Thursday, June 2, 2016

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando- and how I liked a book w/ no real likable characters

6 kindergarteners went missing-- 10 years later, 5 of them return unharmed, but without memory of where they've been or why they were taken.  Some people think they're faking it, some think they're dangerous, some even think maybe they were abducted by aliens.  

Avery is the sister of the one boy who didn't come back, and she's not giving up until she finds out the truth about her brother.













Kudos to this book for making me not want to put it down.  I really got INVOLVED in the story, but the characters??  Not so much.  There wasn't a single one that I actually liked or ever really found myself caring about (except maybe the one boy who wasn't even in the book because he was still missing).  Usually the way I felt about these characters would kill the mystery for me-- because I just wouldn't care, but this mystery was so odd and exciting that I had to find out what the hell was going on- for me, not for them.

The Characters:  Like I said I felt blah about them.  There's the returned kids- Scarlett, Sarah, Adam, Kristin, and Lucas.  Lucas and Scarlett are the only 2 POVs we get to hear out of the returned teens... and there isn't anything about either one of them that stands out.  I didn't hate them, but there wasn't anything about them to really like either.  Adam and Sarah are barely in the book and when they are, they're not very nice.  Kristin is one character I felt like I could like, but she's not around enough for me to really get to know.  Now we get to Avery.... ughhh Avery.  She was terrible.  SO judgmental, so too-cool-for-school.  Everything annoyed her, everything was cliche to her.  She's a bad friend and a bad girlfriend... and kind of a stalker.  Her brother is missing and she claims it's her mission to find out about that, but really all she cares about is her instalove-crush on Lucas and how she can go about making that relationship happen.  It felt creepy to me.  I started worrying for his safety not from his kidnappers, but from this girl who kept being jealous and obsessive over him.

The thing this book has going for it is you (the reader) really have no idea what the answers are.  There aren't many clues, so you start thinking it could literally be anything in (or out of) the realm of possibility. I mean, I really did think it was aliens at one point.

The Ending: I didn't love it.  It was just like, oh that's it?? All that, and that's all there is?  It wrapped up super fast, and maybe that's my issue.  I didn't dislike what happened, it was just the speed of it.

PS- I read an advanced e-copy so I'm wondering if the "//// // ////" marks and the backwards random words scattered throughout are staying for the final copies?  I hope not...

OVERALL:  I say it's definitely worth a try.  I didn't like the characters, but I didn't necessarily need to in order to want to read the book late into the night.  I'd recommend it for beach reading (because I like reading mysteries on the beach) or just to anyone looking for a book that will keep you guessing.

This Book Contains:

  • A huge rock memorial garden
  • Aliens???
  • Florida
  • A school shooting
  • Mostly nonexistent parents
  • Kidnapping
  • Media


My Rating: 3.5/5











Date Published: 6/7/2016
How I got this book: Thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for allowing me to read and honestly review this book.
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's










Character: Scarlett
Book: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

  • Scarlett and Lola have a lot in common actually.  The sewing, the not feeling like themselves unless they're wearing their clothes.  I also think Scarlett would enjoy reading about Lola and Cricket and Max because she has been through her own love-life complications.






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13 comments:

  1. I have a copy of this one and I was unsure if I should read. I think I'll skip it for now. Thanks for the review :)

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  2. This is almost exactly how I felt about this one! I didn't feel connected to the characters but I literally could NOT STOP READING. It was really a great pageturner. The ending was also anticlimactic for me. I was like uh okay well that works haha.

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    1. Totally!! It was like I NEED to know!! But then when I knew, I wasn't impressed?? But I still enjoyed the fact that I needed to know?? It was weird.

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  3. I read another review today that said the same thing about the end, that it was kind of uneventful which is a bummer. I may still read this but it's going in the maybe pile. Great review.
    Cassi @ My Thoughts Literally

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    1. Yeah the ending is not the most surprising twist ever... you would totally figure it out early on.

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  4. okay i really enjoyed this book and you hit so many marks point on. I do think the only thing to keep it going was the mystery. I mean I just couldn't put it down. I wanted to know. The characters were not easy to connect. i understood that from lucas and scarlett. how do you connect to those who have no idea who they are or what they feel. I wanted to like avery but I just never could feel her character. I just didn't care though. I loved the mystery. The ending could of been better. It was okay. did't ruint the read for me but just didn't satisfy like i wanted or expected it to. still worth the read though.

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    1. I wanted to like Avery too, but she would not let me. And her crush was totally inappropriate. The ending didn't ruin the book for me, but it did wrap up really quick and I was surprised.

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  5. I was really curious about this one but I am not so sure based on the review. I like that it is a page turner though!! Great review!

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    1. It's worth trying, but I wouldn't put it at the top of your list :)

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  6. I have this to review, and I am really feeling like I'm not gonna like it. I read a couple of pgs and I just don't see it. Thanks for this review!

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    1. I think it's very hit and miss. Like it's very addicting because the mystery is so unknown... but the rest of it doesn't compare to that.

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  7. I don't mind books with unlikeable characters as long as the book is still good. I'm really intrigued by this one and I'll definitely have to read it sometime. Great review!

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  8. Yeah, I really wasn't a fan of this either. The formatting bugged me. I DNFed, sadly. I had a print arc and I agree, there was a lot of spacing weirdness? The MCs were weird (Lucas and Scarlett, they were dating? In love?), even though I adore this synopsis. It was all just too much. Great review, Michelle!

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