TV Adaptation: Bitten (2014)
Stolen is the second book in the paranormal romance series, The Women of the Otherworld, by Kelley Armstrong. Elena Michaels is on the road to accepting her new life and is back in the pack, picking up the role she left behind, and in doing so, she uncovers more than she thought was possible. There are more supernatural beings in the world, and unfortunately, she’s not the only one to realise this. The humans are coming, and as the only female werewolf in existence, she’s certainly a prize to be caught.
I know it’s a clique, but I could not put this book down. The prologue had me a little lost, but then I was in and hooked! As always, Elena is humorous, strong, and heartbreaking at times, but I felt even more connected to her this time around. She is learning to come to terms with her new life, in baby steps, of course, but thankfully she isn’t trying to be entirely human. Since the last book, she has returned to Stonehaven, to the pack, to her old job within it, and is working on her relationship with Clayton. But no matter how strong of a woman she is, and I guess it goes for everyone, at some point, you’re going to fall, and Elena had a moment like this that made me hurt for her. She was coping quite well with being imprisoned and subjected to her captors and some of the other prisoners. She was coping quite well with learning that the world was not entirely what she thought it was. However, it’s when she has to face the idea of being alone and having to rely entirely on herself that she starts to doubt herself. Without a strong connection to Jeremy, she is left to fend for herself and cope with the psychological trauma alone. It’s a lot, and when finally she manages to get that one outside call and it ends how it did, she spirals—I nearly cried for her.
In Stolen, you get to see more of the supernatural world and learn how different species interact and have their own dynamics, like how the witches have a similar dynamic to werewolves. In the sense that magic is hereditary, like born werewolves, and that a coven is very picky about those allowed in it, like the pack with mutts. But I think that’s where the similarities end; witches are more peaceful and werewolves are more aggressive, so it was fun to see the difference between them. The interactions between Elena, Clay, Adam, and Paige towards the end of the book were very entertaining. I hope to see more of Paige and Adam in the upcoming books. Cassandra, on the other hand, can get… lost. And like with Bitten, all this information didn’t feel like an info dump; it was evenly placed and flowed so that I enjoyed the little titbits of history, and learning more about the way werewolves work, like the change, for instance, became like these cherished pieces of information I garnered.
Another thing I really enjoyed was getting to see more of the relationship between Elena and Jeremy. He may be her alpha, but he’s also a good friend and often treats her like a daughter as well. Getting to know more about his childhood and about his raising of Clay was both sad and heartwarmingly funny. He’s this calming, reserved man, but he has a good sense of humour that I love. I’m a sucker for dad jokes, so I enjoyed the one supplied too much. I look forward to seeing more of what Kelley Armstrong slips into the history of other pack members and their relationship with Elena in the upcoming books.
There was a lot of Elena coping by herself in this book, and sure, she’s not completely alone and not everyone around her is evil, but you can really see how strong of a woman she is. I was entirely enthralled by the way her mind works, and when she finally reunited with Clayton, I was over the moon getting to see more of them together, getting to see his patience and love for her, and I absolutely supported her return to the compound and everything that ensured!
I enjoyed Stolen immensely; it had me hooked and had me guessing how Elena was going to escape the problem she had been trapped in and wondering what was happening outside of the compound as well. Watching Elena change from the first book to being a little more accepting of what she is in this book was lovely. However, it was getting to watch her figure out how she was going to get out of this place, with the knowledge that Clayton may not be able to back her up and that he may not be able to get to her in time, that made it hard for me to put the book down. I knew Elena was a fighter, but watching her struggle through it all as smartly as she could, meaning without too much brute force, was intense. Therefore, I am rating this book Five out of Five Stars. As with Bitten, I was finding too many similarities between myself and Elena in Stolen, and I’m not looking at that too closely.
Like Bitten, I would recommend Stolen by Kelley Armstrong to an adult audience, as it covers mature themes such as violence, sexual content, murder, imprisonment, and mentions of harder topics like rape. Definitely check for your triggers, as one of mine was mentioned but thankfully not explored. Despite the harder topics being covered, there is still the strong found-family dynamic, love, and, of course, humour that I adore. I felt even more for Elena; she is as humorous as ever, but her strength is not one to be trifled with; she can be brutally savage in the best ways. I’m looking forward to what she comes up against in the next book of the series.
Favourite Quotes
“‘I don’t need protection,’ I said. ‘How many scrapes have I been in? Too many to count, and no one’s killed me yet, have they?’ ‘Oh, there’s good logic. Shall I wait until someone does, darling? Then I’m allowed to protect you? Guard your grave maybe?’”
page 81
“Forgive me, but ‘well behaved’ is not a term one ought to apply to a grown woman,”
page 141
“If I did well in life, I wanted people to say I did well, not that I did well ‘all things considered.’ My past was a private obstacle, not a public excuse.”
page 166
“‘You have never asked me to choose, and you have no idea how grateful I am for that, because if I ever had to pick, it would be you, no matter what that meant for the Pack.’”
page 340
“‘Don’t tell me what I don’t have in me.’ I growled. Saw the terror in his eyes and drank it in. Then I let him go.”
page 395
Finer Details
Title: Stolen
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Pages: 460
Publisher: Orbit
Publication: 2003
Language: English
Rating: 5/5