Book Review | The Vanishing Girl by Laura Thalassa

Title: The Vanishing Girl
Author: Laura Thalassa
Publication: March 15th 2014 by Lavabrook Publishing Group
Series: The Vanishing Girl #1
Pages: 338
Genre: New Adult, Sci-Fi
Copy: Bought, Signed
Summary: Every night after Ember Pierce falls asleep, she disappears. She can teleport anywhere in the world—London, Paris, her crush’s bedroom—wherever her dreams lead her. Ten minutes is all she gets, and once time’s up, she returns to her bed. It's a secret she’s successfully kept for the last five years. But now someone knows.

A week after her eighteenth birthday, when frustratingly handsome Caden Hawthorne captures her, delivers her to the government, and then disappears before her eyes, Ember realizes two things: One, she is not alone. And two, people like her—teleporters—are being used as weapons. Dragged off to a remote facility where others like her live, Ember’s forced to pair up with her former captor, Caden, to learn how to survive inside until she can escape. Only Caden’s making escape seem less and less appealing.

But even as Ember falls for the boy who got her into this mess, she knows that she is running out of time. Because the government has plans for those like her, and those plans might just cost Ember her life.

Okay. WHAT?!?!? This book started out okay, but by the end, I was in loveee.  The characters are badass, the plot is fast-paced and fun, and the overall story is unique and interesting. 

Starting out with the characters: I loved them!!  Ember is the MC, and I definitely liked her the most.  At first, she seems like a pretty normal 18-year-old girl.  However, it didn't take long for me to realize that she's so much more than that.  She's sarcastic and headstrong, and she doesn't make stupid mistakes like a lot of YA/NA protagonists tend to do.  I love that she's really good at reading and manipulating people.  It's such a cool and talent to have (even though it's probably not the most morally right).  She also has a hard time trusting people.  She's cautious, but she isn't afraid to make a bold move.  Overall, she is easily my favorite character in this book!

As for Caden, he took a while to grow on me.  At first, I thought he was asshole.  

I mean, he is an asshole, but as the book progressed, he became less of the bad kind of an asshole and more of the good kind of asshole.  I feel like the fact that the romance went too fast (I'll talk about that more later) kind of played into me not liking him as much, because it forced him to come on a little too strong.  But I have a feeling that book two will make me like him more.

As for Desiree, she just annoyed the hell out of me.  She's pretty much the typical wannabe girlfriend who's jealous of Ember because she's partners with Caden.  Honestly, her whole character felt pretty fake.  By the end of the book, she was literally murderous towards Ember, for no real reason.  I hope book two provides some more explanation and backstory on her character.

Moving on to the plot.  I love the pacing in this book.  There weren't any slow or boring parts, but there also weren't any huge information dumps where I got lost or confused.  It's the perfect balance of action, romance, and that twist of sci-fi with the teleportation.  I think the teleportation elements of this book are very well-done and unique.  Yes, it could use a little more explanation, but I honestly don't like to pick apart books that are obviously fiction.  The whole point of reading fiction is to read about something that can't happen in real life.  So the fact that the teleportation in this book was not explained in great detail doesn't really matter to me, and it didn't take away from my reading experience.

Now, for the romance.  I do agree that the romance went a little too fast.  It was kind of insta-lovey, which I usually can't stand.  However, it was really easy for me to overlook, because of all of the other amazing parts of this book.

Overall, this is a really solid first book in this trilogy!  I love the teleportation and spy elements, and well as the kick-ass characters.  But I definitely need to read the second book soon, because that ending killed me!