(Image from Barnes & Noble)

You can hardly open a YA book these days without encountering some kind of monster. You've got your blood-sucking vampires, your slavering werewolves, your flesh-eating zombies, your mindless, murderous demons - even Tinkerbell's kin have been depicted as evil, child-stealing ogres. Still, no matter how nasty these fantastical beasts may be, they can never compare to monsters of the real, live, human variety. The kind we meet every day. The kind who are so open, honest and trustworthy that we don't notice the flash of their "fangs" until it's much, much too late.

In Stolen, a stunning debut from newcomer Lucy Christopher, 16-year-old Gemma Toombs meets this exact kind of devil in the Bangkok airport. The man seems so familiar that she allows him to prepare her a coffee - which he promptly drugs. When she finally wakes up, Gemma's a long way from Bangkok. A long way from anything, in fact. Isolated on a compound somewhere in the Australian Outback, Gemma's surrounded by nothing but desert. Her captor, the disturbingly gentle Ty, doesn't even bother tying her up. He knows she can't escape. There's nothing around for miles and miles, nowhere at all for Gemma to go.

As the weeks stretch on, Gemma comes to understand the wilderness and her sole companion in ways she never thought possible. Still, there's so much she doesn't know: Why has Ty chosen her, of all people, to kidnap? What does he really want from her? How does he know her family's secrets, the truths Gemma can't even admit to herself? And why is she suddenly feeling so much empathy for the man who has stolen her away from everything she knows? Can she escape? Does she even want to?

Written in the form of a letter from Gemma to Ty, Stolen grabs the reader right off the bat and just doesn't let go. It's not the frenzied, action-packed, race-against-time story I thought it would be, but more of a quietly sinister psychological thriller. The unique setting only adds to the tension, its terrible beauty coming alive in Christopher's skilled hands (the author was born in Wales, but raised in Australia). Not every detail of the plot rang true for me, but all in all, the story held me captive. I tore through it in one day, hardly daring to breathe until I knew exactly what happened to Gemma and Ty. Even then, Stolen wouldn't quite let me go - I'm still turning it all over in my head. I know one thing for sure, though: I want to read more Lucy Christopher. And soon.

(Readalikes: I can't think of any. Can you?)

Grade: B+

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 for language and tense, mature situations

To the FTC, with love: I received an ARC of Stolen from the generous folks at Scholastic. Thank you!

- Do you read O magazine? Even though I haven't watched her show in years, I still love me some Oprah. I don't take her book recommendations any more seriously than I do anyone else's, but I love the fact that she not only reads, but also works diligently to promote books. In the July 2010 issue of O, you'll find "Our Biggest, Best Summer Reading List Ever" (also available online by clicking here). Fun, no? It highlights titles I've seen all over the book blogosphere (The Passage by Justin Cronin, The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, My Name Is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira, etc.) as well as some I hadn't heard of (Elizabeth Street by Laura Fabiano, The Madonnas of Echo Park by Brando Skyhorse, What Is Left the Daughter by Howard Norman, etc.). I also loved "O's Declaration of Reader Independence." Hilarious.

2. Although I have been bungee jumping, thank you very much. My older brother owned a bungee jumping company when I was in high school, so my younger brother and I both jumped out of his hot air balloon. It was a rush.

3. I'm not very daring in the food department either, although a year spent in The Philippines as an exchange student did broaden my culinary horizons quite considerably. I've eaten delicacies like dog, pig's brain, monkey, goat and nimbalut (you don't want to know, trust me). Okay, the curious can read all about it here. It should be noted that these dishes are not eaten often by the average Filipino. They were prepared for me because I am a gullible American.

4. I cannot sneak up on people. I have weak ankles that pop constantly. This put me at a distinct disadvantage when dealing with three brothers.

5. The same brother who convinced me to jump out of a hot air balloon used to roll me up in blankets, cinch a belt around my waist and tickle my toes 'til I cried. I'm still traumatized.

6. Back to food - my husband thinks I'm weird because I like soft ice cream. Not machine-soft ice cream, but hard ice cream softened. I've been known to pop a carton in the microwave if it's too hard.

7. Phew! That was hard. I think I am officially the most boring person in the blogosphere!