Review & Signed Book Giveaway: Stolen by Lucy Christopher

Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher

Published May 4th 2009 by Chicken House Ltd

It happened like this. I was stolen from an airport. Taken from everything I knew, everything I was used to. Taken to sand and heat, dirt and danger. And he expected me to love him.

This is my story.

A letter from nowhere.

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.

My Thoughts

Wow!! What an emotional, gripping and addictive book! I was hooked to this story from the beginning and despite how I knew nothing good would come of it, I drove head on collision with the conclusion and was left with a wreckage of angst and sadness.

But before I tell you how I really felt, excuse me a moment, while I self-reflect...

Felt an emotional pull toward the captor? Check.
Believed that he deserved some semblance of happiness because of his past? Check.
Recognized moments where the captor showed love and deep emotion toward the victim? Check.
Justified the captor’s actions because he provided a safe haven for the victim and wanted him to have a HEA? Check.

Well sweet painful HALE I think I’m a prime candidate for Stockholm Syndrome. Gah!

Stolen brought to the surface justifications I never thought I’d consider and deep feelings for Ty despite his heinous act toward Gemma. What a crafty author to be able to tamper with my moral compass without my awareness and create a story and situation where I wanted the captor to get an ending he really didn’t deserve.

In Stolen Gemma is kidnapped from her family in Bangkok Airport and taken to the Australian Outback by Ty, an emotionally disturbed young man. She fights despite futile efforts to get away, but after a series of close calls, she finds herself in a situation where she starts to see Ty through a different lens, one that includes sympathy, resolve, hidden beauty and love.

For me, I think my defenses toward Ty fell apart when he rescued Gemma from one of her escapes where she almost died in the desert. I started to wonder if there was some way these two could come to build a life together. Part of me carried some hope and the other part cringed. So much happened in this book and I think I internalized a ton of the emotion because I feel like I’ve been walking around in a daze since I started this story.

After all was said and done, I think the author ended the story appropriately (yes, there I go again with that word, but I think it fits here) because as much as I wanted Gemma to help free Ty and give him a second chance, I realized that sometimes you must pay the price for your crime before you get your reprieve.

This was definitely an angsty book that created conflicting emotions for me. Intense!!

Lastly… I hope someone went back to the shack and fed the chickens. I also worried about the camel. I hope she was able to find her herd. I know… I know.. I focus on the irrelevant details, but that’s just me.

5 Snowflakes

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