Category Archives: Young Adult

Review: Crushing by Elena Dillon

4 June, 2014 7:50 am , 3 Comments ,

17880386Crushing
By: Elena Dillon
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: May 24, 2013
Genre: YA Thriller Romance
Rating:
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As a pampered and adored daughter of a wealthy Southern family Rory’s life was seemingly perfect until her troubled childhood crush moves back in across the street forcing her to choose between him and the life that has been chosen for her.

As if that isn’t enough, her quiet island town has turned dangerous. A good friend has gone missing, lending truth to the rumors of a serial kidnapper. In her quest to help she becomes a target and will have to make choices about love, friendship and the inevitable sacrifice that they both require.

 

1thoughtsWhen Rory was a little girl she had a best friend named Gage. They got into all sorts of trouble when they were kids. One night Rory was preparing the best hiding spot ever when she saw a guy loading what looked to be a body into a vehicle. Of course, the excitement caused her to have an asthma attack and the guy soon found her hiding spot. However, it was because of her friend Gage that she was able to escape the clutches of the killer and run to safety. But a couple week later Gage moved away, never to be heard from until he returns for their senior year of high school. Now Rory’s life is flipped upside down. Not just because her childhood crush is back, but because the abductions have started up again.

This was not the story that I thought it would be. You don’t really get the sense that it’s a YA thriller/romance from the cover. The synopsis doesn’t really help matters anyways. However, the fact that it was a YA didn’t really bother me. It just took me a few chapters to start picturing a young girl instead of a woman.

The author did a great job balancing the romance with the suspense. Once the reader would start getting comfortable, something would happen, and you were thrown back into the fray. The author gives you tiny clues as to who it could be but she also leads you to dead-ends as well.

For being teenagers the characters of this story were really mature. There really was no pettiness, no cliques, or crazy drama. That’s very rare in a young adult novel. So, I was happy that I could just focus on suspense and romance without all the stupid dramatics.

My one and only gripe with the story was the convenience that any time Rory was in any sort of trouble, Gage was there to save her. Didn’t matter what/where/who, he was there every time. Either the boy was stalking her or he was just always at the right place at the right time when none of her friends seemed to be. I don’t know, I just felt like once there should’ve been a time where Rory either handled the issue herself or got saved by someone else.

Regardless this was a great story. This is mature enough to be enjoyable by adults and yet it’s appropriate for teens as well. There is mention of drinking but there is no sex and virtually no swearing. There could’ve been absolutely no swearing. If you’re looking for a good no-drama, romantic suspense, then this is a good one.

 

1favequote

Rory’s father dislikes Gage. However, one day while talking about golf, it comes up that Gage can’t got kicked out from his school for fighting. He reveals that the fighting was due to the fact that he attacked a fellow student who was beating up him girlfriend. The moment Gage reveals the reasoning behind the fight, Rory’s father lightens up around him, saying his actions were admirable.

“What in the world just happened? Had my dad and Gage just bonded over beating people up?”

kRISTIN

Posted in: YA Suspense

Review: Played by Liz Fichera

25 May, 2014 7:41 am , Leave a Comment ,

16177036Played
(Hooked, #2)
By: Liz Fichera
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release Date: May 27, 2014
Genre: Contemp. YA
Rating:
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This Game Is Getting All Too Real

He said: I like to keep under the radar and mostly hang out with my friends from the rez. But when I saved Riley Berenger from falling off a mountain, that rich suburban princess decided to try to save me.

She said: If I can help Sam Tracy win the heart of the girl he can’t get over, I’ll pay him back for helping me. I promised him I would, no matter what it takes.

 

1thoughtsIt’s not that this book is a roll over from the previous book in the series. However, the two main characters in this story were also in the last story. Plus, Fred and Ryan from Hooked are in this story a lot. So even though it’s not 100% necessary to read the first book, I highly suggest it.

Sam and Riley live on two separate ends of the teen sceene. Sam is a boy from the Reservation who keeps to himself. Riley is Ryan’s (the popular boy in school) younger sister. However, when on a camping trip, the two get paired up for a scavenger hunt and find themselves stranded in the middle of a thunderstorm. With Sam’s quick thinking, he’s able to get them through the freezing wet night. Sam tell’s Riley about is love for Fred (Riley’s brother’s girlfriend) and Riley gets it in her head that she’s going to cause a rift between the two love birds and find a way to get Fred to fall madly, deeply in love with Sam instead.

I will admit that even though the premise of the story is rather juvenile, the content of the story is not. Not only was the story interesting with the two becoming friends and getting into all sorts of trouble, but there some heart stopping moments as well. I like that the author could’ve just made the store one dimensional and had it based on only the romance the entire time, but she added little surprises that kept me flipping pages faster and faster to see what would happen next.

Even though the story is predictable, the author added in a few twist and turns to keep the reader glued to the book. I hope that in the future books we get more Sam, Riley, Fred and Ryan. I wonder who Liz will bring to the forefront next.

 

1favequote“In all the chaos of the past few weeks, I had come to realize that he had been the only constant. He saw me and that crazy ninja alternate-personality who lived inside of me and didn’t run away – well, not totally. He saw me at my worst and found a reason to still be my friend.”

 

Previous reviews from Hooked
Hooked
kRISTIN

Posted in: YA Contemporary

Character Profile from Psi Another Day by D.R. Rosensteel

21 April, 2014 6:46 am , Leave a Comment ,

psi

psiADPsi Another Day
By: D.R. Rosensteel
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Genre: YA

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When spunky teen Rinnie is forced to bust out her secret Psi Fighter moves in school in order to bring downs its drug ring, she encounters a deeper plot…and a more sinister danger.
My name is Rinnie Noelle.

By day I’m just another girl in high school who likes lip gloss. But by night I’m a Psi Fighter—a secret guardian with a decade of training in the Mental Arts. Kinda like Batman, but without the cape.
Bad guys beware.
After screwing up my first mission, I’m now supposed to fix the problems at my school. Major, fly-catching yawn. Sure, drugs are bad, but what crime fighter wants to put bullies in detention when she can save the world from nefarious villains?
’Cause I will take you out.
But things heat up fast. Now I have two guys into me—yummy new kid, Egon, and my old nemesis-turned-nice-guy, Mason. Plus, word on the street is that a Walpurgis Knight, the Psi Fighter’s worst enemy, has infiltrated the school. And everyone is a potential suspect, even Mason and Egon. Darn. Fingers crossed I find the Knight before he finds me…

ExcerptOkay so this isn’t really an excerpt. More like a character profile from the book.

picName: Kathryn Hollisburg

Age: 16

Classification: Best Friend

Special Skills: Crowd control by means of extreme coolness. Sometimes a total goof. She really ought to be a Psi Fighter.

Special Note: I can’t show you my real face. You know, secret identity and all that. Psi Fighters are usually masked.

Kathryn Hollisburg is my best friend in the entire universe. We know everything about each other.

Kathryn knows I like Elvis Presley. I know she likes 1D. I know her secret shopping hot spots. She knows my secret identity. Kathryn is the coolest, most popular girl in Greensburg High, but she doesn’t know it. She is completely genuine, totally unaware of her popularity. She’s as unsnobbish as it’s possible to be.

On the other hand, she has little patience with lower lifeforms like Mason Draudimon and his minions, Art Rubric and Chuckie Cuff.

Oh, and she’s a Whisperer in training. The Whisperers sort of manage the outside world for the Psi Fighters. They protect our identities.

Posted in: guest post, YA Fantasy

Review: Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson

10 April, 2014 5:20 pm , Leave a Comment ,

7514925Tiger Lily
By: Jodi Lynn Anderson
Publisher: Harper Collins
Published: July 3, 2012
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating:
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Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn’t believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

Peter is unlike anyone she’s ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland’s inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she’s always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it’s the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who’s everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart.

 

1thoughtsThis is a great retelling of Peter Pan. Well, actually it’s not really Peter’s story. Tiger Lily is the main focus in the story. Tinker Bell is a faerie who has taken an interest in Tiger Lily’s life. Tiger Lily is unlike any of the other females from her tribe. It’s also known that Tiger Lily has cursed people who have crossed her. Leaving everyone wearing around Tiger Lily. The story is told in Tinker Bell’s point of view as she recounts her observations.

I will be honest that it took a little bit for me to get used to the narration. It’s in first person (Tink) but she focuses so much on the other characters that it’s almost like third person as well. It was very interesting and I have to give the author major props for pulling it off. After I got used to I could just imagine everything playing out.

I liked that the author showed a different side to Peter and even Wendy (who makes an appearance in the book). The only thing I have to go off of is Disney’s version of Peter Pan. So this was a very interesting retelling of a classic. The author added in so much that the only things that seemed the same in the story were the names. She really did a great job in taking a classic story and making it her own.

One thing I have to take a step back and applaud is how gritty the story was. For a YA the author touched on some interesting things. I don’t want to go into too much detail but there’s arranged marriages, village rapes, jealousy that causes malicious acts, and suicide. She doesn’t go into detail over the situations but she definitely eludes to these things happening. There were times that I was reading and my heart just felt like it stopped beating because things were so intense. I stayed up way later than I should have for a work night just so that I could finish it. And there is where my major complaint is… the end. It literally ends and goes into the acknowledgements. I seriously checked the pages to see if my library copy was missing one but nope. Maybe I need to watch Peter Pan again and the missing link will be there and everyone who’s a Pan fan will be like, “Oooooh, she’s so clever to incorporate that in her story.”, but I’m just thoroughly lost.

 

1favequote“Sometimes I think that maybe we are just stories. Like we may as well just be words on a page, because we’re only what we’ve done and what we are going to do.”

kRISTIN

Posted in: YA Fantasy

Review: Dark Frost by Jennifer Estep

19 March, 2014 7:19 am , Leave a Comment ,

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Posted in: YA Fantasy, Young Adult , Tagged: ,

Review: Significance by Shelly Crane

12 February, 2014 7:42 am , Leave a Comment ,

11731861Significance
(Significance, #1)
Shelly Crane
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: June 12, 2011
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Rating:
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Maggie is a seventeen year old girl who’s had a bad year. She was smart and on track, but then her mom left, her dad is depressed, she’s graduating – barely – and her boyfriend of almost three years dumped her for a college football scholarship. Lately she thinks life is all about hanging on by a thread and is gripping tight with everything she has.

Then she saves the life of Caleb and instantly knows there’s something about him that’s intriguing. But things change when they touch, sparks ignite. Literally.

They imprint with each other and she sees their future life together flash before her eyes. She learns that not only is she his soul mate, and can feel his heartbeat in her chest, but there is a whole other world of people with gifts and abilities that she never knew existed. She herself is experiencing supernatural changes unlike anything she’s ever felt before and she needs the touch of his skin to survive.

Now, not only has her dad come out of his depression to be a father again, and a pain as well, but Caleb’s enemies know he’s imprinted and are after Maggie to stop them both from gaining their abilities and take her from him.

Can Caleb save her or will they be forced to live without each other after just finding one another?

1thoughtsThis book reminded me a lot of Twilight. You had the boy sneaking in her bedroom window, the main character’s parents are divorced and she’s living with her father, the girl meeting the boys family and everyone instantly loving her, people of his kind attacking her to get to him, her friend becoming possessive and challenging her boyfriend at every turn, her needing to prepare herself to leave her father to make a life with the boy because humans can’t know about their kind, therefore she must disappear… oh and there is even a Bella and Alice in this one. All the Twilight flags were flying even before the author felt the need to add that one of the characters love Twilight. For me… this kind of took away from the book. There were so many similarities to the Twilight saga that I kind of didn’t feel like I was reading a new book but rather fan-fiction.

What I did like about this book was that the author thought outside the box about this imprinting thing. I mean, whatever Caleb is (I never did fully grasp it), they don’t imprint on humans. Actually they haven’t been imprinting in years and there is a huge rule about dating and procreating outside of imprinting. Imagine how messy things could get if after 20 years of marriage and two kids, your husband shakes the hand of your new neighbor who just moved in and #BAM# he’s all of a sudden obsessed with them. Yeah, that’s kind of how the imprinting work. So the whole no dating rule made sense. I even liked that when you imprint you come into a certain power. That power then helps keep your clan (family) safe from other clans.

Like I said there were things I liked about the book and disliked. I also felt that the book was quite winded in some parts and found myself skimming through certain areas. I think the book could use a good polishing but the base story was good. However, I don’t think I will be continuing on with this series.

 

1favequote“You don’t love people for what they can give you. You don’t love them because of what they do for you or how good you make them look.”

kRISTIN

Posted in: YA Fantasy

Review: Alienated by Melissa Landers

1 February, 2014 6:20 am , 4 Comments ,

13574417Alienated
By: Melissa Landers
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release Date: Feb. 4, 2014
Genre: YA Sci-Fi Romance
Rating:
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Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them.

Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking.

But when Cara’s classmates get swept up by anti-L’eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn’t safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara’s locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class.

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she’s fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

 

1thoughtsCara’s been selected to be one of the few chosen from the world to take part in the first ever L’eihr exchange program. A L’eihr (alien) will come down to earth and shadow a human, enroll in their school and learn their ways. When the time is up the roles will be reversed and the human will go to L’eihr and do the same. You can guess that the humans don’t take to kindly to the aliens coming to earth. It doesn’t take long until Cara’s receiving threats. Little does she know that the panic over the L’eihr’s being on earth may have some warrant.

This was a light sci-fi romance. The author does a great job creating a story and keeping the reader entranced from the start. I will admit that I had been in a book slump until I read Alienated. I was starting to think it was just me, but this book immediately lifted my mood. Sure the story was a teensy bit predictable. However, the author still managed to throw in some curve balls throughout the story that I didn’t see coming.

She also took the time to explain the difference between L’eihr’s and humans. For instance, L’eihr’s don’t really feel emotions. They don’t do physical contact and they don’t celebrate birthdays. There was a pretty big cultural difference for Aelyx when he arrived on earth. The author did a great job not over playing it but rather letting it just blend into the story.

I liked that Landers took the time to explain the L’eihr presence as well as why the L’eihr and humans have the same DNA and look the same. I’ll be honest, up until that point I was a little miffed that the L’eihr were pretty much human with nothing to really set them apart from humans. I’m not saying throw in a 3rd eye or anything but I wanted something. However, rest assured that the author thought about this and gave an explanation to the similarities.

I also like that she showed neither species being the enemy. Each side had their good points and bad points. You had Cara’s family who embraced Aelyx as if he were their own, while others were picketing outside their yard. Meanwhile, Aelyx’s friend/fellow exchange buddy was hell bent on causing damage to earth so that the peace treaty among the two planets would cease. So there were faults on both sides as well as those willing to make it work.

My only complaint was that there was no indication that the story was jumping forward in time. One minute Cara would be sitting in the kitchen eating cereal and the next thing you know she’s outside looking at a dragonfly. It also did this when changing POV’s between Aelyx and Cara. This really messed with me since I would have to get my bearings in the middle of reading. However, I did read an ARC copy and therefor this issue may have been resolved before being published.

This is an amazing debut novel and I cannot wait to see what happens next in the storyline. It’s a great story for YA, romance, sci-fi lovers alike.

 

1favequote“One by one, she greeted each leader, letting her fingers linger far, far too long, not understanding that she’d given them the human equivalent of an intimate embrace instead of a handshake. When she touched the young male, his lips twitched in an amused grin before he regained his mask of cool superiority.”

kRISTIN

Posted in: YA Romance, YA Sci-fi

Review: Escape From Eden by Elisa Nader

20 January, 2014 4:56 am , 6 Comments ,

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17245704

Escape From Eden
By: Elisa Nader
Publisher: Merit Press
Published: Aug. 18, 2013
Genre: Young Adult Thriller
Rating:
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Since the age of ten, Mia has lived under the iron fist of the fundamentalist preacher who lured her mother away to join his fanatical family of followers. In Edenton, a supposed “Garden of Eden” deep in the South American jungle, everyone follows the Reverend’s strict but arbitrary rules—even the mandate of whom they can marry. Now sixteen, Mia dreams of slipping away from the armed guards who keep the faithful in, and the curious out. When the rebellious and sexy Gabriel, a new boy, arrives with his family, Mia sees a chance to escape.

But the scandalous secrets the two discover beyond the compound’s façade are more shocking than anything they ever imagined. While Gabriel has his own terrible secrets, he and Mia bond together, more than friends and freedom fighters. But is there time to think of each other as they race to stop the Reverend’s paranoid plan to free his flock from the corrupt world? Can two teenagers crush a criminal mastermind? And who will die in the fight to save the ones they love from a madman who’s only concerned about his own secrets?

 

1thoughtsThis was one of those books that you’re either going to really enjoy or your going to hate. One being your take on religion and how devoted you are. Some people may be offended by this book. I however, am going to hell, so I found the book to be entertaining.

Mia lives in Edenton. A place that’s barricaded off from the world and it’s technologies. Everyone blindly follows their beloved Reverend. This man can do no wrong, even when he outwardly poisons his own “flock”. I mean, God hates greedy people apparently and you greedy lil’ bastards must pay for your sins via death. *nods head* Sure. I mean the Reverend was only carrying out the Lord’s command. *shrugs shoulders* Are you believing the B.S that I’m giving you? No? Yeah, well it didn’t fly with Mia either. Unfortunately, everyone else was nodding along in understanding as their flock members were dying a horrible death. Thus, the reason why Mia wants to escape. The Reverend is a demented masochist and his flock is a bunch of blind sheep being lead to their own slaughter while singing the praises of their saviors, the Reverend and the Lord up above.

The people staying there weren’t necessarily stupid but they were brainwashed into believing there was nothing else for them and that this was their only salvation. *rolls eyes* Although it was comforting to know that not everyone was as brainwashed as they appeared. Mia and Gabriel being among them. Although Mia had her moments that if I were Gabriel I would have just left her behind because she could see what was going on, knew it was wrong but would still have her doubts.

My one complaint was Gabriel. Why does he have to be your typical bad boy? Why not a geeky guy with glasses who’s parents just decided to up and join the cult… er I mean Edenton? He was your generic hot/cold bad boy giving out mixed signals left and right.

I liked that the author took a risk with her debut novel. Not only is it a crazy subject but there are various layers of taboo mixed in with a few dashes of suspense that I was captivated from the get go.

 

1favepart“You know, Gabriel,” Juanita said, “the word bridge isn’t used in the Bible.”
“It’s not?” Gabriel asked and I couldn’t help feeling he was humoring us. “And why is that?”
Juanita’s face fell as she remembered one of the Reverend’s sermons.
“Because,” I said, reciting what I could recall, “God’s people must pass through the dangerous currents of suffering and death, not simply ride over them.”
“Suffering and death for God’s people, huh?” Gabriel peered down into the ditch. “I guess if I was going to fly my atheist flag, now would be the time.”

 

 

 

 

authorElisa

Hi. I’m Elisa. I like cheese and reading and TV show marathons. Writing is scary, but not as scary as, say, Civil War amputations. I’m an Aquarius. Uh… let’s see… I’m not very good at writing my own biography. Or autobiography. I guess this is reading more like a slightly incoherent personal ad.

Website | Twitter | Facebook

 

 

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Posted in: YA Suspense

Review: Where You’ll Find Me by Erin Fletcher

15 January, 2014 3:09 pm , 6 Comments ,

WYFM

 

WYfMWhere You’ll Find Me
By: Erin Fletcher
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Published: Jan. 7, 2014
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Rating:
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When Hanley Helton discovers a boy living in her garage, she knows she should kick him out. But Nate is too charming to be dangerous. He just needs a place to get away, which Hanley understands. Her own escape methods (vodka, black hair dye, and pretending the past didn’t happen) are more traditional, but who is she to judge?

Nate doesn’t tell her why he’s in her garage, and she doesn’t tell him what she’s running from. Soon, Hanley’s trading her late-night escapades for all-night conversations and stolen kisses. But when Nate’s recognized as the missing teen from the news, Hanley isn’t sure which is worse: that she’s harboring a fugitive, or that she’s in love with one.

 

1thoughtsWhat would you do if you found a guy living in your garage? First thought is to call the cops and kick him out. Hanley does kick him out but decides to leave it at that. Then a cold front comes through with barely above 0* temperature and she finds herself inviting him back into the garage to stay warm. She doesn’t want another death on her conscious. From there the two talk and find a companionship that they can’t find with others. They may now know each others secrets but they know what it’s like to have them.

The author did a great job with keeping this story believable. It wasn’t so absurd that Hanley would feel the need to help another person by offering the same living quarters that they were using for who know how long before she found out. When I was younger I would sneak stray cats into the house in the middle of the night when my parents were asleep. Well first I’d sneak them into the front hallway to the apartments to get them out of the snow and when the coast was clear, I’d sneak them into the house. Granted, stray cats and stray humans are two different things, I could see the whole saving a stray human thing. HaHa

The romance built up slowly so there was no “love at first sight”. Hanley is weary of Nate (as she should be) but decides to help him out. Over time they find common ground and start to build a relationship. I liked that the two didn’t instantly fall in love. Yeah, there was interest between the two but that was it.

However, the ending I found to be a bit to over the top. I was on board up until that point. I won’t go into detail but the ending is the biggest HEA I’ve ever seen. I just felt like some of the parent’s responses were over the top.

In the end this was a great debut novel for Erin Fletcher. I will be keeping my eye out for more of her work.

 

1favequote“I think sometimes it’s easier to pretend to be okay than it is to admit weakness.”

 
author
unnamed

Erin Fletcher is a morning person who does most of her writing before sunrise while drinking excessive quantities of coffee, believes flip-flops qualify as year-round footwear, and would spend every day at the beach if she could. She has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics (which is almost never useful when writing books) and lives in North Carolina.

Website | Twitter

 

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Posted in: YA Contemporary

Review: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

10 January, 2014 8:16 am , Leave a Comment ,

6408862Stolen
A Letter to My Captor
By: Lucy Christopher
Publisher: Chicken House Ltd
Published: May 4, 2009
Genre: Young Adult
Rating:
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It happened like this. I was stolen from an airport. Taken from everything I knew, everything I was used to. Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected me to love him.

This is my story.

A letter from nowhere.

Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back?

The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don’t exist – almost.

 

1thoughtsThis was such and interesting an compelling story. I wasn’t even 50 pages in and I was reading excerpts to my co-workers. Which in turn creeped them out, made them question what I was reading, and then they turned around and added it to their book list. This entire story is written as if she were writing a letter to Ty, her kidnapper. She recollects her time in the airport with her parents, meeting Ty at the coffee shop, being drugged and ultimately waking up in the middle of the desert with nothing in sight.

We relive everything that Gemma went through from start to finish. Everything she thinks, feels and experiences all sort of become a jumbled mess towards the end, which in turn confuses not only Gemma but the reader as well. We start to think, yes Ty’s a bad guy for kidnapping her, no one can detest that, but he’s not so bad. You know the author did an amazing job writing the story when the reader starts to develop Stockholm syndrome as well.

There wasn’t really a point where I thought the story to be unbelievable or that Gemma wasn’t trying hard enough to escape. At first she doesn’t eat or drink, then she tries to commit suicide. She even ventures off into the desert twice trying to find civilization only to have Ty come and save her when she would’ve ultimately died out there. Then there’s this sort of hopelessness that this is it. There’s no hope of escaping because they are literally in the middle of the desert with nothing and no one around.

“I’d always kept a small seed of hope alive, hope that I’d be able to escape. But suddenly I realized something. That view of sand and endlessness… that was it, that was my life. Unless you took me back to a town, that was all I’d ever see. No more parents or friends or school. No more London. Only you. Only the desert.”

This was a thriller and then it wasn’t. At first I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would become of Gemma, then I started to understand that Ty just wanted company in his lonely isolated life and wasn’t going to hurt Gemma but in the back of my mind I knew my softness towards Ty was completely wrong and there was nothing I could really do to think of him as the monster that he was when he showed the softer side of him. And that right there is why this story is amazing. This story was a complete mind game for me. Kudos to the author for writing an awesome story.

 

1favequote“People should love what needs loving.” -Ty

kRISTIN

Posted in: YA Contemporary

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