in the things they've taken, lo campbell wishes she didn't have the ability to see past the glamours of the supernatural. because now that she has seen past them, she can't unsee it. when her mother is taken by an ancient demon after casting a summoning spell, lo is determined to find her. she is told she needs the help of a tracker, and after promising a favor to a lesser demon named rashkour, she's sent in the direction of shaw.

their first meeting isn't very promising. she's incredibly drawn to him and he is surly and uncooperative. as they launch their quest it's clear that there will be no end of bickering, mostly from lo, since as the strong, silent type, shaw excels at being stoic.

except the more time they spend together, you start to see some cracks in his façade. he warns her not to trust anybody, and he means it. lo shouldn't trust anyone in this supernatural world. not even him. but lo can't help but be drawn to him. this quest that they're on brings them in close contact, through some pretty crazy scenarios.

both lo and shaw have lost their last connection to family—only lo is lucky enough to have a chance to get hers back. this book ends on a cliffhanger, with some bombshells about shaw's real motivations being revealed. but lo and shaw's journey isn't over, and i, for one, am interested in seeing where they end up.

I received a copy of this book from Entangled Teen through Netgalley for review.

The Things They've Taken pulled me in right away. It's well written and I loved Lo. I hope there is more from her BFF in the next book because he's awesome, too. I wasn't expecting so many different creatures and that really made the book for me. The section with the necromancer was probably my favorite. The author is pretty descriptive. The book isn't scary, but it does have demons, creatures, and dead people. Shaw's moodiness adds a lot to the story. I'm looking forward to the next one. I need to know if Lo finds her mom and what happens between Lo & Shaw.

Lo Campbell grew up moving from place to place with her mom who is on a search for the answers to the bigger questions in life. Always changing her beliefs with each move. They finally settle down in Kentucky the same time as Lo enters high school. Her mom quickly makes friends with a group of people that believe in witches and demons. As her mom gets more drawn in she begins to get pulled into darker and darker stuff. The she manages to accidentally summon a demon and disappears leaving Lo alone. Lo with nowhere to turn hires a tracker named Shaw. As they travel together around the country, Lo begins to develop feelings for Shaw. I really enjoy the connection between Lo and Shaw. I think the twist of events that happens at the end is really surprising and necessary to complete the story. The writer does an outstanding job in both the plot line and settings for the story. I found the writing to be superb. Overall a great read!

“The Things They’ve Taken” is a fascinating YA fantasy. Lo (short for Delores) begins the book confronting a lesser demon, Rashkur, to help her locate her mother. Thus begins her journey into the world of the supernatural and long search to save her mother. Her mother has always been a believer- just what she believes changes frequently as she and Lo bounce around from place to place. Finally, they seem to have settled in Kentucky, and her mother into the world of the supernatural and demons, when Lo sees her mother taken by a powerful demon. Rashkur leads Lo to a tracker, Shaw, who happens to be a very handsome teenager like Lo.

Together, Lo and Shaw try to create breadcrumbs with which to follow Lo’s mother, encountering Necromancers, Elementals, and Water Sprites (among scarier beasts) on their journey. The overall story moves slowly, and I was surprised to figure out when I got about 75% of the way through that we won’t get any answers/finality in this book (and sure enough, we only get to the start of an even bigger journey). It’s clear this book is designed to launch a series, and it mainly focuses on an introduction to the idea that there are others out there (although we don’t really get the depth or breadth of this other world, since Lo is mostly kept in the dark). Each step they take leads to another small step (with a lot of effort to get there).

We don’t solve the mysteries in this book and are left with a cliffhanger- I imagine this book will be quite the series, and I really wish I had the next one already. Lo was easy to like and understand- she’s lost her mother (and it’s not totally clear why she thinks it’s her fault, but… teenager logic). Shaw was harder to get to know as he’s pretty tight-lipped. The romance between them was hard to believe and mostly based on physical attraction/loneliness. I wish there would have been a few other deep conversations/more meaning exchanged between the two so that the build-up would be a little more believable. I was kind of surprised by the development. The book moves pretty quickly in terms of pace (although the overall story is just a piece of the main plot), as they encounter a lot of adventure/challenges (I won’t say exactly what so as to avoid spoilers), but I really enjoyed the pace and found it really difficult to put down!

This is an exciting book, which I think will be an exciting new series, and I hope to be able to continue it soon! Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

*2.5 stars*

Dolores is used to her mother searching, always looking for that greater purpose in life. Jumping from one faith to another and subsequently from one state to another has become commonplace in Lo’s life. But she’s had about as much as she can handle by the time her mother joins up with some witches in Kentucky. Lo convinces her mother to stay so she can have more of a normal life and actually make some friends. When her mother agrees, Lo decides to focus on her own life for a change instead of constantly pulling her mom back from the brink when she goes too far in her search. As the months go by, Lo’s relationship with her mother becomes more and more strained as her mother becomes more deeply involved in her new faith and Lo wants nothing to do with it. But when her mother messes with something far more dangerous than she should have and is taken by a supernatural being, Lo is pulled headfirst into the deep end in this new side of life that she never wanted to know about. After enlisting the help of a gorgeous Tracker named Shaw, Lo departs on an adventure to find her mother—and discovers just how much actually goes bump in the night.

I really wanted to love this book. It sounded really cool and I am always down for an adventure with a cute guy. But for many reasons, I just didn’t really care for this.

Firstly, I found the world building to be a bit lacking. While Shaw chooses not to share much information with Lo, it was still difficult to really grasp how big the supernatural world was and how many creatures lurk in it. The creatures we do get to meet were vividly described and, quite frankly, terrifying, but I wish I’d have been able to get a bigger picture of the world.

The characters were okay. I did like Lo, especially her sense of humor. Her sarcasm and jabs added a lot of color to the dialogue and made the book more fun to read. Her determination and bravery were proved over and over again in the book and I like that she chose not to adopt the victim persona. Shaw, however, was hard to get on with for me. He has no personality. He never jokes, never laughs or smiles, and barely speaks. Shaw’s dialogue is probably under 200 words if we’re going to be honest here. I like that he did finally open up a bit about his past and how he became a Tracker, but instead of seeing him as the tragic, brooding hero, I just saw him as a flat, boring character. (I would totally steal his dog though.)

Which brings me to the fact that the main characters had no chemistry. I am totally down for the “I’m just drawn to you and I’m not quite sure why” trope. I normally don’t mind insta-love honestly. But this isn’t really even insta-love, it’s just unbelievable love. Shaw barely speaks. Lo never talks about feeling a connection to him at all, let alone on a deeper level. She basically falls all over Shaw because he is pretty. There are so many awkward encounters between them that I just couldn’t buy in to the progression of their relationship.

Lastly, I felt the book was just too predictable. It’s not stated but this book is obviously the first part in a trilogy. With how slow the plot progression was, I knew we weren’t going to get a real ending to the book and we didn’t. From the first occasion of Shaw disappearing to do things on his own, I knew where the plot twist was going to go. Honestly, this is just a story that I’ve read a dozen times before with different characters. If the romance had been amazing, I may have rated this higher in stars but even that was lacking for me. If you are a very forgiving reader who likes the adventure aspect more than the world building or characters, this may be a book you want to pick up. But it’s not a series that I will personally continue when the second book is released.