Review: The Taking by Kimberly Derting

The Taking by Kimberly Derting

Kyra Agnew has everything figured out. She has the perfect boyfriend, she is the star of her softball team and she even knows what college she is going to go to after she graduates. Her life is going exactly according to plan, even if her father wants more for her than just going to the college her boyfriend was accepted to. Then one night, after and argument with her father, Kyra is engulfed by a bright white light and vanishes. What she assumes is just a few hours later, she finds herself waking up behind the local gas station, covered in garbage. After making her way home, she discovers that those few hours were actually 5 years. 5 years that she has no memory of. 

Now she has to come to grips with a life that doesn't feel like her own. One where everyone seems to have moved on, including Austin, the previously perfect boyfriend. The only person Kyra can seem to connect with is his brother, Tyler. Tyler is who now suddenly 17 and ridiculously attractive. When Kyra's father admits that he believes she was abducted by aliens and mysterious government agents start snooping around, Kyra begins to realize that there is no such thing as normal anymore. 

Thoughts

I am a huge fan of Kimberly Derting. Her Body Finder series is just beyond amazing, so even if I am not a huge fan of science fiction, I knew I was going to give this one a shot the second I heard about it. Luckily, for those who aren't fans of science fiction, this book can almost barely be classified as such. It just barely even skims the surface of anything to do with aliens or science fiction, and it is mostly just a big set up for the rest of the series. I would imagine that the rest of the books will delve more into the aliens (or honestly, whatever it is that is taking people. Right now, it's just speculation.)

The Good

Derting really knows how to write likable characters. I really liked Kyra, even though she had a tendency to whine a little too much, and was unsure of herself a lot. And Tyler is just beyond amazing, even if his acceptance and romancing of Kyra was a little unbelievable at times. The story line was interesting, I was dying to know exactly what happened to Kyra, and what exactly the changes were that she was going through. 

The Bad

Almost all of Part One dragged at a snail's pace. If you know anything about me, you know how much I adore romance. In fact, it is a requisite in any form of entertainment I partake in. But man, they focused way too much on the romance too soon. I hate to use the word insta-love because I genuinely like Derting and don't want to be so negative, but the romance in this one reeked of it. It was too much too fast, and even though I do like Tyler and Kyra together, I wish it had been more of a slow burn. Once Part Two started though, the book was impossible to put down. 

Since book 2, The Replaced, is already out, I highly recommend anyone to read this one! While it did feel mostly like a setup book, with the way The Taking ended, I have a feeling The Replaced is going to be amazing.