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kbranfield's review
5.0
Aftermath by Clara Kensie is an emotional novel of courage, survival and hope.
Four years after she was abducted by a pedophile, sixteen year old Charlotte Weatherstone is finally rescued from her kidnapper and she wants nothing more than to pick up her life where it left off. Her happy homecoming is marred by the discovery that her twin sister Alexa is now a rebellious, defiant and troubled teenager and her parents' once idyllic marriage fell apart due to the strain of her disappearance. Despite her best efforts to convince her family (and herself) that she is fine, Charlotte is often paralyzed by her memories of the torment she endured at the hands of her "Keeper". As her perfect life fails to materialize, Charlotte becomes obsessed with uncovering the identity of the young girl the Keeper kidnapped and murdered before he abducted her. Once she figures out the Keeper's type, she searches the faces of other missing children in hopes of identifying potential victims. Wanting to spare this girl's family the agony of never knowing the truth about their daughter, Charlotte hopes FBI Agent Rick Lindo can help recover the girl's remains. At the same time, navigating her way back into "normal" life is a heartrending journey that is oftentimes quite painful for Charlotte and her family.
Happy thoughts of her family sustained Charlotte during her time in captivity so she is ill-prepared for the discovery that reality in no way resembles her fantasy. Convinced Alexa followed their plans, she is stunned by her twin's appearance and she is utterly shocked by her sister's downward spiral. Charlotte is also devastated to learn the truth about her parents' marriage and she is left reeling by her father's announcement. Her reintegration back into her family is further tested by the media frenzy surrounding her rescue. Charlotte is also troubled by Alexa's stunning accusations and the realization that her mom blames herself for the kidnapping. While she would like nothing more than to put her harrowing experience behind her, Charlotte's memories often come rushing back when she least expects it and she is overwhelmed by feelings of powerlessness.
All of the characters are richly developed and their various reactions to Charlotte's kidnapping are what one would expect a family to feel. Charlotte's mom never gives up hope that her daughter will return home, but she completely shuts down and turns to alcohol to cope with her guilt and unbearable loss. Charlotte's father needs closure to move on and he puts all his energies into running the charitable organization he founded that is dedicated to finding missing children. Alexa eschews the hopes and dreams the girls planned for their future and turned her back on their group of friends. No longer one of the popular crowd, her new friends are on the fringes and she begins experimenting with sex, drugs and alcohol. Despite the torture she endured in captivity, Charlotte remains surprisingly upbeat as she tries to keep the worst of what happened to her from her family and she is laser focused on picking up the pieces of her life. She is an incredibly brave young woman with amazing insight and an inordinate amount of compassion for others.
The story is multi-layered and extremely well-written. Clara Kensie deftly handles delicate and dark subject matter with a great deal of sensitivity and care. There is little doubt about what exactly Charlotte endured at the hands of kidnapper but these topics are lightly broached without many graphic details. The storyline's many layers are slowly peeled back as Charlotte goes through her recovery and just when it appears everything has been revealed, the plot takes yet another stunning turn.
Aftermath by Clara Kensie is a captivating story of healing that is deeply affecting yet surprisingly hopeful as Charlotte and her family attempt to recover from a truly horrific, life-altering experience. The storyline is unique and brings to mind the real life kidnappings of Elizabeth Smart and Jaycee Duggard. It is a hard hitting must read young adult novel that I highly recommend to older teenage and adult readers.
Four years after she was abducted by a pedophile, sixteen year old Charlotte Weatherstone is finally rescued from her kidnapper and she wants nothing more than to pick up her life where it left off. Her happy homecoming is marred by the discovery that her twin sister Alexa is now a rebellious, defiant and troubled teenager and her parents' once idyllic marriage fell apart due to the strain of her disappearance. Despite her best efforts to convince her family (and herself) that she is fine, Charlotte is often paralyzed by her memories of the torment she endured at the hands of her "Keeper". As her perfect life fails to materialize, Charlotte becomes obsessed with uncovering the identity of the young girl the Keeper kidnapped and murdered before he abducted her. Once she figures out the Keeper's type, she searches the faces of other missing children in hopes of identifying potential victims. Wanting to spare this girl's family the agony of never knowing the truth about their daughter, Charlotte hopes FBI Agent Rick Lindo can help recover the girl's remains. At the same time, navigating her way back into "normal" life is a heartrending journey that is oftentimes quite painful for Charlotte and her family.
Happy thoughts of her family sustained Charlotte during her time in captivity so she is ill-prepared for the discovery that reality in no way resembles her fantasy. Convinced Alexa followed their plans, she is stunned by her twin's appearance and she is utterly shocked by her sister's downward spiral. Charlotte is also devastated to learn the truth about her parents' marriage and she is left reeling by her father's announcement. Her reintegration back into her family is further tested by the media frenzy surrounding her rescue. Charlotte is also troubled by Alexa's stunning accusations and the realization that her mom blames herself for the kidnapping. While she would like nothing more than to put her harrowing experience behind her, Charlotte's memories often come rushing back when she least expects it and she is overwhelmed by feelings of powerlessness.
All of the characters are richly developed and their various reactions to Charlotte's kidnapping are what one would expect a family to feel. Charlotte's mom never gives up hope that her daughter will return home, but she completely shuts down and turns to alcohol to cope with her guilt and unbearable loss. Charlotte's father needs closure to move on and he puts all his energies into running the charitable organization he founded that is dedicated to finding missing children. Alexa eschews the hopes and dreams the girls planned for their future and turned her back on their group of friends. No longer one of the popular crowd, her new friends are on the fringes and she begins experimenting with sex, drugs and alcohol. Despite the torture she endured in captivity, Charlotte remains surprisingly upbeat as she tries to keep the worst of what happened to her from her family and she is laser focused on picking up the pieces of her life. She is an incredibly brave young woman with amazing insight and an inordinate amount of compassion for others.
The story is multi-layered and extremely well-written. Clara Kensie deftly handles delicate and dark subject matter with a great deal of sensitivity and care. There is little doubt about what exactly Charlotte endured at the hands of kidnapper but these topics are lightly broached without many graphic details. The storyline's many layers are slowly peeled back as Charlotte goes through her recovery and just when it appears everything has been revealed, the plot takes yet another stunning turn.
Aftermath by Clara Kensie is a captivating story of healing that is deeply affecting yet surprisingly hopeful as Charlotte and her family attempt to recover from a truly horrific, life-altering experience. The storyline is unique and brings to mind the real life kidnappings of Elizabeth Smart and Jaycee Duggard. It is a hard hitting must read young adult novel that I highly recommend to older teenage and adult readers.
cupcakegirly's review
5.0
This story was intense and definitely has a ripped-from-the-headlines feel to it. As a parent, child abduction is my worst nightmare, and there were moments when Charlotte's story was incredibly difficult to read. I cried, my heart breaking not only for what she endured, but the damage it did to her family in her absence.
Charlotte's return home, while joyous, is only the tip of the iceberg. For 4 years the memories of her family, the hopes and dreams she shared with her twin sister, are what kept her going and helped her to survive. Now, everything is changed. Not only is she faced with recovering physically and emotionally, she must also learn to navigate her new family dynamic.
I appreciated how Clara Kensie didn't romanticize Charlotte's homecoming, nor did she get gratuitous with the details of her captivity, instead choosing to focus on the feelings and emotions of the characters. Lex was my favorite! She infused even the toughest moments with humor and love.
This is a story about survival, family, and most importantly, hope.
I look forward to whatever Clara Kensie writes next!
*Thank you to Merit Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review*
Charlotte's return home, while joyous, is only the tip of the iceberg. For 4 years the memories of her family, the hopes and dreams she shared with her twin sister, are what kept her going and helped her to survive. Now, everything is changed. Not only is she faced with recovering physically and emotionally, she must also learn to navigate her new family dynamic.
I appreciated how Clara Kensie didn't romanticize Charlotte's homecoming, nor did she get gratuitous with the details of her captivity, instead choosing to focus on the feelings and emotions of the characters. Lex was my favorite! She infused even the toughest moments with humor and love.
This is a story about survival, family, and most importantly, hope.
I look forward to whatever Clara Kensie writes next!
*Thank you to Merit Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review*
wellssie's review
dark
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
genieinanovel's review
4.0
I wasn’t sure what to expect when reading this book, but I was definitely not disappointed. After being held captive for four years, Charlotte is finally rescued when her captor is hospitalized, and she is finally reunited with her family. Only, they’re not the family she remembers. Her parents are divorced, her sister is the opposite of how she used to be, and to top it off, her dad remarried and has another child.
Of course, the feels are obviously there for Charlotte as she realizes the truth of her family’s brokenness after she’d been taken. She can’t help but feel like if she hadn’t disappeared, her family would still be whole and she and her sister would be doing everything in their Dream Book as they planned. It was thinking of her family that helped her survive, and it was hard for her to adjust to everything being different. Not to mention the PTSD that she suffers after being rescued, which makes some of her adjusting a little harder.
For the most part, I just felt bad for Charlotte and her family, especially her twin sister. And even more so when we learn the other reason why Alex was upset about her sister’s kidnapping. Charlotte’s dad, however, he was a different story. At first I was annoyed by him as he was always trying to get Charlotte to do interviews and go on trips with him to be the ambassador for his foundation to find missing children. It’s a great cause, but you can tell he loved the spotlight a little too much. Then he went as far as to name his third child after Charlotte, which I get was supposed to be in Charlotte’s honor, but I think naming the baby the same as his elder child was going too far. The same honor could have been done with just using Charlotte as a middle name.
One aspect of the book that I admired was how clean it was for YA fiction, especially with a topic like this. Obviously, in her captivity, Charlotte was abused and raped, but it never went into detail like you might expect it to. Or even how her captor killed the previous girl – all we know is that she was killed, not how.
What really shocked me was that this novel had its own plot twists. I expect them from mysteries and thrillers, of course, but this book was pretty straightforward in that it would focus on Charlotte’s recovery, as well as her family’s, and figuring out who the girl before Charlotte was (or The One Before, as Charlotte refers to her). So I was surprised when there were other plot twists along with this story that gave the story more depth as well as the characters.
Overall, I completely recommend this book. It’s a change of pace no matter what genre you usually read, even if it’s contemporary, because the story is just so unique and moving.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Of course, the feels are obviously there for Charlotte as she realizes the truth of her family’s brokenness after she’d been taken. She can’t help but feel like if she hadn’t disappeared, her family would still be whole and she and her sister would be doing everything in their Dream Book as they planned. It was thinking of her family that helped her survive, and it was hard for her to adjust to everything being different. Not to mention the PTSD that she suffers after being rescued, which makes some of her adjusting a little harder.
For the most part, I just felt bad for Charlotte and her family, especially her twin sister. And even more so when we learn the other reason why Alex was upset about her sister’s kidnapping. Charlotte’s dad, however, he was a different story. At first I was annoyed by him as he was always trying to get Charlotte to do interviews and go on trips with him to be the ambassador for his foundation to find missing children. It’s a great cause, but you can tell he loved the spotlight a little too much. Then he went as far as to name his third child after Charlotte, which I get was supposed to be in Charlotte’s honor, but I think naming the baby the same as his elder child was going too far. The same honor could have been done with just using Charlotte as a middle name.
One aspect of the book that I admired was how clean it was for YA fiction, especially with a topic like this. Obviously, in her captivity, Charlotte was abused and raped, but it never went into detail like you might expect it to. Or even how her captor killed the previous girl – all we know is that she was killed, not how.
What really shocked me was that this novel had its own plot twists. I expect them from mysteries and thrillers, of course, but this book was pretty straightforward in that it would focus on Charlotte’s recovery, as well as her family’s, and figuring out who the girl before Charlotte was (or The One Before, as Charlotte refers to her). So I was surprised when there were other plot twists along with this story that gave the story more depth as well as the characters.
Overall, I completely recommend this book. It’s a change of pace no matter what genre you usually read, even if it’s contemporary, because the story is just so unique and moving.
Rating: 4.5 stars
meagan_reads_books's review
5.0
This book was so raw and emotional, but so so good, I couldn’t put it down, her journey from being the girl locked in the attic To self discovery and learning to be safe again! Amazing story!
tjlcody's review
5.0
Ohhh man this was a good one. This was a really, REALLY good one.
Author did a great job with everything: Characters, setting, story-pacing, all of it.
And that twist in the last 15% or so of the book... My God, did not see that coming.
Excellent book.
Author did a great job with everything: Characters, setting, story-pacing, all of it.
And that twist in the last 15% or so of the book... My God, did not see that coming.
Excellent book.
pjv's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Murder, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, and Suicide
Moderate: Incest
nairam1173's review
Sigh.
Some of this was very, very good. Brutal, but good. The author did a very good job of giving Charlotte some goals to chase while she recovered, and the implosion of her family was believable and heart-wrenching. Over the course of the book the author does a very good job of clarifying that the problems all the characters are having are definitely not all the fault of one of them. It's a good exploration of how people deal with grief and guilt. I also really appreciated Bailey's presence.
Unfortunately, in the last eighty pages or so, events started feeling more and more...contrived. Like the only way to make this book keep working was to keep intensifying the pain. But it felt less like a natural outcome of where we'd been before and more like the author decided "okay, if I don't make it worse my readers will lose interest." The characterization of just about everyone started to feel uneven and/or overdone. Overall the ending disappointed me in where we left most of the characters (although I thought the arc with her dad was nicely wrapped up) and emotionally, although plot-wise it was pretty solid and believable. I didn't need the characters to be /fixed/ by the end, but I wish I had believed the arcs and where they landed a bit more.
Some of this was very, very good. Brutal, but good. The author did a very good job of giving Charlotte some goals to chase while she recovered, and the implosion of her family was believable and heart-wrenching. Over the course of the book the author does a very good job of clarifying that the problems all the characters are having are definitely not all the fault of one of them. It's a good exploration of how people deal with grief and guilt. I also really appreciated Bailey's presence.
Unfortunately, in the last eighty pages or so, events started feeling more and more...contrived. Like the only way to make this book keep working was to keep intensifying the pain. But it felt less like a natural outcome of where we'd been before and more like the author decided "okay, if I don't make it worse my readers will lose interest." The characterization of just about everyone started to feel uneven and/or overdone. Overall the ending disappointed me in where we left most of the characters (although I thought the arc with her dad was nicely wrapped up) and emotionally, although plot-wise it was pretty solid and believable. I didn't need the characters to be /fixed/ by the end, but I wish I had believed the arcs and where they landed a bit more.
booksavvyreviews's review
5.0
Charlotte Weatherstone was abducted when she was 12 years old and held captive in Alan Shaw's attic for four years. When he suffers from a stroke a paramedic happens to hear Charlotte, she is discovered and found in a wire cage.
From there it's Charlotte trying to cope with life, realizing that she's free and her Keeper won't hurt her anymore. That while she was gone her family broken in many ways and all the while she's trying to solve the location of a girl that Alan had prior to her, a girl he killed.
It's a heartbreaking story. I am not a huge crier in general and certainly not with books but I teared up and the last portion of the book I had an entire waterworks show. This is a raw story, one that makes you feel for Charlotte and see the devastation around her. How she's trying to be 'normal' and how her family in spite of being broken is also trying to be normal for her.
This book was so raw. One that just sucks you in, I nearly read the entirety of it in one night because I wanted to know how this family worked itself out and I wanted what the end [or rather beginning] held for them.
What a heavy start to my morning by finishing this, but wow... what a gripping and heartwrenching way to start my morning.
Thank you, Clara Kensie for the opportunity to read this!
Website - Facebook - Instagram
From there it's Charlotte trying to cope with life, realizing that she's free and her Keeper won't hurt her anymore. That while she was gone her family broken in many ways and all the while she's trying to solve the location of a girl that Alan had prior to her, a girl he killed.
It's a heartbreaking story. I am not a huge crier in general and certainly not with books but I teared up and the last portion of the book I had an entire waterworks show. This is a raw story, one that makes you feel for Charlotte and see the devastation around her. How she's trying to be 'normal' and how her family in spite of being broken is also trying to be normal for her.
This book was so raw. One that just sucks you in, I nearly read the entirety of it in one night because I wanted to know how this family worked itself out and I wanted what the end [or rather beginning] held for them.
What a heavy start to my morning by finishing this, but wow... what a gripping and heartwrenching way to start my morning.
Thank you, Clara Kensie for the opportunity to read this!
Website - Facebook - Instagram
bethanythomas2929's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
5.0