Vivian Divine Is Dead by Lauren Sabel
Published by Harper Teen on June 3, 2014
Genres: Contemporary
Pages: 288
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss, Publisher
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When a death threat arrives with teen celebrity Vivian Divine's fan mail, Vivian has no choice but to go on the run to Mexico. She soon discovers, though, that her Oscar-nominated performance killing villains on-screen did nothing to prepare her for escaping a madman in real life. Some people say he's a hero, others tremble in his presence, but one thing is clear: he won't stop until Vivian is in his grasp. Why didn't she pay more attention during those judo lessons for her role in Zombie Killer?

Vivian finds an ally in the mysterious and charming Nick. He is everything Hollywood boys are not-genuine, kind, and determined to see Vivian for who she really is. But even he seems like he can't be trusted-what could he be hiding?

Beat up, hungry, and more confused than ever about who she's running from, Vivian is living in a real-life blockbuster horror flick. But there's no option to yell "cut" like there is on set....

Vivian Divine is Dead is a unique addition to the young adult contemporary suspense genre. Lauren Sabel crafted a very twisted mystery that left me guessing until the very end. It’s not often that I’m unable to figure things out but that was definitely the case with this one.

Vivian Divine is a spoiled rotten movie star. She was really hard to like at first. Her mom was murdered and her dad pretty much gave up on life after that but that didn’t give her the right to be the bitch that she was. She expected people to wait on her and she couldn’t fend for herself to save her life. She talked down to people and she thought very highly of herself. She was like that for most of the book and I thought that might be the one thing that would make me hate Vivian Divine is Dead but that actually wasn’t the case. She did develop as a character and I was already hooked on the story so I never once thought about giving up on this one.

Nicholas, Marcos, Scars, Isabel, and pretty much all the rest of the secondary characters were a little flat. Nicholas was this handsome stranger who Vivian met on the bus to Mexico. Since he spoke English, Vivian decided to rely on him to help keep her safe. He honestly didn’t have much going on other than being handsome. There was a little back-story to him but not enough to really get me interested in knowing more about him. He wasn’t well-developed and while I liked him well enough, I wasn’t invested in his relationship with Vivian. Marcos and Scars were worse than Nicholas. I had no interest in them and found them to be more of an annoyance than anything else. Scars had no personality and was really just known for being a big bad ass with scars. He was not really all that creepy if you ask me. Marcos was a little better developed but still lacking. As for Isabel, she was the only one I really cared for. She had more back-story than any of them and was the most developed of them all.

The story was the truly interesting part of the book. Vivian Divine goes on the run after receiving a death threat. Seems like a simple plot but there was a lot more going on than I ever expected. Not once was I able to guess who was behind the death threat or why. There was also a mystery surrounding Vivian’s mom and what exactly happened to her. I had no clue how Lauren Sabel was going to tie everything together in the end but she managed it wonderfully. Admittedly, the story was a little all over the place at times but it was still entertaining.

Overall, Vivian Divine is Dead is a great debut from Lauren Sabel and I will plan to check out more from her in the future. Hopefully that includes a sequel to Vivian Divine is Dead since I could use a little more from these characters!

What others are saying about Vivian Divine is Dead:

Book.Blog.Bake’s review: “In the end, I think, what happened in Vivian Divine is Dead is a lack of development both of the plot and the characters.”

The Social Potato’s review: “Vivian Divine is Dead is so bad that it’s almost comical.”

Turning Pages’ review: “Vivian Divine is Dead is unlike any book that I’ve read this year.”