Title: The Cellar
Author: Natasha Preston
Series: Standalone
Format: Paperback, 368 pages
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release Date: March 1, 2014
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Source: ARC received by Publisher in exchange of an honest review

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When sixteen-year-old Summer Robinson goes missing one night, her family, friends and boyfriend are devastated. Nothing ever happens in Long Thorpe, so the disappearance of a school girl shocks the whole community. The police waste no time in launching a search and investigation, but with nothing to go on and no trace of Summer, hopes of finding her quickly fade.

Colin Brown, is a thirty-year-old solicitor living alone after the death of his mother. He suffered a traumatic and abusive childhood, and is left with no sense of right or wrong. Desperate for the perfect family, Colin, referring to himself as Clover, turns to drastic measures to get what he wants.


I always love reading about self published authors getting picked up by big publishers and when I heard this story was one of them, I knew I had to read it. Originally this book was published on Wattpad and it got so many views and so many positive reviews that it got picked up to be put into print.

This book is not your typical YA novel because it deals with a topic that is very taboo in that genre. Kidnapping and sexual crimes. Honestly I am not one to read these types of books because I know that they hit me hard and they are hard to read in general. But I will say that the intrigue into the hype of this book was too much for me not to read it. And I am so glad I did because this author is one to watch. She has this innate talent to grab you from the very first line and keep your interest throughout the book. The writing itself was beautiful and descriptive, yet had enough dialogue to peak my interest and let me get to know the characters the right way.

The thing i think I loved the most about this book was the fact that the author took a very taboo topic and handled it with such class that at times you were so enthralled in the characters that you tended to forget what type of book you were reading. It was not dirty, or disgusting, or even descriptive. It was timid yet horrible at the same time and i think that balance between those two things really made this book such a great read for me.

The only issues I had with this book was the fact that this book is narrated by many different people. including the kidnapper himself. Now, although I did appreciate his perspective at times, I felt myself skipping over his parts because I wanted to know more about what the main character was doing and how she was feeling. I found myself wanting more from her perspective then anything else.

For those of you that love happy endings, you might be a bit disappointed in this one. I will not give anything away but this resolution is not the happily ever after you want but it is as close at it can get without deviating away from the characters themselves. I loved that the end was realistic in its portrayal and I thought it was satisfying and heartfelt.