Rules For Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall
Published by Viking Books for Young Readers on September 24, 2019
Pages: 416
Format:ARC
Source:Copy provided by publisher for review

In the faux-documentary style of The Blair Witch Project comes the campfire story of a missing girl, a vengeful ghost, and the girl who is determined to find her sister--at all costs.

Once a year, the path appears in the forest and Lucy Gallows beckons. Who is brave enough to find her--and who won't make it out of the woods?

It's been exactly one year since Sara's sister, Becca, disappeared, and high school life has far from settled back to normal. With her sister gone, Sara doesn't know whether her former friends no longer like her...or are scared of her, and the days of eating alone at lunch have started to blend together. When a mysterious text message invites Sara and her estranged friends to "play the game" and find local ghost legend Lucy Gallows, Sara is sure this is the only way to find Becca--before she's lost forever. And even though she's hardly spoken with them for a year, Sara finds herself deep in the darkness of the forest, her friends--and their cameras--following her down the path. Together, they will have to draw on all of their strengths to survive. The road is rarely forgiving, and no one will be the same on the other side.

Welcome to my stop on the Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall! I really enjoyed this one, and am going to share with you a list of Things You Should Be Afraid Of , along with a chance to win your own copy! 

1. Dark Forests

Look, if we avoid the woods, this sort of thing doesn’t happen. Want to see nature? Daylight is your friend! In this case, what you can’t see definitely can (and will, likely) hurt you. How can you defend yourself from freaky foresters if you can’t see them? Spoiler: you can’t. Just stay away, and you’ll avoid all the pitfalls. Done and done.

2. Being a loner

Oooh child if there’s a time you don’t want to be a social pariah, it’s now. Everything in the game requires its contestants to remain in pairs. Odd man out? You won’t be for long. 😬

3. Little Girls

You know how horror movie little girls are creepy af? Yeah the same applies. Avoid, avoid, do not engage. They’re up to shenanigans more likely than not.

4. Birds

Honestly just always run from these assholes. I had to double check that they were even in the book, this is generally just my life advice to everyone. But they are, and they’re as creeptastic as I remembered them to be.

5. Phone Problems

Got 99 problems and your phone is all of them? Yeah, here too. Whether your battery is dead or you have no service, your iPhone is doing you very few favors in the woods. Until they die though, definitely record any and all footage you can. Make it a little more useful than an expensive brick, anyway.

6. Spiders

Oh no one likes these, right? They deserve a place on any list of stuff we’re not keen on. Especially those big, juicy, furry ones. (You’re welcome for the visual.) But in this book? Magnify your fear, and magnify it a lot. 

7. Yourself

You’re probably going to make some terrible life choices, tbh. Hell, just deciding to embark on this little nature trail was a bad one. So you gonna trust yourself to make the right calls? I wouldn’t.

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What would you be afraid of in the woods, in the midst of a really messed up “game”? Would you play, to try to find your sister? (I say, girl’s on her own 🤷‍♀️)