Title: The Taking
Author: Kimberly Derting
Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
Series: The Taking, book #1
Length: 9 hrs 29 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publication Date: April 29, 2014
Source: borrowed from library
Purchase: Amazon |
Barnes & Noble |
Audible
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?
Fair warning, I'm a total fangirl for Derting's
THE BODY FINDER series. I've read and loved every single one of those books, and though I still want more -- even if she's not planning on writing any -- I'm more than happy to read her forays into other genres, including dystopian fantasy via
THE PLEDGE series and now with sci-fi and aliens by way of
The Taking. And while this novel isn't my favorite of hers, it still showed the potential to
become another favorite series.
Here's the thing, though. This novel pretty much reads like a contemporary with a very weird twist. I know many have commented on this aspect, including friends and those I turn to for reading recommendations, but I just want to weigh in with my two cents. The romance in this book isn't as squicky and off-putting to me as some have made it out to be. Yes, Tyler was only twelve when Kyra disappeared at the age of 16. And five years have passed, and now Tyler is 17.
But Kyra is still only 16 and only feels and looks 16, not the 21 she should
be. Maybe it's not the age thing that bothers some but the fact that she moves on from one brother to the other in what is five years to them but only days for her. Also not terribly icky to me, but to each his own. The thing is, Austin thought Kyra was gone for good, so he moved on. As Kyra remembers her time with him, it's glaringly obvious that they were never really all that good together anyway. Tyler, on the other hand, seems much better suited for Kyra and is willing to prove it to her. I thought they were actually very sweet together.
But the romantic aspect wasn't what led me to want to read this novel. I've always been intrigued by the possibility of aliens, so any mention of them in a synopsis has me summarily curious. However, the focus isn't on the aliens in this story until the latter third of the book. Instead, the story explores the strange coincidences Kyra keeps noticing and the misgivings she has regarding the five years she was missing. And it concentrates on how Kyra is handling (or not) the many changes that occurred while she was gone. Everyone moved on without her, and it's difficult for her to adjust, especially when it seems that the government wants to know more about what happened to her, too. I would have liked the psychological effects of those missing five years to have been explored in more depth, aside from Kyra's obsession with time and her refusal to accept the physiological changes in herself, but like I said, there's potential here.
I received a copy of this novel for review from the publisher, but I missed the release date, so as I am wont to do, I downloaded the audio from my library so that I could get to it sooner rather than later. I'm a huge fan of Tavia Gilbert's narration of the Cat and Bones books from Jeaniene Frost, but as such, I was also worried that I would hear Cat in Kyra the entire time I was listening. It's often very difficult to separate a favorite narrator from a character they've voiced for years. In the beginning of the story, I did find it hard to do so, but as I got more engrossed in the book, I found myself listening to Kyra...not Cat and not Tavia.
There were some surprising twists to this story and shocking revelations, and I'm keen to see where Derting takes the story from here, now that it's morphed from the somewhat contemporary story it started as into a full-blown piece of sci-fi. I'm very curious to find out why the aliens want to make humans so hardy, why and what they're testing out on us. And I'm dying to know what happened to Tyler and Kyra's dad and even that creepy government official there at the end.
GIF it to me straight:
Exactly.
About the author:
Kimberly is the author of the BODY FINDER series (HarperCollins), THE PLEDGE trilogy (Simon & Schuster), and THE TAKING trilogy (HarperTeen). She lives in the Pacific Northwest, the ideal place to write anything dark or creepy...a gloomy day can set the perfect mood. She lives with her husband and their three beautiful (and often mouthy) children who provide an endless source of inspiration.
Find Kimberly:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
{Audiobook} Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting
Author: Kimberly Derting
Narrator: Tavia Gilbert
Series: The Taking, book #1
Length: 9 hrs 29 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publication Date: April 29, 2014
Source: borrowed from library
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible
Fair warning, I'm a total fangirl for Derting's THE BODY FINDER series. I've read and loved every single one of those books, and though I still want more -- even if she's not planning on writing any -- I'm more than happy to read her forays into other genres, including dystopian fantasy via THE PLEDGE series and now with sci-fi and aliens by way of The Taking. And while this novel isn't my favorite of hers, it still showed the potential to become another favorite series.
Here's the thing, though. This novel pretty much reads like a contemporary with a very weird twist. I know many have commented on this aspect, including friends and those I turn to for reading recommendations, but I just want to weigh in with my two cents. The romance in this book isn't as squicky and off-putting to me as some have made it out to be. Yes, Tyler was only twelve when Kyra disappeared at the age of 16. And five years have passed, and now Tyler is 17. But Kyra is still only 16 and only feels and looks 16, not the 21 she should be. Maybe it's not the age thing that bothers some but the fact that she moves on from one brother to the other in what is five years to them but only days for her. Also not terribly icky to me, but to each his own. The thing is, Austin thought Kyra was gone for good, so he moved on. As Kyra remembers her time with him, it's glaringly obvious that they were never really all that good together anyway. Tyler, on the other hand, seems much better suited for Kyra and is willing to prove it to her. I thought they were actually very sweet together.
But the romantic aspect wasn't what led me to want to read this novel. I've always been intrigued by the possibility of aliens, so any mention of them in a synopsis has me summarily curious. However, the focus isn't on the aliens in this story until the latter third of the book. Instead, the story explores the strange coincidences Kyra keeps noticing and the misgivings she has regarding the five years she was missing. And it concentrates on how Kyra is handling (or not) the many changes that occurred while she was gone. Everyone moved on without her, and it's difficult for her to adjust, especially when it seems that the government wants to know more about what happened to her, too. I would have liked the psychological effects of those missing five years to have been explored in more depth, aside from Kyra's obsession with time and her refusal to accept the physiological changes in herself, but like I said, there's potential here.
I received a copy of this novel for review from the publisher, but I missed the release date, so as I am wont to do, I downloaded the audio from my library so that I could get to it sooner rather than later. I'm a huge fan of Tavia Gilbert's narration of the Cat and Bones books from Jeaniene Frost, but as such, I was also worried that I would hear Cat in Kyra the entire time I was listening. It's often very difficult to separate a favorite narrator from a character they've voiced for years. In the beginning of the story, I did find it hard to do so, but as I got more engrossed in the book, I found myself listening to Kyra...not Cat and not Tavia.
There were some surprising twists to this story and shocking revelations, and I'm keen to see where Derting takes the story from here, now that it's morphed from the somewhat contemporary story it started as into a full-blown piece of sci-fi. I'm very curious to find out why the aliens want to make humans so hardy, why and what they're testing out on us. And I'm dying to know what happened to Tyler and Kyra's dad and even that creepy government official there at the end.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Official Cover Reveal: Hover by Melissa West + Giveaway
Today on the blog, I have the pleasure of bringing you the cover reveal for the second book in Melissa West's The Taking series:
Isn't it gorgeous? And I love how it matches yet contrasts with the first book's cover:
Here are the pre-order links for Hover, which is due out on August 6, 2013:
Melissa lives in a tiny suburb of Atlanta, GA with her husband and daughter. She pretends to like yoga, actually likes shoes, and could not live without coffee. Her writing heroes include greats like Jane Austen and Madeleine L'Engle.
She holds a B.A. in Communication Studies and an M.S. in Graphic Communication, both from Clemson University. Yeah, her blood runs orange.
In addition to the Hover (The Taking #2) cover reveal, the publisher will also be hosting an exclusive excerpt and official blurb closer to Hover's release date on August 6, 2013. So be sure to check back for that!
To celebrate the cover reveal for this second installment in Melissa West's sci-fi series, Entangled is offering up a signed paperback copy of Melissa's first book, Gravity. The giveaway will run from Dec. 3-14, 2012.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Review: Gravity by Melissa West
Author: Melissa West
Series: The Taking #1
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Publication Date: October 30, 2012
Source: galley from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Don’t. Ever. Peek.
Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed — arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.
Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know — especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.
I have always been fascinated with the idea of extra-terrestrial life. My dad was a big sci-fi fanatic, watching every permutation of Star Trek and any and all alien-based movies he could get a hold of. You could say he rubbed off on me a bit. (Though, I'll never quite understand how I came to love Star Wars so much when he's never shown even the slightest interest in those movies. Weird.) Anyway, given my love of the otherworldly and the possibility of an interplanetary love story, this summary sounds like it was written just for me.
Gravity was fast-paced and full of intense action scenes but it lacked depth. The world was presented in an appealing manner, but I never truly understood how it had gotten to that point. Plenty of history is divulged in Gravity but with the constant unearthing of lie upon lie, it was difficult to discern if the facts presented were real or if they were only real to Ari in the here and now of it all. Suffice it to say, I need to know more about this futuristic version of Earth and those otherworldy Ancients before I can truly say this story captivated me. At only 199 pages, I can't expect much background, I suppose, but I expect the world, and the existence of the Ancients in ours, to be more fully explained in future installments.
Though all of the characters were likeable or at least relatable, I also felt that I only got to know them on the surface, except maybe for Ari, since the story is told from her point-of-view. Ari is your typical dystopian protagonist: tough and resilient, but she's made this way by her military father. She's expected to carry on his legacy and become the next Commander. In the beginning, she's quite naive and accepts everything she's been told as truth. But the closer she gets to her future, and the closer she gets to Jackson, the more she begins to question everything she knows, especially as the world around her begins to change. Gone is the peaceful acceptance of The Taking, and she must now decide which side she will align herself with.
Full of lies, romance, and betrayal, Gravity is a fun, quick read that will intrigue and excite readers. This novel will take you on a journey of discovery. It's an exploration of right and wrong and how far one girl will go to rectify the wrongs of the past. And it will leave you clamoring for more. I can't wait to find out more about this world!
Rating:
Be sure to check out my stop on the Gravity Blog Tour to find out ten things Melissa West thinks you should know about Gravity before you read it.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Blog Tour: Gravity by Melissa West - Guest Post & Giveaway
Melissa lives in a tiny suburb of Atlanta, GA with her husband and daughter. She pretends to like yoga, actually likes shoes, and could not live without coffee. Her writing heroes include greats like Jane Austen and Madeleine L'Engle.
She holds a B.A. in Communication Studies and an M.S. in Graphic Communication, both from Clemson University. Yeah, her blood runs orange.
1. Ari Alexander, GRAVITY’s main character, has trained since she was ten years old in weaponry and combat. She’s crazy fierce.
2. In my mind, Jackson and Ari are very much alike. Both are loyal and driven.
3. The aliens are built around the ancient astronaut theory.
4. Originally the book included football and Jackson was the quarterback. I know, so cliché!
5. The Ancients’ planet, Loge, is built around an actual Earth-like planet scientists found orbiting the Alpha Centauri system.
6. I adore the second half of the book. That isn’t to say I don’t enjoy the first, but the second is my favorite. :)
7. GRAVITY was originally titled TWISTED ROOT, due to the Ancients travelling between planets through the trees.
8. Originally Ari was not a fighter at all.
9. GRAVITY took me three months to write and has been rewritten, almost entirely, twice.
10. Secretly, almost all of the characters in my book are modeled after people I know. :)
Author: Melissa West
Series: The Taking #1
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Publication Date: October 30, 2012
Source: galley from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Don’t. Ever. Peek.
Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed — arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.
Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know — especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.
And below you'll find your chance to win your very own signed copy of Gravity! U.S. entries only, please.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good luck & happy reading!
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starryeyedjen
- I work with numbers by day, and I'm a mommy and avid reader by night. I'm a self-proclaimed Spreadsheet Queen, and I'll read anything you put in front of me. I seriously love all the books! And I adore audiobooks, too!
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