The Book Addict Reviews: The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Order Online: Amazon.com
Author Info: Website | Goodreads
Rating: 3 stars
Purchased this book.

In A Nutshell:
I liked this book, and I cannot wait to read the next installment of this series.  The Gathering has a lot of things going for it that make me to believe that this series will hold my interest until the very end.  I like the characters.  They are complex and interesting.  In particular, I feel at the end that Maya is going to be a great character.  She is a strong, determined woman who is learning that she still has a lot to learn about herself as well as the secrets she is starting to uncover. 

Review:
Maya Delaney has a nice life in a nice small town that is run by a drug company that employs most of the people in the town.  The company provides the people of the town with nice homes, nice amenities, and a nice school.  Most of the people who live in the town have been there for as long as Maya can remember.  Very few new people move to the town, and very few people move from the town. 

Maya Delaney has a history; a history she does not know because she was abandoned as a baby.  Some inferences have been drawn by the authorities who handled her adoption and by her adoptive parents.  In particular, it is assumed that Maya has a Native American heritage however what tribe she comes from is unclear. 

 Then Rafe, the new guy, comes to town.  He seems to be a player.  He has sparked the interest of practically every girl in school.  He flirts with them, but he does not seem to get too close or too attached to any one girl in particular.  He seems to like the chase, but once he has them he lets them go.  Until he starts chasing Maya, the girl he feels may be the reason he came to this small town.

However, this story is not a simple boy meets girl romance.  This is a story of secrets.  First, Rafe and Maya share a secret that Rafe currently knows just a little more about—but not much more.  Second, St. Cloud, the company that built the town, seems to have secrets which leads a reporter named Mina Lee to start questioning the teens about.  Third, Maya and Daniel fear that their friend’s death, which was ruled an accidental drowning, may have been an attempt to cover something up.  Fourth, Sam, one of their classmates, has gone to great lengths to hide the truth about her parents’ deaths and what bought her to town.

As expected with the start of a new series, I ended the book with more questions than answers, but I was intrigued.  I want to read the next book in the series.  I like these characters and I care about their situation.  I can see complexity in them, even the ones that seemed to be playing small, peripheral roles so far.  All of these complexities mean that anything can happen, and anyone can play a key part in untangling the secrets.  I want to be there as they untangle all of these secrets (and any more secrets that come up in the future books). 

Recommendations:
This book was my first experience with Kelley Armstrong, but now I want to catch up on the series she already has out as I wait in anticipation for more of Maya's story.