STOLEN (LUCY CHRISTOPHER)

Story Description:

You saw me before I saw you. 

A girl:  Gemma, at the airport, on her way to a family vacation. 

You had that look in your eyes. 

A guy:  Ty, rugged, tan, too old, oddly familiar, eyes blue as ice. 

Like you wanted me. 

She steps away.  For just a second.  He pays for her drink.  And drugs it. 

Wanted me for a long time. 

He takes her, before she even knows what’s happening.  To sand and heat.  To emptiness and isolation.  To nowhere.  And expects her to love him. 

Written as a letter from a victim to her captor, this is Gemma’s desperate story of survival.  Ty has Stolen her body.  Against every instinct screaming inside her, will he also steal Gemma’s heart? 

My Review: 

Sixteen-year-old Gemma is kidnapped from the Bangkok airport by a man named, Ty, after he drugged her drink.  Gemma has no idea where she is when she wakes up but she’s terrified.  She discovers that she is living in the middle of a desert in Australia in a home that has been stocked with supplies to care for her for several months. 

The entire book is written in the form of a letter written to Ty, from Gemma.  The author did a fantastic job of placing the reader in Gemma’s shoes – you felt what she felt.  I myself, felt so sorry for Gemma, not only for the predicament she was in, but for her many failed attempts at escape.  It was heartbreaking. 

I wasn’t sure how I felt about Ty.  I suppose I really despised him but he had such an unbelievably horrendous upbringing that part of me couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. 

The one nice redeeming factor of this Young Adult novel is the fact there is no rape, no sex, and no torture which is a bit unusual in these types of cases.  This was one of those books that really “got me” because I loved it one minute and hated it the next.  The real makings of a good story!