Book Review: "Stolen" by Lucy Christopher

  

  Synopsis: 

It happened like this. I was stolen from an airport. Taken from everything I knew, everything I was used to. Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected me to love him.

This is my story.

A letter from nowhere. 

Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back? 

The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist - almost.    (taken from goodreads)   

                         Review:                      

I've had my eye on this book for the past couple of years. However, the fact of it being about a kidnapping sort of scared me off. You see, being kidnapped -or the thought of it for that matter- is one of my biggest fears. Therefore, I didn't think I would enjoy this that much although it seemed really intriguing. 

This book is written from Gemma's point of view. It begins while she is at the airport with her parents waiting to catch their flight. After a little while Gemma decides to go and get some coffee. When she is about to pay for her drink, a mysterious guy named Ty cuts in and pays for her. Then he invites her to sit down with her and they start talking. In the back of her mind she knows that something is strange about the whole situation. And she couldn't help but feel like she had seen him before. That's when things start to go downhill. While they were talking, Gemma didn't see Ty put something in her drink.  She starts feeling odd; kind of dizzy and weak. Ty then leads her away and from there on everything is a blur. Until she wakes up again and finds herself in the foreign place Ty took her too.

Before I scramble my thoughts on here, I wanted to give a little heads up to you all. Merely a trigger warning because there is some self harm. Other than that, I don't think there's any other triggering scenes or anything. 

Now, let me tell you what I thought of this book. As soon as I began reading, I realized that his was going to be a very impacting book.  There were times when I had to close the book and breathe for a little bit simply because I couldn't help but picture myself in Gemma's position. It really stressed me out. I  don't even want to imagine what it must feel like to be robbed of your freedom and have someone take you away from everything you've ever known against your will. Regardless, of the extra effort that it took to read this book, I loved it. Writing about this kind of thing and making it seem real and credible must take some real talent. Lucy Christopher definitely proved that she has that skill.   Not only do we get to understand Gemma's feelings, we also get an insight into Ty's mind and his mental illness if you can call it that.

As for the writing, it was impeccable. The way that everything was described really made the story breathtaking. It was almost poetic in a way. The characters felt so concrete and every feeling they portrayed really got to me. It was a truly well-written book that I feel everyone should read. It does take a lot out of you, but believe me, it is worth every page. 

Rating:

5/ 5

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