The Taking by Kimberly Derting
Series: The Taking #1
Published by Harper Teen on April 29, 2014
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 368
Format: eARC
Source: Edelweiss, Publisher
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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?

The Taking is the first in a new science fiction series from Kimberly Derting and I was seriously impressed with it.  I was a little skeptical when I first started it since I’d heard some mixed things but I went in with an open mind and I could  not put it down!

The Taking starts off with a bang (and a white light, in this case) and it never slowed down.  Kyra wakes up what seems like one day later but turns out to be five years later.  Her life is completely different and the only person she can turn to is her now ex-boyfriend’s little brother (all grown up now), Tyler.  Together they team up to find out where Kyra was for those five years, why she hasn’t aged a day, and why there are people hunting her down.  It’s a crazy thrill ride of a story that will hook readers from start to finish.  And probably even after you finish.

Kyra is confused, scared, and pretty alone after everything she has been through.  Her parents are divorced and her mom seems to have moved on with her life.  Her dad became obsessed with what happened to Kyra and pretty much threw his life away.  Her boyfriend and best friend moved on without her and now her former boyfriend’s little brother is grown up and looking pretty good to Kyra.  Don’t get me wrong, I did find it a little odd that one day Tyler was 12 to Kyra and the next day he was 17 and she was all over him.  Especially seeing as her boyfriend and best friend betrayed her.  I didn’t expect her to move on to Tyler quite so quickly  but I really wouldn’t call it instalove since they did know each other for years.  Tyler is supremely adorable.  He’s such a sweetheart.  If I was Kyra, I would have a hard time resisting him too.  I really did think they had great chemistry and it truly didn’t bother me all that much that it was her ex-boyfriend’s little brother.  They were better together than her and Austin, by far.

The story is completely unique and I loved it.  I’m not normally a fan of science fiction but I loved Kimberly Derting’s take on it.  I don’t want to give anything away  but I will say that it’s nothing like I expected.  I didn’t really get much from the synopsis or the few reviews  I’d read and I’m really glad about that.  This is one of those books where the less you know going in, the better.

Overall, The Taking is a fabulous start to Kimberly Derting’s new series.  I’d forgotten how much I loved her writing and this just reminded me so I’m definitely going to go read some more of her books while I impatiently await for the next book in this series.

What others are saying about The Taking:

Beauty and the Bookshelf’s review: “And while this isn’t my favorite Kimberly Derting novel and I did have a few issues with it, The Taking is a fast-paced book with an addictive quality, because you just MUST KNOW what on earth is going on.”

A  Book Obsession’s review: “I enjoyed THE TAKING and it was a pretty quick read, but there were a few things that just felt a bit too underdeveloped for me, making it frustrating as I couldn’t quite get fully immersed into the story.”

Looking for the Panacea’s review: “Unfortunately, being action-packed meant that Derting spent hardly any time on character development.”