Title: Girl, Stolen
Author: April Henry
Release Date: September 2010
Published By: Henry Holt and Co.
Pages: 213
Goodreads Rating: 3.75 stars
Review: Cheyenne was sleeping in the back of the car while her mom was filling her prescription at the pharmacy when the car is stolen - with her inside. Griffin didn't mean to kidnap her, only to get the car, but when his father realizes that Cheyenne is the daughter of a powerful corporation's president, everything changes. What Griffin doesn't realize is that Cheyenne doesn't just have pneumonia - she's blind. How will she ever get out of this nightmare, and in what condition?
Cheyenne is an admirable character in GIRL, STOLEN and proves that people are more than their disabilities. Her blindness certainly doesn't do her any favors, but her personality goes far beyond that, and she handles the condition with remarkable strength. Despite her situation, she manages to remain resourceful and intelligent, overcoming great adversity and obstacles to escape, all the while maintaining the normal reactions of a teenage girl.
As you might expect from a kidnapping novel, there is plenty of suspense to go around, and while I wasn't exactly teetering on my seat to find out what happens next, there's a healthy dose of mystery surrounding the plot. A twist towards the end - one I won't reveal - definitely wasn't something I saw coming, and there were several other points in the story that had me surprised.
Probably one of the most controversial aspects of this book from reviews I've read is the romance. Cheyenne and Griffin begin to fall for each other, and while some readers I know liked this, the romance completely failed for me. I just couldn't feel anything for Griffin, who came across to me as a somewhat pathetic character who lets his dad walk all over him, and their romance did anything but appeal to me.
Overall, GIRL, STOLEN has an intriguing plot chock full of twists and turns, and an admirably strong protagonist who differs from the typical YA characters that are only their disability. Unfortunately, the romance really didn't work for me at all and I found myself shying away from the more romantic scenes, but this is still a decent book that I would recommend to anyone who likes kidnapping novels.
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3 comments:
Have you read Lucy Christopher's Stolen?? That kidnapping absolutely wasn't an accident, but the two main characters fell for each other there as well. Oh Stockholm Syndrome, you are a mystery to me!
This sounds really good. I'm usually a bit wary of romance developing in these sorts of situations. It just makes me uncomfortable, because I can't buy in to it.
Ditto what fakesteph said. We're not sure how we feel about the kidnapping angle, but we love that the heroine's blind. How fascinating! How do you write a book without describing things visually? To answer that question alone we might read this.
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