48 HBC Update 2

This day just seemed to fly by! My total reading time so far is.....9.5 hours, blogging/network time 1.5 hours which is a total of 11 hours!!

I finished Stolen by Lucy Christopher. The topic was a little unsettling....

Sixteen year old Gemma is kidnapped from Bangkok airport and taken to the Australian Outback. This wild and desolate landscape becomes almost a character in the book, so vividly is it described. Ty, her captor, is no stereotype. He is young, fit and completely gorgeous. This new life in the wilderness has been years in the planning. He loves only her, wants only her. Under the hot glare of the Australian sun, cut off from the world outside, can the force of his love make Gemma love him back? The story takes the form of a letter, written by Gemma to Ty, reflecting on those strange and disturbing months in the outback. Months when the lines between love and obsession, and love and dependency, blur until they don't exist - almost.

I liked the way it was written....the form of a letter written by Gemma to Ty. The way the events unfolded as she wrote was almost perfection. I wanted to rescue her from the sheer hopelessness of her situation. Her rebellion and failed attempts at escape felt frustrating. As Ty's story unfolded and we learned more about him, I wonder if the author intended for us to feel sorry for him, for his desperation. (I didn't-it was impossible to see him as a good guy) I was worried initially when I picked the book that it might be filled with descriptions of abuse etc. I was relieved to find that was not the case and that Ty truly believed that Gemma would grow to love him. A compelling look into the mind of a captive who is dependent on her captor for survival.