Kimberly is the author of the BODY FINDER series (HarperCollins), THE PLEDGE trilogy (Simon & Schuster), and THE TAKING trilogy (coming Summer 2014 from HarperTeen). She lives in the Pacific Northwest, the ideal place to write anything dark or creepy…a gloomy day can set the perfect mood. She lives with her husband and their three beautiful (and often mouthy) children who provide an endless source of inspiration.
 
 
 
 
 
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Erin’s Thoughts
The Taking by Kimberly Derting
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Taking by Kimberly Derting is a Sci-Fi story that involves alien abduction, quite a bit of action and some romance on the side. This story had me turning the pages to find out what was going to happen next and I am definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.
Kyra is a normal teenager. She and her softball team just won the championship and as with any sixteen year old, she is starting to think about where she wants to go to college. Because of her talent as a pitcher, her father is trying to get her to consider all of her options but Kyra has already decided that she and her boyfriend, Austin, are going to the same school no matter what she is offered. On the way home from the championship game, Kyra and her father have the same argument about this and she ends up making him pull over so she can walk instead of listen to the same talk he has given her over and over. That decision will change her life forever.
When Kyra opens her eyes, she is behind the dumpster at the Gas ‘n ‘Sip, almost exactly where she got out of the car and unclear as to why she decided to stay there for the night. Regardless, Kyra makes the walk home and that is when things start to get even weirder. There is a strange man living in her house along with a young boy. Since Austin’s house is right across the street, she runs there to see if Austin can clear things up. When the door opens, Kyra realizes that the person she thought was Austin is really Tyler, his little brother, and he looks a lot older than he did the last time she saw him.
As the story continues, we find that although to Kyra it only feels like a day has passed, she has really been gone for five years. This is probably one of the areas that I felt the most for Kyra. She gets thrown into this world where everyone has moved on with their lives and she is stuck at sixteen. This includes her parents divorcing, her mother getting remarried and having a new child, and the boyfriend she loved so much, moving on and starting a relationship with Kyra’s best friend, Cat. The one bright spot for Kyra is Tyler.
Tyler is Austin’s younger brother but he is now the same age as Kyra (since she didn’t’t age in the five years she was gone) and her first few nights home, he is the one to anchor her in the present. He admittedly had a crush on her when he was younger and when she knocks on his door, he sees it as a chance to get her to see him as more than just Austin’s little brother as well as the boy who does chalk drawings on the sidewalk. He does swoony things (chalk drawings) and is patient with Kyra. He also, no matter what she tells him, never doubts Kyra.
As I mentioned, the Taking refers to the abductions happening and as the story progresses, this is a lot bigger than just Kyra vanishing. Not only has Kyra not aged, but she is starting to recognize that she is different. Add to this the fact that people are following her and she doesn’t really know who to trust…except for Tyler.
There are a lot of twists in this story that are linked to what happened to Kyra when she was gone. As Kyra adjusts to her life, she is also working to solve the mystery of what happened and how it is impacting her life now.
There it is…I can’t say much more only because I don’t want to give anything away. Just know that if you like a good sci-fi story that has quite a bit of action, you will definitely enjoy this one. Add to that a swoony boy and some angst, and this book has a bit of everything.
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