Panic

At first I thought: “Oh, it will be like the Hunger Games, won't it?”
Then I read it and when I finished it I though “Wow, this was nothing like the Hunger Games!”

The book is written from two POVs: Heather and Dodge. Both are very realistic characters, flawed and struggling in their own way. Then there's Bishop and Natalie, Heather's best friends. Natalie is the kind of girl that I would never get along with in real life, but I found that I sort of liked her in the book.

Panic (the game) was cruel and merciless and very interesting to read about. And wow, do I hate Heather's mother...

Anyway, very rambly review, but read it! This was my first Lauren Oliver book (omg I know) and I definitely want to check out more of her books.

I waffled a bit between 3 and 4 stars on this and I ultimately went with 4, and here's why: yesterday my library holds on the 3rd and 4th Fast & the Furious movies came in, and I opted to finish this before watching Vin Diesel & exploding cars. That's solid, dudes.

It's not a perfect book, and there are definitely some plot holes, but it's overall so engaging that I, for one, was willing to overlook a lot just to find out what would happen next. I thought Oliver did a great job setting up the parameters of this small, boring town such that their dedication to Panic would make sense.

I'll prob write a longer review of this later, but most importantly I think a lot of teens will LOVE this book. It is, essentially, a “real life Hunger Games,” with a solid core of relatable, interesting characters. And a lot of dramz! SUCH DRAMZ