Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting

Goodreads Summary:

A flash of white light . . . and then . . . nothing.

When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day.

Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men.

Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

Publication Date: April 29, 2014

This was an interesting book and I liked the premise. I also enjoyed how the novel read a lot like a contemporary YA romance with a touch of sci-fi. My favorite part of the book was reading about how Kyra had to deal with family and friends that had flashed forward five years while she remained the same sixteen-year-old girl. This was a great series starter and I’m looking forward to the rest of the books.

Kyra was the type of character that needed to grow on me. At first, I thought she had acted very irresponsible after going missing for five years. She takes off without letting her parents know, figuring she didn’t need to leave a note. I also thought it was strange how she has no memory of the past five years and she’s not under psychiatric care. Also, her mother and the local authorities don’t seem concerned at all with trying to figure out what had happened to her over the past five years.

But after I just kind of went with the plot, I got really into the book. Kyra acted out, but I sympathized with what a shock it was for her to come back and have so many things changed. I loved her relationship with Tyler since he was such a sweetie. The romance had a good amount of angst and I was curious to see how Kyra and Tyler’s relationship developed.

The second half was stronger than the first and the suspense definitely kicked in. I liked that I was unable to predict what would happen in the book and how the author threw in a few surprises. It ended on a strong note and built up a lot of anticipation for the second book.

I’d highly recommend this book to fans of YA supernatural novels with heavy romantic elements.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of the novel for review!