Stolen: A Letter to My Captor

I expected this to be a Captive Romance, where the Hero takes the heroine and treats her like he owns her, she is attracted to him from the start so she falls in love with him and they eventually live happily ever after. Those books may are pretty popular though pretty messed up, but as long as the heroine is attracted to the Hero and doesnt actual fight him off it can all end up ok (in a romance novel). However this book was so different than anything I ever expected, and so much better. It almost reads like a true story of a kidnapping. The the book is written from the POV of the heroine Gemma as a letter to Ty, the man that took her. It is in chronological order from right before she is kidnapped from the Bangkok airport as she is traveling with her parents and has an argument with them while they wait near the gate for their plane. Gemma goes to an airport coffee shop to cool down and since it is full, she ends up sitting with a hands on guy after he pays for her drink when she doesnt have any Bangkok currency. The man is Ty and he drugs her coffee and takes her outside behind some bushes and helps her change clothes and then smuggles her onto a different flight claiming she had too much to drink. I dont want to give away any more than that other than to say she hates him, but then eventually comes to understand and need him, possibly even have feelings for him. Ty is an odd character who is both a gentleman and a captor at times. Though he does want Gemma to want to be with him. So he gives her a separate bedroom and sometimes lets her have her way, but in the end it is only to teach her a lesson when she doesnt believe the things he tells her and how dangerous it can be. I was in tears at some points, because of her struggles and the fact that I genuinely liked Ty and felt bad for him when she would say certain things that would hurt his feelings. He really just loves Gemma and wants her to see the beauty of the land and to love him back. I really ended up hoping for that to happen.

This was an amazing book. I finished it in a day. Couldn\’t put it down. I was very skeptical over whether or not to get this because of the other mixed reviews but I was glad I took the plunge. I thought it was amazing and found myself rooting for him all along and by the end of the book I was nearly in tears over the surprise ending. Tears of happiness, or tears of sadness I just couldn\’t tell. Though it wasn\’t the ending I was expecting, nor wholeheartedly hoping for it leaves almost on a cliff hanger with room for you to decide what\’s going to happen after she finishes writing. I\’ve recommended this book to all of my friends who enjoy a good realistic fiction and I\’ve even gotten people thanking me for recommending it because they enjoy it. On the other end of the spectrum, ie, the people who don\’t enjoy the book, I understand where they\’re coming from though I can\’t personally picture myself disliking it. It\’s a little vague in some spots but so is nearly every book I\’ve ever read and if you\’re trying to decide if you should try this book, I would say just try it and ignore the bad reviews (Along with the good ones) and go into it with an open mind and I\’ll bet you\’ll like it.

I read Stolen in a YA lit class in college and it absolutely messed me up, haha. I confess that I get intensely emotionally involved in just about every book I read, but Stolen got me unexpectedly and I found myself bawling for hours after I finished. While this book hints at Stockholm Syndrome, I fell like I am the one who developed it, not Gemma. The premise really drew me in at first. A teenage girl is kidnapped in an airport. I\’m in to that. But Christopher begins to blur the lines of morality almost immediately. For one, her kidnapper is a 24ish yr old cute boy who (mild spoiler) doesn\’t once try to touch her inappropriately. The way the kidnapper, Ty, is written is what what messed with me mentally. You are virtually forced to sympathize with him and love him in a way. I found myself hoping that Gemma would just accept her fate and stay with Ty forever willingly, which then made me feel guilty that I felt that way. The setting is in the outback of Australia, literally in the middle of nowhere. Through Ty and his all-encompassing love for his land, gained such appreciation for the beauty of the land and mysticism of Australia. I think it is a beautiful, moving novel that turns the traditional kidnapper story on its head, causing the reader to think about it for days weeks or months later. I am really curious as to what Christopher wants readers to take away from this novel, because I am still unsure of what I myself have taken away, other than possibly Stockholm Syndrome for Ty. It has made me question myself and why I had such a deep emotional reaction to the book. I can see how this could be a controversial book for young readers. At any rate, it is an intriguing read that I had trouble putting down, with a fascinating kidnapper, a warped love story, a dear dear camel, a slightly annoying main character, and an ending that doesn\’t give you full closure but enough to feel complete, yet still a lot is left to the reader\’s imagination.

I came from a Tik Tok that shared the first few sentences, decided to sample it, eventually, bought the Kindle book but I think I\’m gonna stop by a book store to purchase a physical copy. I read it without stopping in about 5 hours. As the author intended, I had similar feelings as Gemma towards Ty throughout the book. It was very well written and did a pretty good job at painting how Stockholm syndrome is like for readers. I loved both the characters – they had so much fighting spirit in them and how their lives were entangled was an interesting plot. Another thing I seriously enjoyed was the environmental setting – normally, these types of kidnapping situations would be set in the woods or a location that\’s very hidden (somewhere with lots of greenery) but this was set in a big vast opening in the middle of nowhere in the dusty, sandy, orange, dry lands. I loved how the author described the environment and the setting, I really felt like I was there experiencing the desert heat and sun with Gemma. I would definitely recommend!

I had this book recommended to me and I usually alternate between YA and adult fiction but I found this book to be hard work. The plot seemed interesting but actually once I started reading it I just didnt find it flowed or engaged me. I picked it up to get it over with rather than wanting to finish it, but cant really define why. I think the book was very simple and slow to get going, there seemed like a lot of filler. I am not sure YA would actually read this as I feel they would get bored pretty early on in it. I will not be trying more by this author.

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