Panic by Lauren Oliver

Panic 
by Lauren Oliver
Released |March 4th 2014 by HarperCollins|
Edition |eARC|
Source |Edelweiss|
Add to Goodreads

Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.
Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.
Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.
For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most.

Panic was a fast paced read for me and I at times I enjoyed the story. So I'll start with the pros. I was intrigued with the idea behind the book. I was interested in finding out what games would be played and how they'd go about doing it and that's what kept me wanting to know more as I was reading. The games were dangerous, but they also kept me intrigued because I wanted to what would happen next and if any of the characters would drop out of them. The book was also action packed. There was always something going on with one of the characters, whether it was apart of the games or their personal lives. Each of the characters had their own issues that they were working through and that was pretty interesting as well.


But a lot of things fell flat for me in this book. One of those things were the characters. I honestly just couldn't connect with any of them. I felt that Heather was too whiny and the friend of hers wasn't the brightest and that kind of annoyed me. Dodge wasn't too bad, but he was really weird and stuck on revenge. I didn't really care for any of the romances either. I felt like the characters were a bit childish. And if you think realistically, $67,000 isn't a lot of money to be risking your life like that for. These young adult were doing things that could have gotten them killed. That money probably wouldn't even last a year for them, especially in the end with how they did the money. I felt like they did all for nothing. I could understand why Dodge would want it though considering his sister's condition, but still...Overall, this book wasn't for me. I felt like it could have been better if things were done a bit different.