Lauren Oliver I freaking love you.
Beautiful style of writing, simplistic yet meaningful, and the twisted and sad ending; a favourite this one, as all of Lauren Oliver's books seem to be for me.

“Funny how things can stay the same forever and then change so quickly.”

Two sisters, once best friends, now as distant as ever.

One physically scarred, one mentally.

Nick and Dara have not spoken to each other since that night, when the car Nick was driving left Dara scarred.

“There's something backward about living in a place so obsessed with the past; it's like everyone's given up on the idea of a future.”

Dara now stays in her room all day, still hurt from the accident. She is the confident one of the sisters, popular and out - spoken.

Nick however is more reserved, mature and quieter.

Both of them wish they were somewhat like the other.

“Sometimes day and night reverse. Sometimes up goes down and down goes up, and love turns into hate, and the things you counted on get washed out from under your feet, leaving you pedalling in the air.”

Story is told from both sisters as they try to get back on their feet. Nick harbours the guilt while Dara stews with resentment.

The story really takes off with Nick as she starts to live again by taking a part - time job at an amusement park, not realising that Parker, childhood friend, is also working there, to remind her of it all.
But in stepping forward, the past is revealed to us and the roles Dara, Nick and Parker played in the twist that is there story.

“You broke my heart.
I fell for you and you broke my heart.
Period, done, end of story.”

Parker had quiet an effect on the story - isn't it always that way - and particularly between the sisters.

However, the true beauty of the story does not come from the relationship between Parker and the sisters.

Something else is happening in Somerville.

“And for a split second I find her, silhouetted by the sky, arms outstretched like she's making snow angels in the air or simply laughing, turning in place; for a split second, she comes to me as the clouds, the sun, the wind touching my face and telling me that somehow, someday, it will be okay.”

Madeleine Snow, nine years old, has gone missing.

And Dara's disappearance could be linked to it....

“Memory is like that, too. We build careful bridges. But they're weaker than we think.”

Characters, I found so real and relatable, especially Nick who was my favourite. Being the older sister but almost like the one who isn't as ahead, not like Dara. Then Dara's frustration at Nick for her apparently 'perfect' ways. The sister relationship is very real, best friends, but of course;

Jealousy.

Jealousy that'll eventually set the story in motion.

“There's a metaphor in that somewhere—like all of life is about ending up somewhere you didn't expect, and learning to just be happy with it.”

Oliver's writing, always thought provoking, and yet it takes its time with delicate descriptions and beautiful concepts. A pleasure to read and get to know these characters.

The story ended on a bittersweet note, but it just made it all the more interesting and emotional and I appreciated it even more.

“I guess that's the really nice thing about disappearing: the part where people look for you and beg you to come home.”