Review: The Rules for Disappearing

Title: The Rules for Disappearing

Author: Ashley Elston

Genre: Mystery

Pages: 320

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

“He hugs me tight while I look behind him, scanning faces like I did a few seconds ago. And like I will do for the rest of my life.” 

― Ashley Elston, The Rules for Disappearing

Review: 

    The Rules for Disappearing is a thrilling book that will keep you on the edge of your seat, wanting to know more. 

    The Rules for Disappearing by, Ashley Elston follows the story of a girl in her senior year of high school. Her family has been in witness protection for the last year and has been six different people in six different placements. Packing up, moving, and running from who ever is after them has started to take a toll on her and her family. Her little sister is barely talking, her mom is drinking all her worries away, and her dad just does not know how to handle them. She has recently been placed in Louisiana and she decides that this must be their last placement. She will find out and fix whatever got them in this mess, so they can finally go home. But she is not expecting this small rural town to actually start to feel like home to her and she is really not expecting Ethan Landry to steal her heart. On a whirlwind adventure together they start to piece together what really happened to her family to get them in this mess and how they can get them out of it. 

    First things first, I LOVED this book. I had never read a book that took place in witness protection so I jumped at the chance to read it since it sounded so interesting. It drew me in from the first page and did not let me go till the last page was turned.

    I really liked how Elston wrote the plot of this book. It starts out that we know the family is in witness protection but we do not know why. That helped add more suspense to the book because I was dying to find out the whole time. Elston also was able to put suspense in the book with out being over the top about it and that made me enjoy it more because it seemed more realistic. 

    I know most of us probably can not relate to being in witness protection, but the book also had parts that were very relate able. For example through out a lot of the book the main character had a lot of feelings that teens could relate too like, being alone, feeling lied too, feeling helpless, hope, and love. People can also relate to the struggles of trust in the family. 

    One of the most important things in a book is the characters. The characters in this book were phenomenal. The main character was very relate able. She had her struggles but was also a very strong and independent person. Her little sister was beyond adorable and added a great background character for the story. The love interest for the main character, Ethan Landry, was a definite heartthrob. He was kind and caring, but he was also daring. The relationships between the characters was great too. There is a great romance between two of the main characters which shows lots of chemistry. There is also a great big sister, little sister relationship in the book.

    The author left plenty of room for more suspense in the next book. She transitioned the books at the end beautifully. She ended the story in the first book but left a great cliffhanger for a new journey to start for the main character in the next book. There were many twists and turns in this book and I cannot wait for more in the second one.