Waiting on Wednesday #3 -- Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

Goodreads Summary:

New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver delivers a gripping story about two sisters inexorably altered by a terrible accident.

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.

"Alarming and uplifting, a rare psychological thriller that has a kind heart at its center. Read it with all the lights on." -- E. Lockhart, author of We Were Liars.


Author Name: Lauren Oliver
Number of Pages: 368 pages
Expected publication: March 10th 2015 (11 days before my bday, yay)
Publisher:  HarperCollins

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About the Author  
(ps, she's one of my favorite authors)

Lauren Oliver comes from a family of writers and so has always (mistakenly) believed that spending hours in front of the computer every day, mulling over the difference between “chortling” and “chuckling,” is normal. She has always been an avid reader.

She attended the University of Chicago, where she continued to be as impractical as possible by majoring in philosophy and literature. After college, she attended the MFA program at NYU and worked briefly as the world’s worst editorial assistant, and only marginally better assistant editor, at a major publishing house in New York. Her major career contributions during this time were flouting the corporate dress code at every possible turn and repeatedly breaking the printer. Before I Fall is her first published novel.

She is deeply grateful for the chance to continue writing, as she has never been particularly good at anything else.

** Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine

Are you as excited for Vanishing Girls as I am? Comment down below and tell me your thoughts, I'd love to read them! 

Have a great day everyone x

Book Review | Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Goodreads Summary: 

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change.

Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of
those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control.

But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

4.75 stars

Ha, yet another favorite so early in the year. This wondrous beauty was very hard to put down, I found myself reading it on my way to school, in school and on my way from school. It was extremely gripping from the first page and it was a clear indication that I was going to love it. Victoria's writing was beyond amazing, she has this way of throwing information at you without confusing you. It was the first fantasy or second (after HP) that didn't completely confuse me with all the details. 

On the downside, speaking of fantasy, I had a strong urge to call that book a dystopia. It felt like a dystopia most of the time, but still a fantasy. Relating to that point, it is basically The Hunger Games meets Shatter Me in a book. I personally didn't mind that, but if you do, then this book isn't for you. Some people found similarities between Red Queen and other books like Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, Cinder by Marissa Meyer and Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas.. which I still have not read (unfortunately, soon), so this book was original to me and I haven't read anything like it before. 

The thing that bothered a lot of people, but me slightly was the world-building. It was confusing at first and I didn't know if it was me or the book, but I was watching Shasha (abookutopia on youtube)'s review for this and she has met the author. She said that the world-building was confusing to her as well and that Victoria mentioned how the world building will evolve in the second book and we'll have everything cleared out later on in the trilogy. I honestly cannot wait, this is torturous. 

This book killed my idea of trust (which was already dead), not going to say why though because this belongs in the spoiler section. I didn't realize I was spoiled for this book up until the very last chapter, so TAKE CARE. Again, another indication of a great book is that I knew the ending and I loved every second of it, I was still surprised by it though because it was executed perfectly. 

I loved the family aspect in this one, it reminded me of Katniss and her family. Mare was a strong, kick-ass character that I admired. She is now one of my all time favorite female protagonists, because she always kept a straight head, meaning she didn't let love and other trivial things fog her vision or stand in the way of her survival along with her family's. She was just like Katniss and I LOVED that, some people may not though.. It depends.. 

Disclaimer: I will not mention the male protagonists in this spoiler free review, I'll discuss them with you down below so GO READ THE BOOK and come back for the discussion. Mostly, I loved every single character in this except for a few. 


NOW ONTO THE SPOILERS.
(highlight to view)


My dearest Mare, oh how I love you and Cal together. I cannot lie though, I liked her with Kilorn at first.. but (Mal?) made me fangirl. I was waiting for them to be together

 and rebel against the queen and king the whole time, but wow, what a strange turn of events.

I liked the name "The Scarlet Guard" so much, and when I realized Shade was with them, my mouth dropped to the ground. When we read about Shade's death, I was almost 100% positive that he was alive. AND HE WAS, in the epilogue I actually patted my own back hahaha and dude, his power is super amazing! I love it and cannot wait for more Shade in the other books.

Firstly, let me state that I was spoiled for the Maven betrayal and it killed me when I realized that I was spoiled for the ending, so dear whoever spoiled me on goodreads, SCREW YOU. I still enjoyed the book nonetheless, the way that Victoria laid everything out took me by surprise; I didn't expect that the king would die.. and to be killed by his own son under the influence of his wife, BRUTAL. 

Now let's talk about Maven.. Maven, Maven, Maven. Due to the stupid spoiler, I was extremely wary of his actions throughout the whole book, so I didn't fall for his lies. I didn't believe him when he was sweet with Mare, I didn't believe him when he joined TSG. It was fishy to me all along, but I'm not Sherlock Holmes, I was fucking spoiled. 

I never once disliked Cal, even when he was a black-hearted monster in the arena, he is the future king (supposedly), he should be this good and have no mercy for the opponents. It's ABC war tactics (I believe). I loved Julian and Lucas, they gave me hope for the silvers, they were sweet to Mare, even though she was a red. Julian in specific, I'm so interested in his back story with -Sarah? that's her name?- and his sister, Cal's mom. A NOVELLA PLEASE. On that note, Victoria talked about a novella in the works on twitter, fingers crossed. 

Evangeline, we shall not speak of that evil bitch. Throughout this whole novel I was like..

The ending bugged me, Maven convincing Mare that Cal loves her and to put everything at stake like that.. NO, just NO!! The only time that Mare was naive.. I admired Cal even more for not sacrificing his freaking country for love, he would've been an amazing king. 


Now with The Hunger Games similarities that I personally found.. but wasn't bothered all that much about: 

• Gisa = Primrose Everdeen
• Kilorn = Gale
• Using Mare to be the face of the rebellion/revolution  = Katniss being the mockingjay
• The kingdom using her as a distraction = The Capitol using Katniss as a distraction
• Kilorn joining The Scarlet Guard against Mare's will = Gale joining the revolution against Katniss's will 
• Silvers in training = Tributes in training 
• Silvers fighting in arenas = THE ARENA 
• Maven being good with words = Peeta making people believe everything he says and his ability to speak to a crowd. 

Again these similarities didn't bother me one bit, but whenever I was reading, I was reminded of THG. 

Have you read Red Queen?! If not, are you excited? :) Comment down below and tell me!

Have a great day everyone <3

Book Review: Falling into Place by Amy Zhang

Goodreads synopsis: 

On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton’s laws of motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road. 

Why? Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? Vividly told by an unexpected and surprising narrator, this heartbreaking and nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devastating life of Meridian High’s most popular junior girl. Mass, acceleration, momentum, force—Liz didn’t understand it in physics, and even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn’t understand it now. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What does it mean to be a friend? To love someone? To be a daughter? Or a mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect? Amy Zhang’s haunting and universal story will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman, and Jay Asher.

I plainly state that this book will probably be one of my favorites of 2015. Maybe because it reminds me (somehow) of Looking for Alaska by John Green which is one of my favorite books? Maybe.  

I have picked this book out on a whim, I was in the mood for something sad and something that I will cherish forever and I thought, hey, I've just bought this book today and it fits my needs and maybe I'll just read it right away. And here I am, 24 hours later, done with it and in tears. AMAZING. 

This was one heck of an eye-opener. Falling into Place dealt with mental illness, family issues, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, eating disorders, etc. This book made me see behind the popularity, behind the facade that people put on and it makes me devastated that there are people out there who are suffering from so much and carrying the burden of depression and refusing to seek help or do not know how. It breaks my heart in every way possible that human beings believe what they see. Human beings do not dig deeper, they do not judge a person upon personality anymore. A person is nothing but what his outer appearance indicates and what he chooses to portray to others.. it surprises me how shallow, cruel and merciless us human beings have become. 

All the sadness and rawness of this book aside, I loved loved the characters. I related to most of them and I grew a strange connection to each and every one. Liz, Julia, Kennie and Liam; each carry a load that drowns ME in sorrow. This book had me in tears just because all the characters were so REAL. This is a perfect portrayal of life in general, as a teenager or even as an adult.

Can I mention that Amy Zhang, the author, is actually sixteen? She is two years younger than I am and she managed to write something so beautiful that had me experience the awesomeness of simply falling in love with a book and it captivating your whole being. Yes, that's how I feel towards Falling into Place. The plot twists, the serious issues addressed, and the characters added to the stunning cover and design of this book. Amy's writing is simple and captivating; you can't help but love it.

Throughout this book, I didn't quite understand who the mysterious narrator is. It is told from a perspective of an outsider and not Liz's. I finally pieced the bits and pieces together at the end and it made me fall in love with this book again and again. 

I flew through this; it was really fast-paced. The characters intrigued me and their stories were exciting to read. It is my most marked book and here is a quote that I really liked and memorized: 

"He believed in broken things."

It may not hit you as much as it hit me, but you'll understand me more if you read this book (which you totally should).

I will NOT include spoilers in this one, because I'm too heartbroken and engulfed in misery to even talk about it, but I'd love to discuss it with you if you have read it! Comment down below your thoughts or tweet me @BooksByJayy so we can cry together, haha. 

Have a great day or night! :)