Vanish (Firelight, # 2)
By: Sophie Jordan
Published: September 6th 2011 by HarperTeen (first published September 1st 2011)
294 pages
Source: Personal Library
Reading Challenge: Sequel Challenge
Goodreads description--An impossible romance.Bitter rivalries.
Deadly choices.
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?
So I pretty much devoured Firelight. And since I received Vanish at the same time (for Christmas), I jumped right into it.
While Firelight exceeded all of my expectations (my review), Vanish well...fell a little short for me. Here's the problem with trilogies and this trilogy...book 1 is the build up--the one to get you hooked--book 2 is the let down because let's face, no one wants to read about people that are happy all of the time, and book 3 is the culmination and the completion for better or for worse. Well Vanish lived up to this formula for sure.
Vanish was almost the complete opposite of Firelight. Where Firelight had Jacinda's mother whisking her away from the pride and Jacinda wanting to go back home, Vanish had Jacinda back home and even more miserable and now wanting to escape the pride herself. Where Firelight was full of Will, Vanish was full of Cassian. Where Jacinda felt strong and somewhat in control in Firelight, she felt weak and dramatic in Vanish. The list goes on.
I actually ended up being more on Team Cassian after reading Vanish, but I still feel torn between Will and Cassian. Without trying to give too much away, Will isn't too present in Vanish, and Cassian ends up showing more feeling for Jacinda than maybe she knew he was even capable of.
Vanish didn't have a cliffhanger ending exactly, where something big happens and then the book ends right after without telling you what happened. It ended right BEFORE something big was about to go down. Either way, I'm very excited to get my hands on Hidden, book 3, so I can find out what happens next.
Vanish gets 3.5 stars from me. Have you read Vanish? If so, what did you think? Let me know!