Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting

The Taking

Author: Kimberly Derting
Series: The Taking #1
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Format: ebook
Release Date: April 29, 2014
Source: egalley received from publisher via Edelweiss
Rating: 3 Stars
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***I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This has in no way changed my opinion of the book. The review below is my open and honest opinion.***  

Synopsis from Goodreads:

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?

My Review:

I love Kimberly Derting’s Pledge series (although I have yet to read the last book), so I was really excited to read her new series. Alien abductions??? Yes, please! I love sci-fi stuff and I haven’t read a single book about alien abductions before. I really enjoyed this one!

The main character Kyra was great. She questioned things. She didn’t immediately believe things that she was told. She was angry and confused like any person would be. She wasn’t always the nicest especially to her brother and her mom’s new husband, but I think it was a realistic reaction to her situation. I can’t even imagine just coming back and realizing that I lost FIVE YEARS of my life. I would be devastated.

The romance is very heavily focused on and I thought it was cute, if maybe a bit quick. But I could understand why it moved at the rate it did given the circumstances and I really did love Tyler. He was smart, funny, confident, and just a tad cocky. Oh and he loves books. So obviously he was great.

This book had all the cool sci-fi stuff I wanted. Aliens experimenting on humans. The government wanting to experience on the Returned humans. Lots of conspiracy. Lots of questions. The thing is that we didn’t get a lot of answers in this book. In fact, we pretty much learned nothing about what the aliens want. So it almost felt like an introduction of sorts. I still really enjoyed the book, but I did want a bit more out of it. I am now anxiously awaiting the next book as this one does end on a bit of a cliffhanger (not the worst I’ve read, but I’m still dying to know what happens next). All in all, a great start to her new series. Happy reading all! 

Have you read this book? What did you think of all the unanswered questions? What about the romance?