Joint Review: Six Week Later by Natalie D. Richards

Author: Natalie D. Richards
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Date of publication: October 2013

She has everything she's ever wanted. But not her memory...

When Chloe fell asleep in study hall, it was the middle of May. When she wakes up, snow is on the ground and she can't remember the last six months of her life. 

Before, she'd been a mediocre student. Now, she's on track for valedictorian and being recruited by Ivy League schools. Before, she never had a chance with super jock Blake. Now he's her boyfriend. Before, she and Maggie were inseparable. Now her best friend won't speak to her.

What happened to her? Remembering the truth could be more dangerous than she knows...

I thought Six Months Later was a pretty decent story.  I liked the mystery as well as the characters.  I can't even imagine what it would be like to wake up and lose six months of your life.  For Chloe everything has changed and she is determined to find out what really happened.  I was happy to see that there was no love triangle and enjoyed the romance that was part of the story. 

A couple of things bothered me about the book.  One month of good grades after 3 years of bad grades is not going to get you into Ivy League schools no matter what your SAT score.  I found that a bit hard to believe. I also couldn't understand why everyone kept keeping things from her.  It would have saved her a lot of time and trouble had they just come clean sooner.  In a way, I felt bad for Chloe.  I thought her mother was a major jerk when it came to her anxiety. As if it made her daughter less than perfect.  It's a shame she couldn't accept her child for who she was.  I think older teens will like this story and I do recommend it.

I was surprised by Six Months Later.  For some reason I expected it to be a bit more of a romance.  (Maybe because Kari picked this one?? And there's something about the cover.)  So, I approached this one a bit warily, because romance just isn't my thing.  Right off the bat, I really enjoyed the writer's style.  She was snappy and pretty funny at times.

The story itself was rather creepy and weird.  I had a hard time believing that someone could pass off missing 6 months and no one would notice or pick up on it.  The parents especially.  I'd like to think that if my daughter, especially as overprotective at the ones in this book were, woke up missing 6 months, I'd notice that.  Anyway, it was a pretty good book, like Kari said, it's probably more geared for older teens.