Girl Stolen by April Henry

GIRL STOLEN
Author: April Henry
Source: Gifted

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); First Edition edition (September 28, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0805090053
ISBN-13: 978-0805090055

Sixteen year-old Cheyenne Wilder is sleeping in the back of a car while her mom fills her prescription at the pharmacy. Before Cheyenne realizes what’s happening, their car is being stolen–with her inside! Griffin hadn’t meant to kidnap Cheyenne, all he needed to do was steal a car for the others. But once Griffin’s dad finds out that Cheyenne’s father is the president of a powerful corporation, everything changes–now there’s a reason to keep her. What Griffin doesn’t know is that Cheyenne is not only sick with pneumonia, she is blind. How will Cheyenne survive this nightmare, and if she does, at what price?

It would be horrifying in itself just to be kidnapped as a teenager, but add in the fact that you are blind and it has to be the worst thing imaginable!  When I first received Girl Stolen, for some reason I kept shoving the book to the back of my reading stack.  The book wasn’t really on my radar and I hadn’t read many reviews at the time for it.  So when I finally picked it up again, I decided to give it a go and see what it was all about.


The point of view in this book alternates between Cheyenne and Griffin.  Cheyenne was in her stepmothers SUV while she was in getting Cheyennes prescription for pneumonia.  Cheyenne had left her seeing eye dog at home and soon realizes that was a mistake.  Griffin jumps in the SUV and steals it with Cheyenne in the backseat.  When Griffin realizes that Cheyenne is in the SUV, he panics and realizes he has made a major mistake.  Not knowing what to do, he takes her with him to his house where his Father comes up with a plan to hold her hostage for ransom money.  


It was refreshing to read about something that could happen so easily in our world today.  I liked the twist of having the victim be blind as it caused some story arcs that wouldn’t have been there if she wasn’t.  I wanted to dislike Griffin so much, but like Cheyenne I started to see a softer side to Griffin and realize he didn’t really want any of this to happen.  His father is abusive and I can see him doing this as a way to gain his fathers approval.  As the story progressed, I was cheering for Cheyenne and Griffin.  I wanted them to both overcome all of the obstacles that were thrown at them.


If there was one thing that I didn’t like about this book, it is the ending.  I absolutely can’t stand open endings that are left open for the readers interpretation.  I like closure when I finish reading that last page of a book.  To me, it always feels like the author just decided not to finish the story because they got tired of it.  I like to read a finished product!  Some people might enjoy these types of endings, but I am not a fan of them.