The Girl Who Was Supposed To Die by April Henry

High School

“Take her out back and finish her off.”

She doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t know where she is, or why. All she knows when she wakes up in a ransacked cabin is that there are two men arguing over whether or not to kill her. And that she must run.

Just like the main character you pretty much have no idea what exactly is going on in the first couple of chapters. But, for me, that’s what makes the book so suspenseful.

I think April Henry has written the most terrifying scenario ever; Waking up with your mind blank, remembering nothing about yourself and hearing two men arguing about whether or not to kill you. That just chills me to the bone.

This story combines two thing that make this story even more interesting; dissociative amnesia and biological warfare.

Dissociative amnesia occurs when a person blocks out certain information, usually associated with a stressful or traumatic event, leaving him or her unable to remember important personal information. The way I see it, it’s kind of like the brain in protecting itself by blocking the memory.

Biological warfare is the deliberate spreading of disease amongst humans, animals, and plants, meaning making people sick and/or die on purpose. I can’t say too much without giving away the good parts of the story. All I can say is that biological warfare is one of the sickest thing anyone could every do.

The Night She Disappeared by April Henry

High school

What if you were targeted to be kidnapped but the kidnapper got the wrong girl?

Gabie drives a Mini Cooper. She also works part time as a delivery girl at Pete’s Pizza. One night, Kayla – another delivery girl – goes missing. To her horror, Gabie learns that the supposed kidnapper had asked if the girl in the Mini Cooper was working that night. Gabie can’t move beyond the fact that Kayla’s fate was really meant for her and becomes obsessed with finding Kayla. Teaming up with her co-worker Drew, they set out to prove that Kayla isn’t dead and to find her before she is.

“The Night I Disappeared” was the first April Henry book I read and she had me hooked on the first chapter. Imagine the fear you would have being kidnapped and imagine the guilt you would have if the person kidnapped was suppose to be you. April Henry brings that fear to life.

The narration switches between Kayla, the girl who was kidnapped and Gabie, the girl who was supposed to be kidnapped, and the kidnapper himself. I like Kayla’s parts the best, how she was terrified to begin with (and who wouldn’t be) to trying to figure out how to escape. This book doesn’t have just one strong female character, it has two.

Girl, Stolen by April Henry

Happy New Year!

And here to celebrate is a new post.

Please enjoy!

High School

16-year-old Cheyenne Wilder is sleeping in the back of the car while her stepmom fills a prescription for antibiotics. Before Cheyenne realizes what’s happening, the car is being stolen.

Griffin hadn’t meant to kidnap Cheyenne and once he finds out that not only does she have pneumonia, but that she’s blind, he really doesn’t know what to do. When his dad finds out that Cheyenne’s father is the president of a powerful corporation, everything changes – now there’s a reason to keep her.

This book is a two for one; it ties into my list of books about blindness and my new list of books written by another favorite author of mine, April Henry.

Cheyenne wasn’t born blind; she lost her sight in a freak accident. When she was kidnapped she hadn’t been blind for long and she was still getting used to it. The thing I loved most about Cheyenne is that she didn’t just stay down and quit. A lot of girls in her situation probably would have but she stayed strong. I mean it’s already scary enough to be kidnapped, it’s made even scarier when you have pneumonia and you can’t see.

It is said that April Henry plans to write a sequel to ‘Girl, Stolen’ sometime in 2017 and I hope to review it.