Book Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting

Title: The Taking (The Taking #1)
Author: Kimberly Derting
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publishing Date: April 29th 2014
Length: 368 pages
Keywords: YA, thriller, mystery, contemporary, aliens, romance
Source: Edelweiss

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?

Summary by Goodreads

 

What I love about Kimberly Derting's writing is that she can introduce you to the most ordinary scenario in a teenager's life, with sports, boys, best friends and a great family, and make you feel most welcome in her protagonist's life. And then it doesn't take long and she pushes you out of that contemporary comfort zone and throws you to the aliens. That's not even much of an exaggeration because Kyra really gets abducted by aliens.

One moment Kyra is on the road with her father and the next she wakes up somewhere else, five years later. How scary is that? We don't get any information or learn what really happened. It's the complete and utter mystery about the lost five years that made me turn the pages of Derting's THE TAKING until late in the night. It was like a compulsive need to get an explanation for everything behind her disappearance. Some details we get in THE TAKING, for some we have to wait to be revealed in its sequel. Kimberly Derting also worked in some dicey and pretty grisly side effects that the alien abduction has on Kyra and her life after she's returned.

Five years later Kyra's boyfriend has moved on, her parents are divorced and her friends aren't really her friends anymore. Time stopped for Kyra while everyone kept living their lives, so quite some scenes are spent on Kyra coming to terms with her current situation. Kimberly Derting wouldn't be the fine writer she is if she hadn't given Kyra help on her search for an explanation.

It might sound strange that the one helping her find into her new life is the little brother of her now ex-boyfriend. But Kimberly Derting sure knows how to write an engaging love story. Tyler was the best, and I absolutely loved the little brother part! Kyra has to find out that he isn't so innocent and childish anymore but has become a man who is willing to do anything to protect her. Let's start a Tyler fan club!

During the search for clues about Kyra's alien abduction it becomes clear there are actually two parties working against each other. There are the people who believe Kyra and want to help her. And the people who want to see her and her story be contained from the public. This conflict definitly steps up the action factor in THE TAKING. So much is happening towards the end and I can't believe I have to even wait a single minute to find out what happens next.

 

4/5 **** THE TAKING - Suspenseful & sexy! A mysterious alien abduction and falling for a much younger man are the new YA ins this spring!

First Jay and Violet from THE BODY FINDER series and now Kyra and Tyler from THE TAKING. Kimberly Derting should be made responsible for many swooning readers. That's because she writes some of the best YA romances!

"All I knew was that one moment I was in the middle of a deserted stretch of highway, arguing with my dad about scholarships and boys, and the next minute my limbs were tingling and I felt weightless and dizzy. 

Then...

...nothing." 

THE TAKING you might enjoy THE HOST by Stephenie Meyer. The first alien book I fell in love with years ago. I AM NUMBER FOUR by Pittacus Lore is an equally action-packed and romantic alien read. And then you could also like RUSH by Eve Silver. I'm planning to read it soon and see if it's a match for fans of Kimberly Derting. 

* Have you read THE BODY FINDER yet?

* Click here to read an excerpt of THE TAKING!

* Want to meet Kimberly Derting? Check out her event schedule.

* For more information about Kimberly Derting and her books visit www.kimberlyderting.com.

* Thanks to HarperTeen and Edelweiss for the chance to review THE TAKING!