Review: Vanish by Sophie Jordan

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

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?

In bestselling author Sophie Jordan’s dramatic follow-up to Firelight, forbidden love burns brighter than ever.

Review: 

Ever since reading Firelight, the prequel to Vanish, I've been dying to know what would happen next to Will, Jacinda, and Cassian. Would Will and Jacinda have the chance to be together again? Or would Jacinda fall for Cassian? Or something even more crazy? I also couldn't wait to see what happen to Jacinda and her family once they returned to their pride. Vanish ended up being a fun and quick read. However, I have to admit that I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as Firelight for a few reasons.

One of my favorite parts about Firelight was Jacinda. She was strong and dauntless, someone who would go to the end of the world to stand up for what she believed in. However, in this addition this trait of hers seemed to be missing. She ended up complaining and whining about what she didn't have instead of going after what she wanted, and don't even get me started about the love triangle that kept popping out throughout the book. I wanted the old Jacinda back. The Jacinda who was courageous and sneaky. While she started to regress back to her old ways toward the end, it still left me with a somewhat sour feeling towards the book. 

I will say I enjoyed the overall plot, though. It was suspenseful and filled with lots of twists and turns, some of which I didn't even see coming! I also enjoyed seeing how Tamra became a bigger part of the overall story throughout as well as how the pride reacted to the many revelations that came with Jacinda and her family's arrival home. There was one part I didn't enjoy about the plot, though, as I hinted to above and that was the love triangle sadly enough. When it comes to love triangles, I'm usually neutral: if it works well I'm all for, but if it doesn't work well I'm not for it. Sadly, Varnish’s ended up heading toward the later of the two more than once. I like both Cassian and Will...I really do...However, what I don't like is how Jacinda treats the both of them when it’s obvious who she is going to pick in the end. They just don't deserve it to say the least. Hopefully, the third book will bring a better resolution to this plot point, or I will surely be driven to madness...

Lastly, I really enjoyed Sophie's writing, even though I wasn't always too found about certain characters and plot points. I thought she did a great job of making Vanish a decent sequel, one that managed to move the story along and still leave readers with several questions.

All in all, Vanish is a decent sequel overall, and while I didn't always enjoy it to max, I'm still looking forward to seeing what's next for the characters in Hidden, the third in the series.

Grade: B 

Vanish (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Goodreads) is now out!

Source: (1st copy) ARC provided by publisher via Publicity Firm (2nd copy) eARC provided by Netgalley via HarperTeen