You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Lucy Christopher, you are one incredible writer.
Whenever there is a kidnapping it is always broadcasted everywhere. I know the stories that shock us the most are when people held captive are still alive. Jaycee Dugard was one of the most interesting stories due to the fact that she was held captive for 18 years. A more recent story is the three women found in Cleveland. So, the public is left asking, how could someone feel it's right to hold someone captive? This story, while fictional, starts to explore a character who is held captive but who's captor has no interest in killing her. Instead he believes he's saving her.
The story starts when we meet Gemma. Gemma is a normal girl that has just walked away from her parents in an airport after an argument. While getting coffee a young man offers to buy her drink. This is the biggest mistake she makes. Ty, the young man, ends up drugging her drink and drags her to the middle of nowhere. Now, Gemma is trying to escape but to no avail. This story shows what Gemma goes through during her time in captivity. It is also written in the past tense as a letter that she is writing to her captor.
The only really important characters in this book are Gemma and Ty. There really isn't anyone else. Gemma has her life flipped upside down when she finds that she's been taken to Australia and expected to love this man that took her. Let me just point out that Gemma is a fighter. She tries everything to escape but she just can't. There's only miles and miles of land with no other humans around. She has several breakdowns throughout the book which is understandable. First she fights and fights and fights. When that doesn't work she withdraws. She doesn't eat, drink, or fight. She just gives up. But then she starts to learn more about her captor and little by little starts to come up with plans to escape.
And then there's Ty. And let's just say he's complicated.
"How long will you keep me?" I asked. You shrugged. "Forever, of course."
Yeah, he's not completely sane. Ty is a rugged character that you either love or hate. There's no in between. He's unstable and his morals are messed up. He believes he's saved Gemma when he really hasn't. While he is kind to her, since he loves her, it just isn't right. I can honestly say I don't know how I feel about Ty. In the beginning I hated him. But then he grows on you and I kind of liked him. Then I was like no he kidnapped her and hated him again. Then I liked him again. See my dilemma here? I had to keep giving myself reality checks that what he did to Gemma wasn't right in any way. But the end shows that he did love her since he did save her. So let's just end this by saying he leaves me feeling confused.
"What you did to me wasn't this brilliant thing, like you think it was. You took me away from everything - my parents, my friends, my life. You took me to the sand and the heat, the dirt and isolation. And you expected me to love you. And that's the hardest bit. Because I did, or at least, I loved something out there. But I hated you too. I can't forget that."
This leaves us with one great thing Lucy added to this story. Stockholm syndrome. When the victim starts to have positive feelings for their captor. We see this play out in the last 50 pages where Gemma starts to 'love' Ty. We also see her struggling to finish her letter at the end because she doesn't know what she feels.
"I hated you for everything; for making me feel so helpless everywhere I went, for making me lose control. I hated you for all the emotions in my head, for the confusion... for the way I was suddenly doubting everything. I hated you for turning my life upside down and then smashing it into shards. I hated you for making me stand with a whirring fan in my hand, screaming at my mum.
But I hated you for something else, too. Right then, and at every moment since you'd left me, all I could think about was you. I wanted you in that apartment. I wanted your arms around me, your face close to mine. I wanted your smell. And I knew I couldn't-shouldn't-have it. That's what I hated most. The uncertainty of you. You'd kidnapped me, put my life in danger... but I loved you, too. Or thought I did. None of it made sense."
All in all, this book was heart-wrenchingly perfect in a bittersweet way. Lucy does not disapoint with this book. This book is intense though so it's definetly not for everyone but I loved it. I also found it interesting that Lucy made Ty young and attractive. In society we think a nasty, middle-aged man would kidnap a girl but that's false and foolish thinking. Anyone could hurt us, even the ones we think won't.
This book gets 5 out of 5 stars from me.
Whenever there is a kidnapping it is always broadcasted everywhere. I know the stories that shock us the most are when people held captive are still alive. Jaycee Dugard was one of the most interesting stories due to the fact that she was held captive for 18 years. A more recent story is the three women found in Cleveland. So, the public is left asking, how could someone feel it's right to hold someone captive? This story, while fictional, starts to explore a character who is held captive but who's captor has no interest in killing her. Instead he believes he's saving her.
The story starts when we meet Gemma. Gemma is a normal girl that has just walked away from her parents in an airport after an argument. While getting coffee a young man offers to buy her drink. This is the biggest mistake she makes. Ty, the young man, ends up drugging her drink and drags her to the middle of nowhere. Now, Gemma is trying to escape but to no avail. This story shows what Gemma goes through during her time in captivity. It is also written in the past tense as a letter that she is writing to her captor.
The only really important characters in this book are Gemma and Ty. There really isn't anyone else. Gemma has her life flipped upside down when she finds that she's been taken to Australia and expected to love this man that took her. Let me just point out that Gemma is a fighter. She tries everything to escape but she just can't. There's only miles and miles of land with no other humans around. She has several breakdowns throughout the book which is understandable. First she fights and fights and fights. When that doesn't work she withdraws. She doesn't eat, drink, or fight. She just gives up. But then she starts to learn more about her captor and little by little starts to come up with plans to escape.
And then there's Ty. And let's just say he's complicated.
"How long will you keep me?" I asked. You shrugged. "Forever, of course."
Yeah, he's not completely sane. Ty is a rugged character that you either love or hate. There's no in between. He's unstable and his morals are messed up. He believes he's saved Gemma when he really hasn't. While he is kind to her, since he loves her, it just isn't right. I can honestly say I don't know how I feel about Ty. In the beginning I hated him. But then he grows on you and I kind of liked him. Then I was like no he kidnapped her and hated him again. Then I liked him again. See my dilemma here? I had to keep giving myself reality checks that what he did to Gemma wasn't right in any way. But the end shows that he did love her since he did save her. So let's just end this by saying he leaves me feeling confused.
"What you did to me wasn't this brilliant thing, like you think it was. You took me away from everything - my parents, my friends, my life. You took me to the sand and the heat, the dirt and isolation. And you expected me to love you. And that's the hardest bit. Because I did, or at least, I loved something out there. But I hated you too. I can't forget that."
This leaves us with one great thing Lucy added to this story. Stockholm syndrome. When the victim starts to have positive feelings for their captor. We see this play out in the last 50 pages where Gemma starts to 'love' Ty. We also see her struggling to finish her letter at the end because she doesn't know what she feels.
"I hated you for everything; for making me feel so helpless everywhere I went, for making me lose control. I hated you for all the emotions in my head, for the confusion... for the way I was suddenly doubting everything. I hated you for turning my life upside down and then smashing it into shards. I hated you for making me stand with a whirring fan in my hand, screaming at my mum.
But I hated you for something else, too. Right then, and at every moment since you'd left me, all I could think about was you. I wanted you in that apartment. I wanted your arms around me, your face close to mine. I wanted your smell. And I knew I couldn't-shouldn't-have it. That's what I hated most. The uncertainty of you. You'd kidnapped me, put my life in danger... but I loved you, too. Or thought I did. None of it made sense."
All in all, this book was heart-wrenchingly perfect in a bittersweet way. Lucy does not disapoint with this book. This book is intense though so it's definetly not for everyone but I loved it. I also found it interesting that Lucy made Ty young and attractive. In society we think a nasty, middle-aged man would kidnap a girl but that's false and foolish thinking. Anyone could hurt us, even the ones we think won't.
This book gets 5 out of 5 stars from me.