Stolen (Unabridged) [Audio Download]

I only heard good things about Stolen. So naturally I was anxious to read it. So when we contacted Chicken House Publishing and they allowed me to review it, I was ecstatic. Not only did I get a free book, but I got a GOOD book. I was amazed at how much I loved this book. The story was so captivating. I was moved.

Stolen was written in second person, which was a new narrative to me but one I enjoyed all the same. Lucy Christopher has written this as a letter that Gemma our 16 year old narrator writes to her kidnapper Ty. Being able to read it in this form gave me more of an understanding as to what Gemma was going through, from the time she was 'Stolen' from Bangkok Airport, right through her ordeal with Ty, the relationship that was slowly emerging between them. Both of them are two very different characters, Gemma is surprisingly strong and mature for a 16 year old. Ty, is ultimately not evil but a troubled person who's only love is the vast land of the Australian outback. Gemma has love, she has a family, she has friends. Ty does not. He's a lonely sort, and has been in love with Gemma for almost 3 years but has been following her for 6. He wants to share his love of the land with Gemma. Not only are Gemma and Ty two major characters (in fact for most of the book, they're the only characters), but the Australian outback is so ripe with description in this book that it almost becomes a character itself.

My heart and my head were so torn when I read this book. I wanted to hate Ty, for what he did. For everything, but my heart kept saying no, he's not all bad; he's just starved of love and lonely. He's sometimes portrayed as a vulnerable sort of guy, but then scary as well in some scenes at the start of the book. I'm not condoning kidnapping, but when you read this book, you can see why Ty did what he did. I only wish this had a happier ending. Eventually my heart was won over by Ty, and it was because of a particular scene towards the end of the book in his painting shed. During that scene and after it, was the moment I realised I was in love with Ty. Anyone who has read this book will know the scene I am talking about. If you haven't, well I'll leave it to you to find out. You won't be disappointed. That's the moment you fall in love with Ty, and the moment Gemma realises she does in fact 'need' him, and the land.

Anyway, I hope this review is sufficient. And I urge everyone to pick up Stolen: A Letter to my captor and read it. Find out for yourself. In the end, I'd just like to say that I'm definitely in love with this book, and I am definitely NOT suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Read it. It's fabulous.

This is an incredibly moving story that played on my mind for days after reading. There is so much I love about it. Rarely do I experience total empathy with a main charater when I'm reading a book but in Stolen, I was with Gemma throughout, experiencing each sense, each emotion with her exactly as she did.

As well as a book about one girl's struggle to escape from an endlessly barren landscape and the strangely alluring kidnapper who brings her there, it is a paean to the intensity and beauty of the Australian desert, about which the author is clearly very familiar.

Stolen is a modern wonder in teen fiction, standing head and shoulders above a lot of its flimsy contemporaries. Lucy Christopher is a terrific writer with a glaringly bright future ahead of her. Beg, borrow or steal Stolen. You will not regret it.

I'm a little above the recommended reading age for this book, but nonetheless, this book had me hooked from the first page and then has been playing on my mind ever since I finished it. It stirs up such a range of emotions, and by the end you're as mixed up emotionally as the main character, whom you are able to empathise with throughout the whole book. I thoroughly recommend this book for anyone of any age and I can't wait to read more by the same author.