The Taking

Kyra and her father are driving home from a softball game, arguing about college. Fed up, Kyra gets out to walk. A few moments later, she is surrounded by a white light, she hears her father scream, and then blackness. She wakes to find that five years have gone by, and she hasn’t aged a day. She doesn’t remember what happened but she knows she is not the same, and the only people who can help her are others like her, others who have been taken…and returned.

The Taking smartly concentrates less on the whys and hows of an unexplainable alien abduction and keeps the focus on Kyra’s struggle to blend back into a life that doesn’t fit anymore. It draws us into her confusion and hurt as she realized that everything she held dear has changed, her family, her boyfriend, even hopes for her future have all slipped away. The love story starts off a bit awkward – a boy that she last saw as the twelve-year-old brother of her boyfriend is now charming, artistic, and connects with her in ways that his brother never could.

The Taking is an emotional and exciting story that I really enjoyed.