Name: Stolen
Rating: 3.724489795918367 (196 reviews)

Lucy Rebecca Christopher

A Novel Contextualising Research : the Making and Changing of Stolen

Stolen

Lucy Christopher

Gemma, a British city-living teenager, is kidnapped while on holiday with her parents. Her kidnapper, Ty, takes her to the wild land of outback Australia. To Gemma's city-eyes, the landscape is harsh and unforgiving and there are no other signs of human life for hundreds of kilometres in every direction. Here, there is no escape. Gemma must learn to deal with her predicament, or die trying to fight it. Ty, a young man, has other ideas for her. His childhood experience of living in outback Australia has forever changed the way he sees things. But he too has been living in the city; Gemma's city. Unlike Gemma, however, he has had enough. In outback Australia he sees an opportunity for a new kind of life; a life more connected to the earth. He has been watching and learning about Gemma for many years; when he kidnaps her, his plan finally begins to take shape. But Ty is not a stereotypical kidnapper and, over time, Gemma comes to see Ty in a new light, a light in which he is something more sensitive. The mysteries of Ty, and the mystery of her new life, start to take hold. She begins to feel something for her kidnapper when he wakes screaming in the night. Over the time spent with her captor, Gemma's appreciation of him develops into what could be referred to as Stockholm syndrome.

Danyella Barajas

Alexa M

**3.75/5 stars**
idk about this.... I didn't love it... idk

Anna Bold

It's hard to describe this book. It was very powerful, though not always depressing; there instead was an underlying theme of darkness that shone through even the happy moments. I was so excited to pick up this book - I've never read anything in second person, though I've always wanted to. I love the narration - how it's just Gemma and Ty, but Gemma is I and Ty is you. I felt a different relationship than I may have if it was in first person. 
I loved it, really. The darkness underneath everything still haunts me a little, and I would recommend that everyone read it. It's kind of beautiful.

Jeannette Ordas

Wow, a pretty compelling read for a book told as a letter! The characters are multi-dimensional and it's not often that you're rooting for a bit of romance between a kidnapper and his captive (especially one that is so creepy - yet complex).

Vesselina

I HATE IT!
IT'S GOOD, AMAZING, GREAT!
BUT WHY THE SO FUCKED UP ENDING WHY!?

I hate sad endings. And to me, this is a sad ending. (Here I'm 15 minutes after finishing it still crying.)

But still, it'll stay one of the most memorable books I've ever read.

Sixteen-year-old Gemma, a British city-dweller, is abducted while on vacation with her parents and taken to the Australian outback, where she soon realizes that escape attempts are futile, and in time she learns that her captor is not as despicable as she first believed.

Nicole Dykeman

This book was really honest. Despite the heaviness of the conflict of the book, there was an innocence to both Ty and Gemma that made it even scarier. I felt really in touch with them. The end of the book was very emotional and truthful to what would likely happen in real life. It was a well written book as well, I liked the authors decision to make it as a letter from Gemma to Ty.

Lauren Tabor

British city-dweller Gemma is abducted while on vacation and taken to the Australian outback, where she realizes that escape attempts are futile, and in time she learns that her captor is not as despicable as she first believed.

Flavia Louise

4.75 stars
I don't really know what to say...
First of all I see now that it was maybe not the best idea to finish it tonight, on the other hand not finishing it might have been just as bad.
This book has already started and will surely continue to make me think.
It is just so amazingly written that you don't know what to think anymore once you finish, because you find yourself in a conflict that at least I thought I couldn't get into but Lucy Christopher succeeds at transporting the reader into Gemma's perspective in a way that you end up in the same conflict as her, which at least I can't escape even when I am distancing myself, trying to look at it in a more objective way. This is a masterpiece.

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.

Georgia Carr

The amount of times I was reading this book in public and had to look up and say, "This is disturbing / creepy / really freaking me out," is kind of crazy. It's thought-provoking the entire way through, full of beautiful description and real emotion. Gemma is written impeccably and Ty is definitely not your average kidnapper. Stolen is a great novel that really makes you think, even with the copious amounts of creepy lines. I definitely recommend, particularly to those who enjoy something a little different to an angsty love story.

Olivera Mitić

Edit 31/5/17 
After some time, it just didn't stick as much with me, so it's a 4.5 rating now.

This book and me, we have a long history. 
(This sounded way too dramatic, but I always wanted to use this phrase lol.)

I wanted to read Stolen the first time I ever set my eye on it, back in 2013 when I somehow stubmled up on it on Goodreads. It looked like my cup of tea. It had everything I ever wanted in a book and I craved to get my hands on it. I was taking a trip to London that summer and planed on getting it there, but unfortunately, I couldn't find it. This search continued on for 3 years, in every bookstore that had books in English. And I never had luck. Finally, I ordered it from BookDepository (which I was too hesitant to do before), it arrived on my doorstep two days ago and it was glorious!

After such I let my hype build up for THREE YEARS, I was almost afraid to dive into this book. I was scared it won't be as good as I hoped and that maybe it would be a completely different thing than what I wanted it to be. 

BUT IT WASN'T!!!
Oh my God , guys, it everything and so much more!

This whole reading year was just a flop for me. I haven't read many things I truly liked and my criteria jumped sky high for some reason. But this book... This book might be in my top 5 favorite books of all time, if not my favorite. 

I don't even know how to review it properly. All of this has mostly been rambling. 

It's hard to write a book that has only two characters. They have to carry the whole thing and a huge aspect has to be on their emotions and their psychology. Lucy Christopher managed to do this briliantly. Both Ty and Gemma were mesmerizing to read about. I honestly feel like I'd give my left arm for a prolonged version of this book, with more time in the desert, more scenes with these two and a bit more time to see how the relationship between them would develop and deepen. 

That being said, the only problem I had with this book was that it was so short. This isn't necessarily a big deal. The whole story was marvelously made, with no aspect of it that I would want to change or alter. Everything felt believable and it ended the only way it could (and should). But, I crave just a bit more of the middle part. More time in such a unique setting, more time spent with the characters while they try to figure out how things actually stand between them. Just a bit more.
I wish we could have seen how Gemma would deal with her emotions while Ty was there. (view spoiler)[ The moment she truly realizes that the way she sees him has changed, she is brought back to the real world and forced to deal with it in an enviornment that isn't familiar anymore. I wish we could have seen it develop a bit more before it was doomed to end.  (hide spoiler)]

As far as the writing goes, it was beautiful and breathtaking. Gemma's voice felt personal. The fact that she wrote in second person (aka in letter form) was another thing that really made this work as well as it did. We got to experience everything through her eyes, and that was something that helped (me at least) sympathize with Ty the same way Gemma did. 

The descriptions of the desert and wilderness were exquisite and vivid. I found myself brousing through 'desert trips' on travel websites, just to see how much I'll have to save up to go to a similar place myself. Because that is what the book made me feel. To want to experience such a similar endlessness of space, sky and nature, mixed with the feeling of isolation from the actual world, people and manmade gadgets. 

This book changed me and will continue to change me. It will be one close to my heart I will reread for the rest of my life and find myself getting back to every now and then. 

Just beautiful and amazing. 

I'm begging you, pick it up as soon as you can.

Jayarna La Bozzetta

I read this when I was a lot younger and it really impacted me. I do not think this is a good book and now a days this would probably be really problematic but since I still think about it today I think for its time and my time it was very impactful.

Emily

Um... I don't have much to say about this one. It was fine. I ended up skimming some of the end. It's like a super long and drawn out episode of Criminal Minds (without the actually entertaining profiling part). I understand what the author was going for surrounding emotion, relationships, and Stockholm Syndrome, but I just found myself bored.

Chaya Vervaecke

Loved it !!! 
Left it me with really confused feelings though<3

Stolen A Novel Contextualising Research : the Making and Changing of Stolen

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