This one didn't really do it for me it.
Thea is looking into the disappearance of her cousin Aulus who she believes is one of the missing June Boys taken by the Gemini theif. In June 3 or 4 boys are taken for a year before being released unharmed. This happens nearly every other year or so untill a body is found of a missing boy believed to be a June boy with a link to Theas cousin. The whole idea surrounding this book really interested me. Alot of people have labeled it as something from an episode of criminal minds which I loved. However I found the whole story very confusing. The conclusion that somehow Theas dad is the theif because of the family link and a key chain I found ridiculous. I found Noah to be very pushy with his feelings on this and I just didn't find it very believable that Thea would accept his conclusion so easily on little evidence. We get letters written by Aulus during his time being captured titled the Elizabeth letters. I loved hearing his thoughts and feelings on what was going on but he often mentioned a boy called Tank who was also mentioned alot as being a friend who was on the outside with Thea and this constantly threw me. As this was an e arc I know formatting issues can't be helped but the format of this one did detract from my enjoyment. Alot of the Elizabeth letters had pictures and drawings and these were spread out over a few sentences so you don't get the full picture. The reveal of the theif was over too quickly for me it came and then it went. I would have liked a bit more of a background into what the motives were I felt this was just brushed over. Overall it was OK but not brilliant

Whoo boy! I truly enjoyed this book! What can I say? I’m a sucker for thriller/horror books and this one was great!
I loved the characters. I loved how I never knew what was coming next or who the Gemini was. I just truly enjoyed this book!

This was an amazing book! Part mystery and part coming-of-age, The June Boys is a story about a girl who refuses to give up hope in the face of tragedy. It's emotional without being over the top in the way that many YA novels can be. I also think it would make a great movie!

This book was not for me. As much as I wanted to love it, I had a hard time getting in to the story.

This was an interesting read, challenging us to think about the people we know and ask how well do we know them?

Thea is a teenage girl, desperately searching for her cousin who was abducted by the Gemini Thief, a kidnapper who returns their victims a year after abduction. She suspects members of her own family and is torn between family members. There are moments when some really interesting ideas emerge, but there are also times when it seems a bit far fetched, like the DVD moment and how she gets invited to crime scenes. I like the way the story is split between her account and her cousin and the addition of Tank is a nice touch. The final twist with Tank was also unexpected. The pace is ok, I found the cousins parts had a better pace and it was interesting to find out who Elizabeth was.

Overall this was a good read. The formatting of this copy may have made it more difficult to read. The ideas were good, but I felt a little under developed, like we suddenly find out God told Don to build a Castle, and his ex turns up apparently told by God, but we never find out what that's all about. And it's never really explained what Ruby did for a living, that would have helped to understand what she was doing and why there were bags of clothes everywhere. And I didn't understand the two graduations at the end, the first was a disaster and why was Theas Dad so weird and disinterested in everything. The more I think about it the more questions I have. So a 3.5 for me.

I found the story to be interesting and well written. I was intrigued by the premise of the book and I thought that the author did a good job mantaining that interest through the whole novel.

Oh, YA, you wonderful genre where teenagers bumbling along using scraps are always the ones that find the culprit before the trained professionals in possession of the full evidence and data, please never change. As it is often the case with these kinds of books, The June Boys requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief to make the story work. It is interesting that for me, mysteries are much harder to just take at face value than fantasies, where I don’t have this issue at all.

However, The June Boys turned too much into a locked-house mystery once it became clear that Aulus’s disappearance was connected to the Gemini Thief. Blame was thrown around from character to character, as they were suspected and accused one after the other. Thea, as a main character, frustrated me to no end, as she had a tendency to trust or not trust others on a whim, sometimes changing her mind halfway through a conversation. At times, she would trust a complete stranger with her full life story and theories about the Gemini Thief, only to refuse to share a theory with someone who has proven trustworthy before.

What stuck with me was Aulus’s storyline. His harrowing experiences locked away were hauntingly told through letters written to a figure only named as ‘Elizabeth’. Days passing without food or water led to losing touch with reality and suicidal ideation, descending into desperation.

My main issue with the story was the feeling of ‘Deus ex machina’ that permeated the book. There were plot holes gaping open (why is the FBI spearheading the investigation in Thea’s town, when all the June Boys except Aulus, who might not even be one, have gone missing in a different state, and why is everyone in Thea’s town panicking that their sons might go missing?), incredible coincidences of timing and entirely too much trust put in God. I also had the weird feeling that I had read this book before, but I don’t know why – if you know of a similar book published a few years ago, please let me know!

Overall, I did enjoy reading The June Boys, although I had some issues with the suspension of disbelief. If you’re slightly less knit-picky about your YA mysteries, I do recommend you give it a shot and see for yourself. Just because a book doesn’t work perfectly for me, doesn’t mean it won’t for someone else.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

I want to like this. The premise is fascinating and I'm going to try reading it again with the audio book since it's multiple narrators. The format is just a little too confusing for an ebook, which is really sad because I was excited to dive in.

So for now I'm leaving The June Boys behind, but hopefully will pick up the audio soon!

I mostly read YA. But this year I've challenged myself to branch out, and starting picking up thrillers and mysteries. Still, YA is my favorite, and I've been trying to find more books that fall into both of those categories. And that's the main reason I decided to give The June Boys a shot. I'm so glad I decided to. One of my favorite reads of the year so far, The June Boys ended up being so much more than I expected.

As much as I've been enjoying thrillers this year, I do seem to have a hard time emotionally connecting to the stories. I don't know if it's the difficult subject matter that's sometimes covered or what exactly, but I just often feel  that there's a wall between me and the story. With The June Boys, I felt as though I was immediately swept up in the story unfolding. Right from the start I was invested, devouring page after page, my heart racing and breaking and full. This was one of those stories that I just felt, that wiggled it's way into my heart and mind and didn't let go. I think it's still got a hold on me, as I've been unable to get it out of my mind since I finished reading. I foresee this one making it onto my favorites list at the end of the year.

The characters were the heart and soul of this book. Thea is a fantastic lead, I loved her voice. The whole supporting cast felt like their own characters. I could feel that they had their own stories, even if they weren't printed on the page. That added so much to the whole reading experience, making it all just feel so real, making the characters all feel so real. The setting itself even felt like a character, with all of the charm and mystery a small, back water town can hold.

The June Boys was a really fast read for me. The pacing just felt right. I was never once bored, with just enough information given at a time, just enough new clues to who the Gemini Thief might be to keep me wanting to know more. The story built on itself so well, everything leading up to an ending that was absolutely breathtaking.

I highly, highly recommend this book. The story is contains is so shockingly beautiful, I just feel like by not reading it you're missing out on something truly special. It's tense, thrilling at all the right moments, while presenting emotional beats that really grab hold of the reader and refuse to let go. I'll definitely be revisiting The June Boys over and over again, and can't give it enough praise. This is a book you don't want to miss.

Every June 1st, the Gemini Thief kidnaps three boys and holds them captive until June 30th of the next year. Thea believes that the Gemini thief has taken her cousin, Aulus. The book alternates between Thea and her friends as they search for clues, and Aulus writing a series of letters while in captivity. When the FBI discovers one of the boys dead, a keychain links the boy to Thea's father. Thea is left with the unsettled thought that her family, or someone close to her family, is the Gemini Thief.

This book was extremely predictable. I thought there were very few twists or surprises. Some things, felt less than realistic, particularly when Thea's boyfriend was being fed information by his FBI sister. The letters that Thea wrote from captivity were particularly hard to read on the Kindle - perhaps because they were images instead of text. Overall, this one was a bust.

This story had me hooked from the very beginning. I liked how it was full of twists and turns, and I didn’t really see the ending coming. As much as I enjoyed it, let’s of the story were convoluted and hard to follow. The arc copy especially had issues with the drawings included in some of the letters. I also found it a bit problematic that the fictional characters were writing letters to the real life figure of Elizabeth Smart (although the letters weren’t sent). I though that seemed a bit insensitive.

The format of the e-arc was very poor and I was not able to finish it in that format. Once the book came out, I listened to the audiobook and ended up really enjoying it.

I liked how the mystery of the identity of the Gemini Thief was not easy to figure out. There were several suspects and all seemed possible. I also liked hearing from the perspective of the boys in captivity through letters. It added to the urgency and gave us a view of how they were surviving.

The only thing that brought the story down a little for me was that the main characters seemed to fall a bit flat. I didn't really feel anything for Thea, and I think that was because there was not much to her character other than the search for her cousin.

The synopsis made this book sound so intriguing, and I really wanted to find out what was behind the mystery of the June Boys. Starting this book though, I quickly found that I didn't mesh well with the writing style. I found the narration really hard to follow and I missed a lot of context. This made me lose interest in the plot of the novel. There were also some formatting issues that made the inserted diary entries very hard to read. Based on this, I didn't end up finishing the book.

This just felt so slow at parts. The little hints and misdirection at who the kidnapper is got old and I just stopped caring after awhile. When the kidnapper was revealed, I didn't really care. The ending was a bit emotional for me since I really cared for Aulus's character so it bumped my rating up a bit.

I received a free e-book in exchange for an honest review.
I had heard a lot about this book from a booktuber. I was intrigued. I started to read a chapter and see if I liked it. I couldn't put it down. I didn't get to meet Aulus, but I knew so much about him. I liked the Elizabeth letters even though at the time I didn't know who Elizabeth was. It was a 'who done it", that despite many clues looking back, I didn't guess the kipnapper. I understand what the building of the castle meant in relation to church and the bells. I didn't see however why it was a necessary part of the story. Maybe it was needed just to show how obsessive Don was, the lengths he'd go to. It was an interesting part and almost a character in itself, but I feel like it would be possible to express it differently. I really enjoyed this book. I liked the characters and felt close to them.

The Gemini Thief is a serial kidnapper who keeps hostage three boys for more than year; each year and has been doing so for the past several years; and his identity remains unknown.
Until one summer; when a boy turns up dead. Now this is termed as an escalation, not just by the people but also by the authorities. But there is also a clue left with the body.

A clue that means a whole lot to the protagonist and narrator of this book; Thea. Now, Thea lives with her father; her apparently crazy father who has been building a castle and has kept it a secret from her. Thea’s cousin, Aulus has been missing – and she has been quite adamant that he was taken by The Gemini Thief. But no one seems to take her seriously.

Until the clue is found with the body of one of The June Boys – the victims of the Gemini Thief.
The plot is quite an intriguing one (hence why I actually requested access to the eARC of the book!); and it did hold my interest in it for the main part – I was actually quite invested in knowing or rather deducing who The Gemini Thief was from the variety of suspects provided to me as a reader.

But the format of the book was a little choppy for my tastes – the “Elizabeth Letters” that Aulus wrote to Thea during captivity took me a little while to get used to – wait; no I didn’t get used to the jarring way it was introduced and added to the plotline.

Barring that; it was quite an intriguing book; could have used a little more tweaking and the revelation of the actual thief had me surprised, hence the rating I have given to the book. And I have to say; I won’t be averse to more books by this author in the future!

2.5/5 Stars

“You don’t owe your truths to everyone.”

This is a difficult one to review. The story could have been absolutely incredible. However, it was an absolute mess. There were so many characters in this story and it was extremely difficult to keep everything organized in my brain. “The Elizabeth Letters” added quite a bit to the story that I enjoyed but I felt that the way they were presented (or written) confused me even more. I won’t go into more details about that to try to keep this spoiler-free.

I really enjoyed the “big reveal” as it was something I didn’t see coming. There were parts that made my eyes tear up and that is rather difficult...which leaves me so confused on my true feelings about this book. I just feel that my biggest issue is the structure of the book. It felt all over the place.

Overall, I would say this book could be great if it was severely re-edited. I really loved the idea of this book and feel as if it could have been so much more than it turned out to be.

I received a Netgalley copy to review. Unfortunately the ARC had issues with formatting especially where the Elizabeth letters were concerned. I would have liked to have actually been able to see the drawings and to have been able to navigate the text a little better.

Overall, there was some slight believability issues right off the bat...mostly concerning how much a police detective would let a civilian with ties to a case know and be able to witness. But the characters grew on me.

This is the second book by Courtney Stevens that I have read, and one thing she does well is write friend groups. The relationships between characters are more real and more alive than in most books I read. Her characters motives are pure and she allows us to get into their headspace and know what they are feeling without ever having to say this is what they feel. It's her unique gift and the strong focal point of her work. I especially liked Aulus as a character. I felt like I knew his pain and heartbreak. One thing to note is that the author tends to include some religious experiences in her work...at least the two I have read.

I did feel that we didn't get enough perspective from the culprit. That maybe that character could have been included a little more for some insight. Also, I didn't quite get the Elizabeth letters until the author's note at the end. I felt like that could have been easily explained by the character writing them or even had the letters be addressed to someone else. The book also took longer to read than most books like this usually do for me. Not saying that it's the books fault at all, but my reading has been thrown off during this pandemic.

Trigger warnings: kidnapping, death, murder, child neglect, mental illness, trauma, grief, gun violence, captivity, starvation, blood

This book is utterly entrancing and works best if you know very little going into it, so this will be a fairly short and vague review. 

The formatting and structure of this story is sublime, with Stevens feeding you crumbs of information that eventually build up to reveal an explosive larger picture. We alternate between two very distinctive and rice voices that I couldn't draw myself away from. Generally, the characters are all so well-rounded with genuine feeling relationships and an underlying bond of friendship that felt so strong. However, you always feel slightly distanced from them, as you can never bring yourself to fully trust them. You're constantly second guessing, as Stevens keeps throwing in curveballs and brilliant twists and turns. 

Stevens imbues the story with such emotion, with one moment in particular utterly wrenching my heart in a powerful and distinctly disturbing way. This is not an easy read, as it delve into dark and intense topics and never shies away from graphic moments. At times, the format can feel slightly confusing, as you get swept into the tangled wed of secrets and deceit. The writing always feels polished and carefully selected, but also just organic and as though it's had room to breathe. I cannot say the same for the reader, as the entire book feels like you're walking a tightrope with the tension taut and the general atmosphere of foreboding danger and deception.

This is my first book by Courtney Stevens so I didn't know what to expect.
The Gemini Thief is a person who has been kidnapping young boys in the state of Tennessee for the past 1o years.
Thea's cousin, Aulus is missing. and all clues start to feel that her dad has to do with the disappearances. Thea with the help of her friends will try to discover who is the Gemini thief before it's too late for the boys.
I must start by saying that it was super difficult for me to read this e-arc because of the format.
In my opinion, the story seemed a bit slow to me. Halfway through the book I only cared about Aulus and his friends. The main characters were disappointing as I never felt a connection to them.
The best and strong part of the book was the ending, it was unexpected and entertaining with a lot of plot twist that made me cry at 3 a.m. in the morning.
3.5 stars
Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.