A review by teaganpotter
Vanished Books One & Two: When Lightning Strikes; Code Name Cassandra by Meg Cabot

2.0

I finished book 1/2 in this collection. I loved Meg Cabot’s Princess Diaries and Airhead series as a teenager, so I was eager to jump into this series as well. Perhaps the nostalgia wore off, but I found this book problematic. Besides the fact that the main character, Jess, is completely full of herself, she has a lot of issues that make this read so unrealistic. 1. She singlehandedly takes on the FBI, including assaulting them? The book ends without any indication of what happens to her in regards to the law. 2) She’s 16, but she just dumps her family and is able to solve all of the problems? The book never comes back to her family and whether or not her brother is okay. 3) her best friend is self-described as fat. Well, Jess never encourages body positivity for her friend and even tears her down in her narration. Additionally, when the super mega hot guy likes her and makes fun of her friend for being fat, Jess simply agrees and flirts back. Eh, as a teenager who suffered from body positivity when I was younger, I think this book would’ve really set me back. 4) she dumps said friend and never really interacts with her again as soon as she gets a boyfriend. Pretty crappy friend. 5) there’s another love interest with a 12-year-old. Although her boyfriend points out it’s a crush, Jess really takes it and runs with it and obsessed about how he feels about her. Kind of disturbing that she couldn’t play it off, but instead took it as a compliment that a young BOY “loved” her? Nooottt a fan of that at all.

The plot was interesting enough for me to keep reading, but it was wholly so unrealistic, I found myself rolling my eyes through most of it. I won’t be finishing the series.