#89 The June Boys

The June Boys by Courtney C Stevens 

(By the way, it looks weird because i wrote the review on the notes app on my phone whilst reading and tried to copy and paste it into the blog and Blogspot doesnt like that apparently!) 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

The June Boys follows the story of Thea and her boyfriend Nick after Theas cousin Aulus goes missing they presume he has been taken by the notorious Gemini Thief, a kidnapper who snatches 3 boys every second year and keeps them for exactly 13 months before dumping them unharmed.

On this arc copy there is a really annoying ‘Thomas Nelson since 1798’ slogan at the top of every other page, sometimes in the middle of the text. It’s really off putting!

A few chapters in and it’s giving me Truly Devious and Sadie vibes. The main character Thea is trying to solve the disappearance of her friend Aulus and trying to prove that he’s been kidnapped by the Gemini Thief even though there’s a major break in his usual patterns, Aulus went missing on June 2nd instead of the usual June 1st and he was the 4th boy to go missing instead of the usual 3. When one of the boys is found dead on the same stretch of motorway that the boys are dumped on he is found with a keychain in his mouth, a keychain that Thea knows is unique to 2 people, herself and Aulus.

My only thoughts at around the 30% mark is who the hell is Elizabeth? I’m also not sure if they are laying enough ground work for possible suspects, it’s not reading as much of a mystery when there’s currently only one suspect. I hope it picks up a bit.

Thea is a complex character, I can’t figure out if she’s a realistic representation of a teenage girl or not or if she’s just a needy annoying twat. It’s like she cares more about Nick than she does for her Dad or her missing cousin. I’m not entirely convinced if that makes sense or not to the overall plot.

Nicks sister Dana is a cop who is investigating the Gemini case and Thea goes from feeding her bits of information from her own mini investigation to hiding bits, not sure if this is trying to show her inner conflict or if it’s just disjointed. I’m really starting to see quite a few plot holes and unanswered questions.

I don’t think ‘The Elizabeth Letters’ added anything to the story, if anything they just make things more confusing

All the chapters are just ‘May’ I would have preferred dates included as a lot of things are happening over a 1 month period and it would have been nice to see a more detailed timeline of events, it also would have helped build the tension coming up to the end of June as the reader has no idea if the remaining boys will be released or not. I know the dates are briefly mentioned in the bulk of the text I just think it could have been a bit more structured.

There’s a few really irrelevant characters such as Constance, what is she really adding to the story apart from her god crap 🙄

The big reveal wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, I really wanted more from it if I’m honest!