Vanishing girls - Review

Vanishing girls by Lauren Oliver 

What's it about?

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.

My review

Vanishing girls is a compelling and gripping thriller that you won't be able to put down.

I'm not sure at what point I got hooked into Vanishing girls while I was reading it, I just remember not being able to stop. I knew I was reading a good book, that I had to find out what was going on, and by the end, my mind was blown.

The pacing throughout the book is so subtle that you don't even notice it picking up until you realise you're on the edge of your seat, white knuckling the book. The story and the characters both keep you wrapped up tight until you reach the last page in the early hours of the morning, at least, that's what happened to me.

I really can't fault this book, Nick and Dara were both complex and completely different characters with enough personality to make you care about them and want to learn more about their lives, thoughts and feelings.

As far as YA thrillers go, this is easily one of the best I've read and I would wholly recommend it  to fans of the genre or anyone looking to get into it.

Faceless - Review

Faceless by Alyssa Sheinmel

Available now

When Maisie is struck by lightning, her face is partially destroyed. She's lucky enough to get a face transplant, but how do you live your life when you can't even recognize yourself anymore? She was a runner, a girlfriend, a good student ...a normal girl. Now, after a single freak accident, all that has changed. As Maisie discovers how much her looks did and didn't shape her relationship to the world, she has to redefine her own identity, and figure out what 'lucky' really means.

My review

Faceless is the emotional journey of a young girl after a freak accident that leaves her disfigured. While lucky to have survived she literally has a new face and is left questioning how much she cares about her appearance , paranoid about how others will see her and is trying hard to figure out who she is now, something that is already hard enough for a teenage girl in normal circumstances.

I really felt that Sheinmal didn't hold back on the details, everything was described well, the physical as well as the emotional, so I could get a real understanding of what of Maisie was going through. It' s also clear she did her homework in regards to the procedures Maisie goes through and everything her recovery involves as it wasn't all just glossed over, her surgeries and medicines were explained in a way that wasn't completely simplistic but so the reader could understand without feeling stupid.

This is not the first novel I've read by this author and if you're familiar with her work then you'll already know how well she paints a scene, her writing is beautiful and precise and will get you straight into the head of the protagonist.

Faceless is certainly a book I would recommend, its a touching story of a girls journey after an almost fatal accident changes her life dramatically and will leave you with a better understanding of what its like for people like her.