Here

Here by Ella James
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. I certainly didn't see this one coming.

This is the story of Milo, whose parents live in Colorado and are invested in the counter-culture there. Her dad designed wind turbines and her mother's a sculptor. Milo is at about the mid-point of the school cliques; she's well-liked but not popular. She's 17 and somewhat hesitant about life in general. When her dad dies of leukemia, she kind of freaks out. We meet her after some time has passed and she's been dealing with his death for awhile. She connects with him by continuing some of his work - part of which was tagging mule dear for the government. While out one day doing just this, she experiences something strange as she's shooting a fawn to tag. A boy appears, laughing, wearing a tuxedo and clutching a red whistle. He has no memory of who he is or how he got there. So the story becomes their quest to find the answers to his appearance and for him to get his memory back.

This was a page turner, so to speak (I listened to it on audio). There were glimpses of what was going on, but James kept enough suspense going for us to stay glued to the story, wanting to know what happens next. The slow, steady reveal of the mystery was paced perfectly. I had a lot of ideas about who this boy was and none of them were exactly right. So as to predictability, this hit the mark on surprising me with the action.

The characters in this story were the real strength of it. Milo speaks like a 17-year old girl would speak. She reacts in a realistic manner. She isn't easily swayed or willing to depart from the real world in her thinking. She really works through problems and considers her friendships. She behaves like a true 17-year old trying to figure out the situation; she doesn't magically get ideas or plans. She starts where we'd start. The nice thing about this is that she didn't come across as naive or clueless. She was just so . . . normal.

Nick was also a deeply interesting character. As we find out who he is, the way he is begins to make more sense. He's as confused about things as anyone is. But he's also frightened by things about himself that he doesn't understand, like a regular teenaged boy would be.

The plot was a great one. The bad guys slowly enter the picture without being major players that hijack the story. The ending sets up the conflict for the next book beautifully. And it is a whopper of a cliffhanger, leaving us dying to know what's going to happen next.

The book was narrated by Allison McLemore and Eric Michael Summerer. Alilison was able to capture Milo's voice perfectly. Her expression built Milo's character in a beautiful way. Eric tended to sound a bit stiff, but it was appropriate for the character overall. Both voice actors did a great job and made the book better. They were excellent choices for narrators.

All in all, this was far better written than your run-of-the-mill indie author. I was really impressed. This story is sticking with me. I loved it.

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