ARC Book Review | The Distance Between Lost and Found by Kathryn Holmes

Format: e-ARC

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: February 17, 2015
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

 

 

 

Ever since the night of the incident with Luke Willis, the preacher’s son, sophomore Hallelujah Calhoun has been silent. When the rumors swirled around school, she was silent. When her parents grounded her, she was silent. When her friends abandoned her … silent.

Now, six months later, on a youth group retreat in the Smoky Mountains, Hallie still can’t find a voice to answer the taunting. Shame and embarrassment haunt her, while Luke keeps coming up with new ways to humiliate her. Not even meeting Rachel, an outgoing newcomer who isn’t aware of her past, can pull Hallie out of her shell. Being on the defensive for so long has left her raw, and she doesn’t know who to trust.

On a group hike, the incessant bullying pushes Hallie to her limit. When Hallie, Rachel, and Hallie’s former friend Jonah get separated from the rest of the group, the situation quickly turns dire. Stranded in the wilderness, the three have no choice but to band together.

With past betrayals and harrowing obstacles in their way, Hallie fears they’ll never reach safety. Could speaking up about the night that changed everything close the distance between being lost and found? Or has she traveled too far to come back?

 

 

 My Thoughts:

 

 

This is one of those books that I wasn’t going to request because I had so many review books that I had yet to read but then I just sit there and stared at the computer screen before I found myself hovering over the download button. And I guess you already know what happened from there since you’re reading this review. In all honesty though, I’m glad I gave into temptation because this was such a gripping and captivating story.

Hallelujah (Yes, that’s her real name and I don’t think I ever really got used to it) isn’t expecting to have much fun when she goes on the annual youth retreat after the big ‘scandal’ that happened last year. A scandal that she was the center of. Now, no one will talk to her and everybody makes fun of her so when a girl named Rachel tries to talk to her, Hallie (I like that name much better) immediately goes on the defense. But when Rachel, Hallie and Jonah, a boy that she used to be friends with before the scandal, gets separated from the rest of the group on a hiking trip, the only choice they have is to stick together.

Hallie was a little hard for me to relate to, only because she stayed quiet and didn’t step up and defend herself when the scandal broke and I’m the complete opposite, I would have shouted my side of the story from the top of the world, and damn anyone who didn’t listen or believe me. But with that being said, I understand that not everyone is like me in that way and I did feel like everything that Hallie went through made her grow as a character and by the end, I was on her side.

Rachel and Jonah were really good side characters and I really feel that not only did the situation help Hallie come to terms with everything that had happened to her, but Rachel and Jonah also had a big hand in it too.

The Distance Between Lost and Found is an intriguing and enthralling story about friendship and coming to terms with who you really are and who you want to be. Hallie’s struggle is so honest and raw that it will grasp readers from the very first page.