Hello everyone and happy Friday! I hope your Friday will be a nice one and like myself, you can enjoy a weekend off (which might be a more rare treat for me than some of you, but it should always be enjoyed!).
I'm starting this week's Friday Reads with a review from one of the books that were on my "reading bag" that I packed for my weekend away at the cottage. This one released last year so it will be counted towards my goal in the 2014 TBR Pile challenge!
The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had been wanting to read this book for quite a while and had to contact TBD when my paperback order got lost in the mail. But it finally arrived and on my unplugged weekend, I dived into the book!
It was a very fast read cause it held my attention and kept me turning page after page, wondering when would the other shoe drop and what the big mystery was. I had my suspicions about what was going on and was suspicious of a character and I ended up being right about both, even if I hadn't guess the exact details.
I had never read a book about the Witness Protection program (YA or otherwise) but I had seen movies or shows that had a references to it before, so I had a lil general idea of what it did. This book showed us what the toll on a person and on a family it can be, changing names, pretending to be someone else, feeling paranoid about your safety, and feeling like you can't ever feel like you belong anywhere because you might be taken from there and the life you build there in the middle of the night, without warning.
The book starts with one of such sudden moves, and with a girl we'll know as Meg from there on. She's with her little sister, and she's getting briefed about her new life and identity and where will they be starting life anew for who knows how long. Meg has stopped caring about thinking too much about her new name, she seems to be too tired and too scared of being trapped in the ever moving, ever changing identities and even worse, she doesn't even know why her family is in the Witness Protection program.
Meg was a really interesting character, she had decided that this time she would try to keep herself away from everyone to avoid attachments when she was next taken a way from this place and she was determined to find out what was the reason for her family to be in the Witness Protection program. We see her strugging with the persona she needs to project, with who she was before her family entered the program and who she is now, after all the moving and lying and changing. She felt responsible for her lil sister and how the program was affecting here, and how her parents were dealing with all the changes, in their own imperfect way. I loved how the book wasn't just focused on Meg, but we saw how everything affected the whole family and how strongly she cared for Teeny.
Then her best laid plans go awry when she meets Ethan, a boy in her new school that finds her intriguing and ends up battling down her barriers. I thought that he might have been a bit too insistent and cared too soon for her given how Meg tried to shut him off at first, but I loved how they interacted with each other, how he made Meg realized who she wanted to be, and how he also helped Teeny to come out of her shell. I quite liked how Meg and Ethan became a team and how he confronted her and called on her bullshit when it needed to be done.
I wasn't exactly surprised with the big reveals, as I said before since I suspected something on those lines, but I didn't mind at all cause I was really invested on Meg and her family and on Ethan and I had managed to fall in love with the people in that small Southern town and I was turning pages like there was no tomorrow! The ending was quite unexpected as well, and now I'm awaiting the sequel cause even if there is no real cliffhanger, there's enough set up for what I hope will be a very interesting sequel!
Very much deserving of 4 stars and a good addition to the contemporary/thriller YA list!
View all my reviews
I'm starting this week's Friday Reads with a review from one of the books that were on my "reading bag" that I packed for my weekend away at the cottage. This one released last year so it will be counted towards my goal in the 2014 TBR Pile challenge!
The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley ElstonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had been wanting to read this book for quite a while and had to contact TBD when my paperback order got lost in the mail. But it finally arrived and on my unplugged weekend, I dived into the book!
It was a very fast read cause it held my attention and kept me turning page after page, wondering when would the other shoe drop and what the big mystery was. I had my suspicions about what was going on and was suspicious of a character and I ended up being right about both, even if I hadn't guess the exact details.
I had never read a book about the Witness Protection program (YA or otherwise) but I had seen movies or shows that had a references to it before, so I had a lil general idea of what it did. This book showed us what the toll on a person and on a family it can be, changing names, pretending to be someone else, feeling paranoid about your safety, and feeling like you can't ever feel like you belong anywhere because you might be taken from there and the life you build there in the middle of the night, without warning.
The book starts with one of such sudden moves, and with a girl we'll know as Meg from there on. She's with her little sister, and she's getting briefed about her new life and identity and where will they be starting life anew for who knows how long. Meg has stopped caring about thinking too much about her new name, she seems to be too tired and too scared of being trapped in the ever moving, ever changing identities and even worse, she doesn't even know why her family is in the Witness Protection program.
Meg was a really interesting character, she had decided that this time she would try to keep herself away from everyone to avoid attachments when she was next taken a way from this place and she was determined to find out what was the reason for her family to be in the Witness Protection program. We see her strugging with the persona she needs to project, with who she was before her family entered the program and who she is now, after all the moving and lying and changing. She felt responsible for her lil sister and how the program was affecting here, and how her parents were dealing with all the changes, in their own imperfect way. I loved how the book wasn't just focused on Meg, but we saw how everything affected the whole family and how strongly she cared for Teeny.
Then her best laid plans go awry when she meets Ethan, a boy in her new school that finds her intriguing and ends up battling down her barriers. I thought that he might have been a bit too insistent and cared too soon for her given how Meg tried to shut him off at first, but I loved how they interacted with each other, how he made Meg realized who she wanted to be, and how he also helped Teeny to come out of her shell. I quite liked how Meg and Ethan became a team and how he confronted her and called on her bullshit when it needed to be done.
I wasn't exactly surprised with the big reveals, as I said before since I suspected something on those lines, but I didn't mind at all cause I was really invested on Meg and her family and on Ethan and I had managed to fall in love with the people in that small Southern town and I was turning pages like there was no tomorrow! The ending was quite unexpected as well, and now I'm awaiting the sequel cause even if there is no real cliffhanger, there's enough set up for what I hope will be a very interesting sequel!
Very much deserving of 4 stars and a good addition to the contemporary/thriller YA list!
View all my reviews
Awww I am so glad to here you enjoyed this one, Pili! I've had this one on my TBR forever and will get around to reading it...eventually. Plus the sequel is coming out soon right? Unless it's already out (I has no idea) so I can just read the two together.
ReplyDeleteLovely review, Pili!! :)
Rashika @ The Social Potato
I highly recommend this one Rashika, and you can binge read the duology since the sequel is out already!
Delete(And in my case, arriving in the mail any minute!) Cannot wait to hear what you think!
YAY!!! I really enjoyed this one too Pili! This was the first time I'd read about WitSec as well, and I was definitely on edge the whole time wondering when they were going to be found out. I still need to read the sequel, but I'm looking forward to diving back into this world. And wasn't it nice there was no real cliffhanger? *happy dance*
ReplyDeleteYES for no real cliffhanger!! I'm awaiting the arrival of the sequel today itself! =D
DeleteThanks Jenny!
Yay :D Great review sweetie. <3 I'm glad you enjoyed this book. I'm curious about it. But I think it might be a bit boring, lol :p Glad you liked the romance :D Despite it happening a bit fast.. hoping you will love book two. <3 :)
ReplyDeleteOh trust me, Carina, it was NOT boring! It was a serious fast read! =D
DeleteI'm awaiting book two to come any minute now!
I am so happy that you loved this one, Pili. It's nice to know that despite this being a mystery novel, it was still able to make you care for the main characters as well as the whole family. I also appreciated that Ethan complemented Meg and he made her a better version of her new self. Lovely review, Pili! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sarah! I was really happy how the family and mystery was balanced!
DeleteHmmm, I've never read any books with the WPA premise either. I remember seeing this book a lot before it came out, but I wasn't too keen on reading it. Contemporary, you know? I'm so glad you loved it! I think there is a sequel or companion or something. I could be wrong though?
ReplyDeleteExcellent review, Pili!
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
This is not your usual contemporary, thankfully! And yeah, it was a sequel (that arrived on my doorstep on Friday, so reading it soon!) and it's a duology!
DeleteI really wanted to read this one, and now that I read your review, I know I'll do it soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review and Happy reading!
YAY! So glad to hear Lis! I do hope you read it soon and will love it!
Delete