Vanished (1-800-WHERE-R-YOU, #1-2) by Meg Cabot, Book Review

A gift…or a curse? Jessica Mastriani has never liked attention. All she wants is to make it to high school graduation like any ordinary girl. But when Jess is struck by lightning, she becomes anything but ordinary: suddenly she has the ability to locate missing children. Now Jess is getting noticed in all the wrong ways and by all the wrong people. The media is obsessed with her and her story. The FBI is tapping her phone. And what’s going on with sexy senior Rob? Soon Jess learns the hard way that not everyone who is lost wants to be found…. With no one to trust, it's up to Jess to decide what to do with her new power—before it’s decided for her.

Title: Vanished, Volume 1
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 560
Release Date: June 28, 2011
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Rating: 5/5

I read these books (WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES and CODE NAME CASSANDRA) when they were published as the 1-800-Where-R-You series and when I found out the books were being reprinted into two convenient volumes, I was psyched. I love Meg Cabot's YA paranormal books so I had high hopes for Vanished, Volume 1. From the first page, there is nonstop action. Cabo creatively and smoothly builds her world while making it fast paced and action packed. Vanished tells the story of a sixteen-year-old girl named Jessica "Jess" Mastriani who has numerous "issues," one of them being self-control problems. After an altercation at school, Jess is punished with detention an is walking home afterwards with her best friend Ruth when a storm break out and the two girls take shelter underneath a stand of metal bleachers--asinine, I know.

While waiting out the storm, Jess is struck by lightnig and wakes up the next morning with the psychic ability to locate missing children. After that, a ton of drama follows and a string of action and adventure pursues.

I really enjoyed this book. Jess felt very real and I could definitely relate to her, and I loved her voice. She was very humorous and "smart ass" and for that, I loved her. I also fell in love with Rob, Jess's totally hot senior crush--he's a bad boy who only opens up to that one person--and that one person happens to be Jess. How swoon-worthy is that? The only character I really didn't like was Ruth, and I wished Jess would have told her to shut up at a dozen different times throughout the book.

From the very first page, Jess was getting into more and more trouble and at one point takes on an entire army base and blows up a helicopter. If that doesn't make you want to read Vanished, I don't know what will.

Buy the book: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/vanished-books-one-two-meg-cabot/1102494217?ean=9781442406292