Thank you netgally for this arc to review
Bummer! I actually DNF this. It started out so strong and found myself wanting more and more. I tried to connect to the characters and couldn't. At about 55% through the book was more of a chore so I DNF it.

Due to the formatting of this eARC, I unfortunately won’t be able to read and review it for my blog. I found what I was able to read very interesting and do plan on reading The June Buys after it’s been released.

The June Boys is a dark and captivating story about a girl who’s searching for cousin. Thea’s cousin Aulus falls victim to being kidnapped by the Gemini thief. The Gemini thief steals boys for a year and then returns them unharmed. Thea is searching for Aulus. Among this Thea learns her dad has kept secrets. He’s been building a castle and Aulus has been helping him. And he was the last to see him before he was taken. Thea’s dad is now number one suspect. This book was full of mystery, intrigue, family drama, and hardships. The story is told back and forth between Thea and Aulus writing letters to a girl named Elizabeth while in captivity. The beginning sucked me in. The middle fell flat, long, and boring however the story picked back up at the end. My true review is more of a 3.75 out of 5 stars.

‘“Careful with that hope,” he said.
“Careful with that doubt,” I retorted.’

I was worried about this one after reading reviews, but I actually ended up enjoying The June Boys. The story is like a darker Nancy Drew. A large cast of characters with a few main ones. One being a victim whose POV is shown mostly through letters, and the other being the one trying to solve the Gemini kidnapping whodunit. The start is a bit of an info dump, and the middle is a bit of a drag, but the last third of the book is entertaining and it outweighs any of the negatives for me. While I do agree with other reviewers of the ebook copy, the formatting was quite a bit distracting. I think certain parts of this story were confusing and less impactful because you’re distracted by images of paper. I’d love to see what these notes actually look like in the final book, because I think they will be a cool addition and have the intended effect!

“Monsters don’t always look like monsters on the outside, and maybe they’re not always monsters,...“

If you’re looking for a YA thriller that’s like a Nancy Drew and Criminal Minds love child, then I highly recommend this story.

I have passed on most thriller/mystery novels over the past few years due to them all sounding like the same plotline, and they usually are. This one, however, seemed pretty intriguing. Court Stevens does a great job setting up the storyline of boys being kidnapped and then release a year and month later. Can you guess what month? The part that piqued my interest was why they were being returned? Most thriller/mystery ends with the kidnapped dying or some epic way of being found, they, in this case, were being released.

The main character Thea narrates the whole story. She is strong, brave and thinks through everything. Court Sevens also adds in letters that one of the kidnapped boys writes. This definitely allows us as the reader to get to know the boys on a more personal level and what they are going through. I would try and guess who the kidnapper was and the motives, but there were so many twists and turn that I was surprised who it was at the very end!

It was a great quick read. I hate most people gave low stars based on the formatting of the PDF ARC and not the story itself. Highly recommend for high schoolers and up.

I love crime TV shows, but for some reason, I never read thrillers or mysteries. I went out of my reading comfort zone and I really enjoyed The June Boys. The writing felt a little choppy at times, but the characters were interesting and the plot definitely kept me on my toes. There were moments when I wanted their investigation to move a little quicker, but I never knew who the Gemini Thief was until it was revealed. Every time I thought I had a guess, everything would shift and I’d be back to wondering. Thea was a good narrator and I felt for her situation. I was never quite sure how I felt about her boyfriend, Nick, but when he revealed his insecurities I appreciated the complexity of their relationship more, and her relationship with her best friend, Gladys, was really wonderful and touching. Thea’s kidnapped cousin, Aulus, was probably my favorite character though. We get to know him, and the rest of the “June Boys,” through the letters he writes in captivity that are sprinkled in among the normal narrative. It was such a brilliant tool that Stevens used to make us invested in the kidnapped boys and move the plot along. This book definitely had some subtle Christian undertones, which I personally am normally not a fan of, but in this case, I thought it worked because it was mostly dealing with hope. The ending was surprising and had a double twist that I did not see coming. Overall, I thought this book was well done and would recommend it to any YA mystery fans.

This was such an interesting read! It was nothing like the previous Courtney Stevens book I've read, but it was such a fresh of breath air. It was engaging and unique and everything I could have wanted wrapped up into a single book. I wish I could read a million books just like this.

I recommend this title for middle school libraries and up. There is also a discussion guide at the end--making it an easy choice for book clubs.

<i>The June Boys</i> is an intriguing story about a serial kidnapper (The Gemini Thief) who strikes every June--hence the title. On June 1st, three boys are captured and kept for 13 months--being released the last day of June the following year. This concept of a structured, timed kidnapping is what I found intriguing. The story begins unfolding in May, a month before the current June Boys are expected to be released. One of this year's June Boys is Aulus McClaghen, a cousin to Thea, the main character who has spent the past year obsessively investigating the ongoing mystery of The Gemini Thief. As the story and investigation continue to develop, Thea knows she is getting very close to discovering who The Gemini Thief is; and all signs are pointing to her dad.

Stevens has all sorts of awesome gems throughout her writing: “You meet Noah after the flood, you think, <i>That brave, faith-filled, visionary man.</i> You meet him before and you're like, <i>What a nut job.</i> Perspective and timing matter. Sometimes you have to accept that you might not be able to see the truth from here.”

What I liked: The storyline is full of twists and unexpected plot developments! The characters are unique. Readers will keep turning the pages to see how it will all end. Throughout the book, the reader is given letters/drawings from Aulus as he is being held--I love his vulnerability and voice. He is my favorite character.

What bothered me: The characters are developed in small pieces and are difficult to connect with or really even determine "who" they are; the lack of emotions as the story unfolds is unrealistic as is the involvement of the teens with the FBI--I doubt the FBI would allow an agent so close to the family of a victim to be involved and share the information that was shared with Thea and Nick.

***I do not recommend reading the e-book due to complications with Aulus's letters/pictures displaying incorrectly--jumbling the lines. (Which is why some reviews of this title are low on Goodreads; while I wouldn't rate a book according to its format display issues, it looks like some unfortunately have.)

~ Thank you to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review ~

DNF @ 13%

I simply don't have time to read mysteries that don't peak my interest within the first few chapters. To be fair, I watch way too many crime shows and movies, so it's hard to immediately engage me in a mystery unless it's very new and creative. This one is just way too similar to countless Criminal Minds episodes I've seen to want to continue.

P.S. The e-ARC was so horribly designed it was basically unreadable. That's not the author's fault, but the publisher should hear this. Pictures randomly showed up as broken images and words skipped and jumped around all over the place to the point where it was incoherent.

I really enjoyed this story. The mystery was compelling, I didn't want to put this book down until I found out how it all ended. The religious elements were a little weird and the formatting on the letter chapters was awful but the story itself was really fun and interesting.

A compelling story of shocking twists and dizzying turns that tells a commonplace murder mystery but from a new perspective, one I've rarely seen in young adult fiction. Court Stevens tackles what we fear most: what if the monster is someone we know? The June Boys kept me on my toes from beginning to end. I found myself frantically turning the page needing to know what happened next, what the newest clue was or the biggest drop of information.
The writing was well-paced and the interwoven Elizabeth letters were at once scary, confusing, and hopeful. I'm glad there was an explanation at the end as to who Elizabeth was, there was nothing else within the story to come to that conclusion naturally. I'm not sure if there needs to be something, I think this is definitely an author/editor choice, but as someone who is familiar with the Elizabeth Smart story, it did not immediately connect or in fact ever come to mind. This could be a personal bias as I was more focused on the setting of the story and the facts therein and was thinking less big picture.
I loved the care and attention that was given to Thea, Nick, Gladys, and Tank. They each had their own specific personality and distinct behavior pattern. It made the group dynamic far more exciting and heartbreaking. Thea especially was fascinating to witness since she was dealing with the most mental and emotional trauma for the majority of the book.
I also really really loved the inclusion of the town's reaction to both the initial arrest and at the end as well as Thea's commentary on it. It felt so unique and poignant and just so clearly necessary and how it was handled was so amazing that I'm genuinely mad that I can't think of any other books that have done it.
I'm so honored and pleased that I got the privilege to read this in advance, thank you so much to Thomas-Nelson for giving me this truly splendid opportunity.

Engrossing, an extremely twisty Mystery that kept this reader guessing throughout, worrying about the victims, anxious for the survivors and loved ones. Not what I would have expected from a Librarian, but riveting, painful, heartwrenching. So much in this novel depends on Trust; life can't continue without it. The mystery behind the abductions is like a Gordian Knot: impossible to unravel. Internally I kept screaming, "Why? Why would ANYONE do this?" It didn't fit the "normal " criteria [hostage, ransom, sexual predation, revenge]. How complex is this Mystery!

This book was heartbreaking and releasing at the same time. I read this book in a few hours due to the fact I was drawn in and had to find out who the Gemini thief was. I thought so many times there was a good lead to whom the Gemini thief was, only to find out I was as wrong as Thea. This book really made me think. I could not count on my parents, so I learned how to cope in my own way. I could relate to these kids in a variety of ways. As the end of the book neared, I found myself holding back tears. I have a love/hate relationship with these kind of stories. I feel so deeply for the inflicted and despise the one who laid so much on the victims. Please read this book, it it very well written and so real.

I will have to pick this book up at release. The story is so intriguing and I was enjoying it but I cannot get past the formatting. It is very distracting and is making it difficult for me to get into the story like I want. I would like to give an accurate review about the story and not have it affected by how awful it was to read through the formatting. From what I was able to read so far, which was a decent amount, I loved it and cannot wait to be able to fully enjoy this unique read!

This was a great mystery. It kept you guessing with the story being told in different timelines. Great characters and an emotional look at coping, grief, and surviving. I think this was a great thriller for this age group.

The plot seemed promising at the outset, but the execution left me a little disappointed. The writing wasn't for me and the pacing was off. The characters weren't altogether engaging. The only one's I enjoyed were Aulus and Tank and they weren't in the story enough to save it... even though they're both at its center. The relationships were stilted and didn't make much sense in, almost like they were included because they had to be. Nothing about them seemed natural. The resolution was somewhat satisfying but it seemed convenient.

It just wasn't my speed but it wasn't bad by any means.

A thrill ride you wont want to miss!!
Dark, and thrilling who done it vibes!! Edge of the seat the whole read!!! Plot twists were completely unexpected and placement/timing was spectacular!!
What if someone you loved committed horrible crimes?! Well one of our characters is soon to find just how close to home the terror is!!
Spectacular plot build, and characters were believable and relatable. Full of self observation from each unique character, and twists that will leave your jaw on the floor!! Everything about this book had me second guessing what I thought was real, true. It gave me goosebumps!!

Thank you NetGalley for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm going to have to go ahead and get the biggest issue out of the way first. This book was formated horrifically. While it's not fair that the formating is affecting my review, I'm sorry to say I think that it's a large part of why I didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. First off, the publisher's logo is all over the pages sometimes more than once and it was very annoying to try and tune out while I was reading the story. Secondly, pretty much all of Aulus's chapters were a slog to read. Not because they aren't interesting (they were actually really interesting) but because the formatting was so bad that in most cases sentences would start in the middle of other sentences and make absolutely no sense until you read further ahead and realized it belonged to a separate thought later on in the sequence. This is because Aulus's chapters are letters and I think they're intended to be formatted in the book as text on a lined piece of paper and that formating just did not work on this ebook version. This version also really messed up the images he drew in the letters so we couldn't get a clear picture of what he was drawing because it was split into multiple parts and often cut off pieces of the images. I honestly believe had the formating been better my reading experience would have been much better and I would have rated this another star higher.

With that out of the way, I'll get into the book. I was so incredibly interested in this book! A serial kidnapper who takes three boys each year on June 1st and releases them the following June 30th sounds so cool. Add in that our narrator believes her cousin was taken by The Gemini Thief and she's beginning to suspect that her father might be the kidnapper and I was immediately hooked. I really loved our narrator, Thea, once her cousin Aulus gets kidnapped she becomes obsessed with The Gemini Theif and trying to unravel the mystery. There was a quote in the book by Thea that just really hit me, "I don't have room for...I don't know what it is I don't have room for. Sometimes I'm afraid it's happiness." As someone who's had some mental struggles I just felt this deep connection with Thea. I liked the established relationship in the novel between Nick and Thea. It was sometimes messy as any situation will be when your boyfriend's FBI sister is naming your father as a suspect in a kidnapping case that involves your cousin. However, the relationship between Nick and Thea felt real in a way that a lot of romance manages to miss in books. One of my favorite moments in the book is a scene where they're standing incredibly close, face to face, and almost kissing but not quite because the scene is more about them taking comfort in one another's presence.

Thea's dad was an incredibly interesting character. It's easy to see how a man like him could be accused of being a serial kidnapper. Calling him an odd duck might be too tame. He's spent the last ten years building an actual castle because he believed God told him to. The other characters weren't as fleshed out but I did still enjoy them. Aulus, I think I would have enjoyed a lot more had I been able to read his chapters without squinting and piecing together the improperly formatted sentences in his chapters. He had a good voice and I loved how much he cared about his fellow June Boys. He was such a good soul.

The mystery itself was very interesting and I always forget how much I love a good mystery until I start reading a new one. I did get the identity of The Gemini Theif half right (I'm not saying how I could be half right because spoilers) fairly early on in the book but this didn't diminish my enjoyment of the book at all. There were even several moments when Thea was trying to find alternate suspects that her logic started to convince me she might be right.

At first, I wasn’t sure about this book. I thought I knew who the kidnapper was right away, and I was disappointed. But wow, was I wrong! This book had me for such a loop. There were so many twists and turns that I never saw coming. I love when a book can take me on a ride, and I don’t know where it is going. I would definitely recommend this book to any teens or adults looking for a good thriller.

"You don't owe your truth to everyone."


› On June 1st, 2001 three boys were taken, kept for 13 months then released. Now it's 2010 and over the past decade 12 boys have been kidnapped. Always taken June 1st. Always 3 boys. Sometimes the Gemini Thief was dormant a year, sometimes two before taking another group. They've always been released. Until this year. Thea's cousin, Aulus, is missing and she's convinced he was taken by the Thief, even though the Thief has already taken 3 boys. The pattern is broken when one boy turns up dead with Aul's unique key chain in his mouth.

› Stevens is a talented writer. Like Dress Codes For Small Towns, The June Boys has a tight-knit group of friends living in a small-town. However, this book includes letters written from the perspective of Thea's missing cousin, Aulus, and it just MAKES the story. The flip-flop from everyone trying to find the boys to the boys hoping to be saved increases the tension and concern. We don't know if the letters are in the past, or present, or if the boys are still alive.

› Thea's boyfriend, Nick is really weird. I don't like the way he treats her. Thea's father is even stranger - he's been secretly building a castle for years and never told Thea. Throughout the story Thea is constantly discovering she cannot trust the people around her.

"Every man in my life sat on a throne of lies."


› The Kindle version of the ARC didn't load properly on my tablet. The letters written by Aul showed up all cut up. But then I switched to the pdf version and it was fine. If I hadn't done that I think the intimacy of those letters would have been lost on me. I was having a hard time connecting to Aulus, however, once I made the switch I found myself choking up every time it switched to his perspective.

› When the Gemini Thief is revealed I felt confused, then underwhelmed. The ending felt anti-climatic like all the air let out of my balloon.

› Final Thoughts
• With a somber atmosphere, The June Boys is a whodunit about parental relationships, betrayal, friendship, forgiveness, and following your intuition that leaves you wondering if the end justifies the means. It reminded me of Find You In The Dark by Nathan Ripley, One of us is Lying by Karen McManus, and The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager. It's not my favourite work by Stevens but I think this is the first Mystery/Thriller from her and I have a feeling that her next one will be even better. ★★★

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for the complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review.

*Quotes taken from an ARC copy and subject to change*