Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting

The Taking (#1) by Kimberly Derting (April 2014)
368 pages
Genre: Young Adult/Sci-Fi
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: The Library
Purchase: Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon
My Rating:

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?

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My Review

The cover of The Taking is what got me to read this book. It popped up on my radar and before I even read the synopsis I had decided I was going to read it. Then I saw who the author was and that further sealed the deal for me. When I read the synopsis I was a little hesitant since it didn't sound like something I would normally read, but I was already committed so I gave it a go.

The Taking ended up being an average read for me. I liked it, but nothing really unique stood out to me while reading. I liked the writing and the overall plot, but I think there were a few tiny plot holes that bothered me a little bit. I am kind of sad to report that nothing stood out to me while reading. There was just nothing overly memorable about it.

BUT I did like the characters a lot. They were cute and interesting. They seemed real and were very likable. The romance was a little weird, but I liked Tyler so much that I was fine with it. I did like all the interesting/cool things going on with Kyra's disappearance, and I did love the how the author decided to use the plot device of her not remembering a single thing that happened to her in five years. It made me very curious, exactly what I believe that the author was probably trying to get me to feel. 

Even though The Taking didn't blow me away, I still thought it was a good book. I do plan on reading the sequel at some point.