Latest Library Reads: II

I loved the premise of Kimberly Derting's YA Novel, The Taking. The fireflies on the cover sparked my curiosity and I enjoyed the author's presentation at the Mission Viejo Library as part of "The Summer Lovin' Tour" a couple of years ago. My pitch for this book would be Twilight Zone Meets X-Files Meets X-Men. I love all three of these!
Sixteen year old, Kira Agnew, wakes up behind dumpster outside her neighborhood Gas & Sip without any memory of how she got there. When she goes home, a strange man with a baby answers the door. And her boyfriend across the street is no longer her boyfriend, because..... she's been missing for five years. "Do-do-do-do-Do-do-do-do." ( Twilight Zone tune)

Secret meetings, NSA spying, hazmat suits, and quarantine, smells like  X-File spirit. On the run with love-interest Tyler, her ex-boyfriend's younger brother who's not so young anymore, must be in love to stay at her side. Kira's new gifts are revealed. Empowering is an understatement; we're talking X-Men powers. Two things I didn't buy: her dentist telling her parents about a cavity and not her (5 years ago;yesterday for Kira) What? She was sixteen. Heck, I remember my dentist pointing out my cavities at age seven. The new x-rays are the same as the old. This proves she hasn't aged. The second: no local news reporters showing up. If your whole high school was looking for you and you didn't turn up until five years later, you'd be mobbed by media, or at least the local paper.

But that was minor compared to the compelling story and character. I couldn't put the book down and I was pleased with the cliffhanger ending. As for the fireflies, I can't say. You'll have to read it and the sequel, which I hope there'll be one.