Book Review: Vanish by Sophie Jordan

Title: Vanish 

Author: Sophie Jordan
Series: Firelight #2
Pages: 304
Publisher: HarperTeen
Date of Publication: 6th September 2011
Source: netGalley
Synopsis from Goodreads: To save the life of the boy she loves, Jacinda did the unthinkable: She betrayed the most closely-guarded secret of her kind. Now she must return to the protection of her pride knowing she might never see Will again—and worse, that because his mind has been shaded, Will’s memories of that fateful night and why she had to flee are gone.

Back home, Jacinda is greeted with hostility and must work to prove her loyalty for both her sake and her family’s. Among the few who will even talk to her are Cassian, the pride’s heir apparent who has always wanted her, and her sister, Tamra, who has been forever changed by a twist of fate. Jacinda knows that she should forget Will and move on—that if he managed to remember and keep his promise to find her, it would only endanger them both. Yet she clings to the hope that someday they will be together again. When the chance arrives to follow her heart, will she risk everything for love?

My Thoughts:

I read Firelight, the first book in this series last year in October, and I loved it. It was one of my favourite reads from last year and I’d recommend it to everyone. I jumped at the chance to review Vanish from NetGalley, and once I was approved, I couldn’t wait to read it. Despite hearing from a friend that it wasn’t as good as the first book, I was still extremely excited, and let me tell you, it was awesome. I loved it, just like I loved Firelight.

There will be spoilers from book one here, so don’t read on if you don’t want to be spoiled!

Vanish starts off with Jacinda, Mom, Tamra and Cassian on the way back to the pride after they ran away in the last book. Jacinda’s in huge trouble with the pride for having revealed herself as a draki to the human she’d fallen in love with, who also happened to be a draki hunter. There wasn’t much of a recap of what happened in Firelight, but despite having read it back in October, I found that slowly, as I read, things kept reminding me of the events that took place.
spoiler over :)

I’m not sure if I liked Jacinda as much in this book as I did in Firelight. She was a little bit mopey, if I’m honest. She’s just been separated from the human love of her life so it’s understandable, but she got on my nerves a little bit. And then, while she was pining for her lost love, minor spoiler she goes and kisses another guy, and I just thought that that was more than a little bit wrong of her. spoiler over. However, later on the book, I grew to like her again, as her caring side came out – as soon as something happened to Tamra or her mother, Jacinda tried to do what she could to protect them.  She also tried to make amends with all the people she’d upset when she left, as she couldn’t bear the thought of hurting someone. So, all in all, actually, I think I did like her.

There is a love triangle in this book. For quite a lot of the book, it looked like Cassian might have actually had a chance with Jacinda, as Will seemed to no longer be in the picture. And I actually grew to like him. He was a jerk in Firelight, and he seemed to only like Jacinda because of her fire breathing talent, but it quickly became clear that he wanted her for more than that, even if Jacinda herself couldn’t see that.

The plot was fast paced and I really enjoyed it. There was action right from the start, and there were a lot of plot twists that I didn’t see coming. More than once I found myself on the edge of my seat, trying to see if I could guess what the outcome of a particular scene would be, and of course, as usual, I had no idea. It kept me hooked, and I read the whole book in one sitting.

Overall, Vanish was an awesome sequel to Firelight. I was hoping that it would continue on the story from Firelight with just the same amount of action and romance, and while there perhaps wasn't too much romance in this one, there was definitely enough action to make up for it. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who hasn't read it yet – you’re missing out! And it ends on a huge cliffhanger, so I’m going to settle down and eagerly wait for the final book in the trilogy… ;)

*Thank you to netGalley and HarperTeen for allowing me access to this galley in exchange for an honest review. In no way has this affected my opinion of the book! :) 

My Rating:

I give it 5 Feet!

Challenges:
2011 e-book Challenge #16
2011 Paranormal YA Reading Challenge #41
2011 100+ Reading Challenge #73