Stormi's Review: Vanishing Summer by Lora Richardson

APC PUBLISHER: Lora Richardson RELEASED: March 24, 2019 GENRE: YOUNG ADULT, COMING OF AGE LENGTH: 226 pages FORMAT: EBOOK, PAPERBACK

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He disappeared four years ago, and I’m to blame. Now he’s back.I call it the vanishing summer. Everett, my best friend and the first boy I ever kissed, was kidnapped; taken from right beside me. Three months later my mom died. They were both just gone. The bright, fearless spark inside me was gone, too—blown clean out.

I learned that the worst could happen at any moment and with no warning. I didn’t want to go outside anymore. I avoided the woods where Everett and I had played. I hated to let my brother and my dad out of my sight. For four years, I lived with a pounding heart and shaking hands.

But I’m sixteen now, and ready to find my way back to myself, to somehow move forward. Therapy is helping. I let one new friend into my life, and she’s helping, too. I’m trying this new thing where I act like the old me—unafraid and confident and bold. I’m doing scary things and trying not to let them scare me.

Then one night as I’m sitting outside in the dark, Everett walks through the trees and back into my life. FIVE BOUNDLESS STARS

Greta is facing some major anxiety. Four years ago her best friend and first boy she kissed is kidnapped. A few months later her mother died. Now its four years later and she is still getting over the fear and loss of two people she loved. She's determined to be who she was before that summer. The summer where her mom, her friend, and herself vanished. Now Everett is back, and once again her world is flipped upside down. This story was heartbreaking and had me deeply enthralled. From beginning to end I was on the edge of my seat feeling all the pain that poor Greta faces. This book hit home for me. I recently lost my own mother, and so the pain she feels is one that I can relate to deeply. Trying to find yourself again after a loss is hard, but she lost two people that were closest to her. When Everett comes back, the story changes into a more positive one, but it's a long road all the same. It had me in tears quite a few times. Overall, this book was written well. It was filled with all the things you would find in a young adult novel. It had bits of romance, teen angst, and anxiety. It also had deeper aspects that keep you captivated. I loved this story and can't wait for the next one.