YA ARC Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting

The Taking
Author: Kimberly Derting
Series: Taking
Publication: HarperTeen (April 29, 2014)

Description: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer meets The Fifth Wave in this chilling and explosive new series from author Kimberly Derting.

The last thing Kyra Agnew remembers is a flash of bright light. She awakes to discover that five whole years have passed. Everyone in her life has moved on—her parents divorced, her boyfriend is in college and dating her best friend—but Kyra's still the sixteen-year-old she was when she vanished. She finds herself drawn to Tyler, her boyfriend's kid brother, despite her best efforts to ignore her growing attraction. In order to find out the truth, the two of them decide to retrace her steps from that fateful night. They discover there are others who have been "taken," just like Kyra. Only, Kyra is the first person to have been returned past the forty-eight-hour taken mark. With a determined, secret government agency after her, Kyra desperately tries to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had . . . but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

My Thoughts: THE TAKING was an amazing beginning to a new science fiction series. Star softball player Kyra Agnew remembers a bright light and then nothing until she wakes up behind a convenience store on day. She has been gone five years but only one night has passed for her. She returns to a very different world than she left.

Her parents have divorced. Her mom has remarried and had another child. Her dad has become a conspiracy theory nut who is convinced that Kyra was abducted by aliens. Her boyfriend and best friend have moved on to college and fallen in love. Nothing is the same for Kyra.

Her boyfriend's younger brother Tyler has caught up in age and become quite a "hottie." Kyra first has trouble seeing him as a serious romantic interest but his sincerity, kindness, and persistence finally convince Kyra that he is someone she can trust.

She is quite sure that she can't trust Agent Truman who says he is from the NSA and she has real doubts about the boy who keeps popping up in places where she goes. When the NSA tries to capture her, it is that boy - Simon - who tells her about the others like her and who tries to help her.

The story was very fast-paced. I couldn't put it down! I was as eager as Kyra to find out more about her and to try to find out what had happened to her. I loved her relationship with Tyler and had tears in my eyes at the very thrilling climax.

I hope the next book comes out really, really soon. I need to know what happens next!

Favorite Quote:

That was it. He undid me with those words.

It would have been better if he'd said nothing at all, because I could live with nothing. Love...well, love was another matter altogether.

Love required sacrifice and making hard choices and doing things that were bigger than just you.

It wasn't something you asked for, or could control or change. It was something you accepted.

Love was a force of nature.

I got this eARC from Edelweiss. You can buy your copy here.