The Keystone: Finding Home

Grace has spent most of her sixteen-year-old life on a boat learning to sail and swim alongside her parents. It was an exciting experience having a floating house as a permanent residence. She was happy wherever she was as long as she had her family united. That changes when her mother tragically passes away. Now, her life is the complete opposite of what it used to be. They have exchanged the boat for a life on the land where her father “changes jobs like some people change underway”. These are Grace’s exact words for describing what she’s going through. But that is about to be the least of her worries.

When she witnesses her father being abducted by a secret and dangerous organization called Helios Kratos and she’s left alone for the first time in her life, she will have to start a physical and emotional journey that will lead her to discover a well-kept secret beyond her wildest dreams, her heritage, and the truth about her mother and, eventually, her family.

At the beginning of that same journey, she bumps into a group of four teenagers claiming to have seen their parents being abducted as well just like her father. That, and Grace’s necklace containing a rare stone, will be the group’s connecting link and the one thing that will put them in danger. However, it is also what will unite and make them a team with one purpose – to stay safe and find their parents.

Grace is the one character that stands out because as the story unfolds and especially when we reach the end of the book, she’s transformed into a different person. She matures emotionally. She goes from being a scared and vulnerable teenage girl to the fearless protagonist of the group, who is ready to face whoever gets in her way of finding her father.

She also experiences new emotions like friendship and love. But she is a teenager nonetheless. Apart from Grace, the rest of the characters, Shim, Jaxon, Skylar, and Breeze complement and provide the story with unique reading moments.

The plot is well thought and unfolds harmonically. The author pays a lot of attention to the details especially in the descriptions of the locations and the action scenes. The Keystone from the very first chapter shows the dynamic potential that the story has to become the new favorite series for YA readers!