Als ich dich suchte

Nick und Dara sind Schwestern und könnten unterschiedlicher nicht sein. Nach einem schrecklichen Autounfall sprechen die beiden nicht mehr miteinander. Als Nick den Sommer über zu ihrer Mutter und Dara kommt, arbeitet sie in einem Freizeitpark und ist dabei einen Vermisstenfall eines Mädchens aufzudecken, bei dem sie auch die Wahrheit über ihre Schwester Dara erfährt.

*4.5 Eine wirklich interessante Geschichte. Die Beziehung zwischen den zwei Geschwistern und alles rund um den Vermisstenfall der kleinen Madeline war sehr spannend. Vor allem konnte mich das Ende begeistern. Es war realistisch und nicht übertrieben.

Spannend, tolle Geschichte und angenehm zu lesen!

Das Buch hat mich von Anfang an mitgenommen. Ich mochte die beiden Hauptcharaktere gerne und sie waren angenehm zu begleiten. Das Buch lässt sich relativ leicht lesen und hat nicht zu lange Kapitel. Die Handlung empfand ich beim Lesen als verschwommen, was das Buch super spannend gemacht hat. Am Ende verzieht sich dann der Nebel und man erfährt, wie alles zusammenhängt, wobei ich die Geschichte mit dem verschwundenen Mädchen, rückblickend, als eher unnötig empfinde. Trotzdem kann ich das Buch sehr weiterempfehlen.

!!!REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!! Thank you loads to the German publishers for sending me Vanishing Girls as a review copy in exchange of an honest review. What really intrigued me about this book in the first place? The fact that it’s about sister’s relationship. I don’t have a sister though but I have a little brother and we’re very close and I think I’ve never read a book that focused on the relationship of two siblings so that made me really curious and excited for this book. Let’s start this review off with saying that even though I read the whole book and paid pretty much attention to everything I have absolutely no idea what this book is actually about. Dara and Nick were very close to each other up until puberty hit Dara and she started behaving like a slut, as Nick says. While Nick is the good girl, always at home, always nice, always doing the right thing, Dara is the bad girl. She has too many boyfriends, she ruined the friendship between Parker and Nick, she goes to too many parties, she drinks too much alcohol, she smokes weed and cigarettes and literally is just one of those girls you would call a ‘Bad Girl’ without even hesitating a second. I’m sure Nick only wants the best for her sister. I mean she’s the good girl here, right? Always looking after her little baby sister but she’s done some things that are absolutely unacceptable – for example reading your sisters diary. Let’s be honest, the twist in the end was to expect. It was actually the very first thing I thought of after reading like the first couple of chapters. I can’t even explain why, it just occurred to me and obviously I was right. This just isn’t as original or different as it used to be a couple of years ago. There was nothing really new about it, at least not for someone who’s read a lot of psychological thrillers but even for me the ending was pretty obvious and I haven’t read many of these kinds of books yet, only a few. Okay, now when I think about it actually that twist was pretty stupid and leaves so many loopholes in the book, like what the heck? It just does not make any sense. Nothing really makes sense. That is my second book by Lauren Oliver. I also read Delirium a few years back and have to say that I never really was a big fan of her writing and now, after reading Vanishing Girls – although many say that she’s improved a lot since her first book – I’ve developed more and more of a dislike for her way of writing. Some things just didn’t make sense at all and some of her sentences are just so weird and absolutely made me cringe. It was really hard for me to focus because the way she built her sentences was so messed up sometimes. I had a hard time trying to fully dive into the story because 1. I didn’t like the writing much and 2. it was absolutely boring. I also didn’t like the characters – at all. I mean I lost track on how many times the book told us that Dara and Nick were/are best friends so why would you – for Christ sake – sneak into your sisters; your best friends room, to read her freaking diary EVERY DAY? Who gave you the permission to violate your sister’s privacy like that? I mean why would you do that to your best friend? Also I hated how jealous they were. Sure, I understand, maybe sisters might get jealous from each other, especially when they are the same age but this was just too much. Even though it was mentioned in the book all the time how close they were, there was no friendship at all. All I could see was hate and jealously but no love. And how on earth could you kiss the person your SISTER is in a relationship with? How could you? Both characters were absolutely unlikeable. Even though Dara is the ‘bad girl’ here I liked her a lot better than Nick. Somebody just seriously needs to kick Nicks butt. I wouldn’t want to have her as my sister, not even as my friend. She’s such an awful character and also the romance was so annoying. There was nothing romantic about it, nothing fun, nothing sweet, it was kind of disgusting to be honest, like a love triangle between two sisters and their best friend or even three siblings since sometimes they all behaved like all three of them were siblings. And Parker? What a jerk, I mean he’s never been in love with Dara, but with Nick. But instead of telling Nick the truth, that he’s always been in love with her, he hooks up with her sister and then tells Nick that it was a mistake and that he wants to break up with Dara but he doesn’t know how to do it? What the hell is wrong with you people? And in the end, after Dara’s death they even end up together? I mean Dara caught them kissing so she got mad, she got in her sisters car, her sister started driving, they had a fight, Dara told Nick to stop but she didn’t, they had an accident and Dara died and in the end, Nick and Parker end up together? I just don’t know what to say this is so stupid and again proves that there’s never been any friendship or love between the two sisters I mean who would do that to their sister? And why the heck Nick didn’t you just stop when Dara told you to? The more I think about the book, the more it frustrates me to be honest. I wanted to give it two stars but now I’m thinking about giving it only one star because actually there’s nothing I enjoyed; nothing I really liked. It took me so long to finish the book; I had absolutely no intention to continue reading. It just bored the hell out of me; still I have absolutely no idea what the book is supposed to be about. The sisters relationship? The girl who went missing? What has that all to do with it anyway? It’s just weird though I’ve never felt that confused after finishing a book. I have no idea what I just read; nothing really happened but then again so many things happened, things, that didn’t make sense at all, things that probably only happened in Nicks head anyway. What was real? What was just her imagination? There are so many unanswered questions. This is such an unsatisfactory ending. I’m very disappointed. I’ve expected so much more from this book; I saw people bragging about it and when it got finally released here in Germany I was so happy when I received a review copy from the German publisher but no – just no. I didn’t like the characters, didn’t like the plot (if there even is one), didn’t like the setting, didn’t like the writing – I did like the articles and emails though but that’s about it. Maybe I’m just outgrowing YA; maybe I’m just getting too old for these kinds of books. I’m very sorry but this is only a one star read for me and definitely no book I would recommend.

Ich fand es ziemlich langweilig und so „typisch“, aber dann....krass. Das war...sehr unerwartet. Zumindest für mich. Wirklich gut gemacht 👍🏻 Der Schreibstil war natürlich wie immer toll und ich habe es in einem durchgelesen. 3,5 wohlverdiente Sterne!