the story to move on.

I have to admit that I put this book down a few times while I switched to reading something lighter and a bit more fun which is generally indicates I’m not enjoying a story.

I did however persevere and I’ve very glad I did. Around the 60% mark there’s a massive shift in the story and it completely hooked me in. I won’t say what this was but all of a sudden I couldn’t put it down. There were a lot of twists and turns and it definitely kept me guessing.

The other characters in the story are very well defined but we see all of them through the eyes of the psychiatrist so it’s pretty much impossible to connect to any of them which is a shame but makes for a very different type of read. There is also no real dialogue in the story, which is something I really missed, as all conversations are recounted by Dr Forrester as he tells his story but it was still strangely addictive and compelling in places.

So overall…yep I’d recommend it. It’s definitely something different, the writing is excellent and there are some fantastic twists towards the end. Just don’t expect an action packed, fast paced thriller.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Melody Bittersweet and the Girls’ Ghostbusting Agency by Kitty French

Ali@abookishlife5 Comments

Melody Bittersweet and The Girls' Ghostbusting AgencyMelody Bittersweet and The Girls’ Ghostbusting Agency by Kitty French

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Love, love, love this new story from Kitty French.

It’s safe to say that I’m a big fan of both Kitty and her alter ego Kat French so having just finished the new Kat book, One Hot Summer, I was sooo excited to come across a new Kitty one too. I actually ended up pre ordering which is something I very rarely do but I’m so glad I did. From the moment I picked this up I really didn’t want to put it down. If I didn’t have to go to work or sleep I probably would have devoured the whole thing in a few hours.

Synopsis

The title does give you a little bit of a clue as to the plot as it’s about 27 years old Melody Bittersweet, who to use that famous line can “see dead people”. Fed up with her inability to keep a regular job and wanting to make it on her own and away from the family business, Blythe Spirits (who pass on messages from the living to the dead) she decides to go into the ghostbusting business.

With the help of BFF Marina and a socially awkward assistant the Girls’ Ghostbusting Agency try to solve the mystery of a haunted house before rival and ex boyfriend Leo. Cue some fabulously eccentric characters, a few ghosts, a bit of mystery, hot guys, a few sparks and a lot of laughs.

Thoughts

This book was just perfect for me because it contained pretty much everything I love in a story, a bit of mystery, some action, a lot of sexual chemistry, a smidge of the paranormal and a lot of crazy.

The one thing I think Kitty always does fantastically well is the eccentric and lovable characters and this book is absolutely choc full of them. Main character Melody is very likeable but for me the highlights are always the supporting characters. Favourites included her Grandmother Dicey who likes to drink Champagne at any time (“it’s five o’clock somewhere”), fiercely loyal and slightly scary best friend Marina and Artie who’s slightly nerdy and quiet but gets the funniest one liners.

The dialogue is absolutely brilliant and a joy to read. I love the friendly bickering between Melody, Marina and Artie but also thought the sections with the ghosts were handled very well. I loved how Melody was so laid back about chatting with the undead.

The story has just the right pacing and there’s always something going on. Personally I would have liked the romantic interest to be introduced a little earlier but as this is the first in a series I suppose you can’t really move too fast or there’d be nothing for subsequent books. I also thought there were a few discrepancies in terms of the timeline which was the main reason for me dropping half a star.

This is however a very, very minor criticism and I’d still recommend it. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for the next in the series.

Book Review: Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Ali@abookishlife3 Comments

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens AgendaSimon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Not as good as I was expecting.

I think this book is probably a victim of too much hype as far as I’m concerned. It’s a book that’s been on my want to read list pretty much since the second it was released and my need to read grew with every fantastic review I saw of it. It’s safe to say then that my hopes were excessively high. Possibly so high that there wasn’t a hope that this book could live up to it and unfortunately it didn’t.

It’s an enjoyable read and there is a lot to like about it. It’s quite sweet, funny, sad in places and very well thought out. It was just missing that spark for me that would have taken it from a good book to a great book.

The main problem for me was probably the characters. They were likeable enough but there just wasn’t anyone I could really relate to or get invested in. Simon I found to be a little bit on the annoying and whingey side which is never a good thing. I know he was going through a bit of a rough time but it’s hard to feel sorry for someone who has so many great friends and a very supportive family.

The highlight of the book was probably the emails between Simon and Blue but even then they felt a little on the light side.

Overall it’s a good read but I’ve read other similar books that do it better.

Synopsis (from GoodReads)

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.

With some messy dynamics emerging in his once tight-knit group of friends, and his email correspondence with Blue growing more flirtatious every day, Simon’s junior year has suddenly gotten all kinds of complicated. Now, change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he’s pushed out—without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he’s never met.

WWW Wednesday: 29th June 2016

Ali@abookishlife15 Comments

The WWW Wednesdays meme is currently hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do a weekly update on what you’ve been reading and what you have planned.

WWW Wednesday

To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Here’s this weeks WWW.

Splintered (Splintered, #1)Currently Reading

As I’m sitting writing up this post I’m trying to decide which book I’m going to start as I literally just finished one a couple of hours ago. I think however I’m going to start Splintered by A.G. Howard. I’m in the mood for something quite light so I’m hoping an Alice in Wonderland type story will hit the right spot.

I do love re tellings but I’m not sure I’ve come across one about Alice before. The reviews are a little bit mixed as some reviewers seem to have taken offence at certain elements but I’m still looking forward to it.

Recently Finished

I’ve been very productive on the reading front this week as I finished six books and actually posted some reviews. Something I haven’t been very good aVanishing Girlst recently.

The first book finished was Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver which I was midway through last week. I’m a big fan of this author and absolutely loved Before I Fall but found this thriller about two sisters not that gripping. The writing is very good and I loved the way the author used different elements such as emails, newspaper articles and photographs to paint a picture of their lives and their relationship but I just found the whole thing a little too slow. You can read my full review here.

Midnight Alley (The Morganville Vampires, #3)After the Vanishing Girls I was in the mood for something a little bit easier so switched back to the Morganville Vampires Series by Rachel Caine. I’d read the first two books in the series a couple of weeks ago so I decided to finish the box set I had and read books three and four, Midnight Alley and Feast for Fools over the weekend.

They are both enjoyable enough reads and they aren’t too long so you can get through them quite quickly. However, I’m starting to feel like there’s not enough happening and not much is moving on. I’m also finding it a little annoying that the author leaves a cliffhanger at the end of every book so I think I’m going to put the series on hold for a while.The Girl with All the Gifts

The next book, and my absolute favourite read of the week was The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. It’s a book that’s been sitting on my want to read pile for a while so when I spied it in the library I couldn’t resist. I hadn’t actually realised it was a book about zombies till I mentioned I was thinking about reading it to someone. It definitely has all of the classic and wonderful zombie story elements (think Walking Dead) but is so incredibly well thought out and developed I can’t recommend enough. Again, I’ve actually written a review which you can read here.Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

Also this week I finally got around to reading another book that’s been hovering around my TBR for a while, Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Abertalli. I had heard a lot of great things about this and saw a lot of five star reviews so had high hopes. As it turned out I think I’d built it up too much and there was no way it could possibly live up to it. It’s an enjoyable read and I would recommend it but I think there are better YA M/M romances out there.

The sixth and final book of the week was Every Exquisite Thing Every Exquisite Thingby Matthew Quick which I received from NetGalley. Matthew Quick for those who like me didn’t know wrote the Silver Linings Playbook and like Silver Linings Playbook this story is about misfits and non conformists but is aimed at the YA market.

I hadn’t read anything by this author before and initially I have to admit to going “hmm, this is a bit weird” but after a few pages I discovered it’s weird in that really, really good way. It’s a story about a girl Nanette who’s in that period in the run up to graduation from high school and is feeling a bit lost. Her teacher gives her a book by a little known author which she becomes obsessed with (sound familiar) and which inspires her to make some changes and set off down a different path. There was something about this story that I liked a lot but that I struggle to put into words. Hopefully I’ll figure it out once I write the review.

Reading Next

Miracle of miracles I actually read all of the books on last weeks reading next list which leaves me with a bit of a hole to fill. I have got a lot of books that have been on my kindle or shelves for a while but I tend to be drawn to the shiny and new so will no doubt read one of the books I picked up during the week. These include, Hanover House by Brenda Novak, Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire, Wicked by Jennifer L Armentrout and The Fire Child by S.K. Tremaine.

Hanover House (The Evelyn Talbot Chronicles, #0.5)Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful, #1)Wicked (A Wicked Saga, #1)The Fire Child

Have you read any of the books above or have any other book you’d recommend? Leave comments and links below.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

Book Review: The Girl with all the Gifts by M.R. Carey

Ali@abookishlife7 Comments

The Girl with All the GiftsThe Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Warning: mild spoilers after the synopsis

This is one of those books that I saw a lot of hype around but for some reason didn’t really know what it was about. A quick read of the synopsis doesn’t give much away but I thought what the heck I’ll add it to the TBR and get to it eventually. Now I’m asking myself why on earth did I wait so long.

This book is incredible and in my opinion deserves all of the hype and the praise around it. The author creates such a real and vivid world and characters that you feel like you’re there with them. It’s a beautiful, gruesome, gripping and absolutely heartbreaking story and like nothing I expected it to be. If you haven’t read it you need to right now (mostly so I have someone to rave over it with).

Synopsis (from GoodReads)

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her “our little genius.”

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh.

Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children’s cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she’ll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn’t know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.

Read More »

Book Review: Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

Ali@abookishlife7 Comments

Vanishing GirlsVanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I honestly don’t know how this author comes up with such fantastically brilliant endings. Unfortunately I’m not sure it was quite enough to save this thriller about the relationship between two sisters.

Lauren Oliver’s writing is as always good and she creates some very real and well rounded characters however, I found the story didn’t grip me as much as I hoped it would.

 

Synopsis (from GoodReads)

Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara’s beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it’s too late.

In this edgy and compelling novel, Lauren Oliver creates a world of intrigue, loss, and suspicion as two sisters search to find themselves, and each other.

Thoughts

I was very excited when I came across this book in my local library as I fell in love with Lauren Oliver’s writing after reading Before I Fall a few months ago. It was one of those books that started off slow but somehow managed to gradually draw me in so that by the end I was completely enthralled and an emotional basket case.

Consequently when I began reading Vanishing Girls and found it slow going I wasn’t too worried initially. When I hit the halfway point and realised I was still finding it a bit of a hard slog that’s when I became concerned. It’s never a good sign when you start putting off reading and doing all of those other things (housework, going to the gym, sleeping) that you usually sacrifice for a good book. Don’t get me wrong, the writing and characterization is good it just didn’t have that thing that hooks you in and makes you totally addicted.

I think this was largely due to the plot which was pretty slow and my inability to really connect with either of the main characters, Dara or Nick (Nicole). Of the two main characters Nick is probably the more likeable. She’s the one who’s always trying to do the right thing, to protect her sister and keep her out of trouble. I’m totally on board with this type of attitude and behaviour (I’m the sensible and responsible sibling in my family) but it doesn’t make for a particularly fun and exciting read.

Dara on the other hand is at the opposite end of the spectrum, always looking for the next thrill, breaking every rule she can find no matter who gets hurt. This insensitivity and bratty behaviour didn’t exactly endear her to me and if I was Nick I probably would have washed my hands of her a long time ago.

It’s difficult when you don’t like the MCs to be drawn into a book and this wasn’t helped by the slow pace of the story. While the blurb gives the impression this is about the disappearance of one of the sisters, this in fact doesn’t happen until very late on (around the 75% mark). The focus is much more on the relationship between the two and an accident that caused it all to go wrong.

Unfortunately for me I didn’t really feel the emotions I suspect I should have and couldn’t understand why the relationship between the sisters meant so much to them. There seemed to be a lot of arguments, a lot of worry and just a general lack of fun and laughs. I know that this is supposed to be a thriller but I always think the dark is darker when there’s a bit of light.

The story jumps back and forward in time from the months leading up to the accident to the current time. It also flips between Dara’s pov and Nick’s and as well as the main narrative there are journal entries, emails, newspaper articles and photographs. I really liked the use of journals and photos but found it all a bit much, particularly at the start as I got lost a few times and had to back up to figure out who and when.

Given all this I was fully prepared to give it 3 stars and move on. Then came the ending which was like nothing I expected. I’m obviously not going to say too much about it only that it turned a decidedly average read into something that little bit more special.

On the whole therefore, it’s a well written story with an incredible ending but is maybe just that little bit too slow to get there. If you like a story about family relationships I think you’ll enjoy this, just don’t expect an exciting thriller.