Blog Tour ~ Six Months Later by Natalie D. Richards ~ Review, Excerpt + Giveaway!

Welcome to my stop on the Six Months Later blog tour hosted by The Fantastic Flying Book Club. I have a review, excerpt and giveaway for you today.
You can follow the full tour HERE!

Six Months Later by Natalie D. Richards

Release Date: October 1, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Pages: 336
Genre: YA Mystery Thriller
Source: Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | Book Depository
Haunt Author: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Chloe didn't think about it much when she nodded off in study hall on that sleepy summer day. But 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? And why can't she remember?

ADD TO GOODREADS

Chloe takes a nap during study hall and then wakes up in the same place six months later. Adam shows up saying she called him but she barely knows him. She leaves school and then Blake is there saying she is his girlfriend. Blake the boy she has had a serious crush on forever. They fought and she bumped her head. But not enough to lose six months of her life. It all seems to revolve around her summer SAT study group and another girl that started having issues. Chloe thinks there something strange is going on or is it just repressed memories, amnesia, or even alien abduction?

I loved the mystery! Just like Chloe, I had no clue what was going on and slowly learned along with her how and why her life changed so much in the last six months. Wondering what is going on and why Chloe lost her memory?! Her boyfriend seems über creepy and suspicious. Adam seems sweet but like he is hiding something. All her parents seem to care about is her amazing SAT scores. The one person she can trust is her best friend who is no longer her friend. I just loved being totally confused along with Chloe. Kept me on my toes throughout the story.

I had a theory early on about what might have happened and I was partly right. My theory was actually even more crazy than what really happened. LOL It was fun to guess and see all the pieces come together which left plenty of surprises. I read the entire thing in one sitting. Loved the romance. Chloe has her boyfriend Blake but her instincts tell her she isn't as into him as she should be. Then there is Adam. The bad boy that everyone has written off but is so much more. Chloe does get a few flashbacks of the six months she lost. Most of the memories of Adam which are very sweet. This is one of those books where I want to leave most of the details a secret so you can enjoy the surprises yourself. For memory lost mystery lovers this was a fun ride!




"But what else could this be? The longest lasting roofie of all time? Alien abduction?"

"My memory decides to have some sort of massive file corruption and these are the months I missed? What about my years in braces? Or the summer my dog and grandmother died a months apart? No, I get to miss the six months what turned my life from train wreck into perfection. Lovely."

"Chloe, I'm telling you this because I'm in love with you! I've been in love with you since the second you pulled that fire alarm, maybe since all the way back in the fourth grade."

Rating: 4/5 

Excerpt 

I pull up the detail on one of my calls, and fear slithers through me like a living thing. 11/10—6:32 p.m.
As in November 10? No. I read it once and then again. A bunch of other calls are all from November too. I glance up, panicked, finding a calendar on the wall and a flyer for a winter dance that should still be eight months away.
The evidence hits me like icy darts, needling me toward the impossible truth. I’ve been asleep for six months. A coma or something. Somehow, I’ve missed six months of my life. But that can’t be right, either. They wouldn’t leave me unconscious in a classroom. I’d be in a hospital, hooked up to machines and watched by nurses. But if I wasn’t asleep…
Amnesia?
Maybe I’ve also got a terrible case of consumption too. Or malaria. I need to get serious here—no one gets amnesia! But what else could this be? The longest lasting roofie of all time? Alien abduction?
A sinister possibility whispers to me. One word, two syllables, and an endless river of humiliation.
 Crazy. I could be going crazy.
I heard it enough last year, whispered behind my back. I saw it on their faces too, expressions that ranged from pity to contempt as they looked at the “troubled girl.” But troubled is way better than insane, and what else could this be?
Sane people forget what they ate for breakfast. Or maybe the names of their new neighbors. They don’t wake up in a dark classroom without a damned clue where they’ve been or what they’ve done for six months.
Adrenaline flares through my middle, making my joints tickle and my stomach cramp. I feel my body poising for flight, my lips going numb, my heart pumping faster with each beat. It won’t stop there. Not with me. Familiar bands squeeze around my chest in warning, and I clench my fists. I have to calm down before this turns into a full-blown panic attack.
I close my eyes and do all the things my therapist told me to do. I remind myself that I am okay. That I am not sick or dying. My body is giving me extra energy to figure this out, and it’s good energy. It’s okay. I don’t need to be afraid.
“Chloe?”
My head snaps up at the sound of my name and at the person standing in the open doorway of the classroom. Adam Reed. Six feet and a couple of inches of something that scares me half to death.
I feel the blood drain from my face as he makes his way into the room. The light from the windows seems all too happy to highlight his model-worthy cheekbones and broad shoulders. Adam’s so pretty he looks like he could sprout wings and a halo. But angels don’t usually come with criminal records.
 Is he here because of the fire alarm?
He’s looking at me like that again, with a little bit of a smile on his face. And Adam never smiles, so what gives?
“What do you want?” I ask, my voice small and frightened.
He chuckles. “You called me, remember?”
The idea of me calling him is so ridiculous I can’t even respond. We don’t even nod at each other in the halls. Why would I call him?
Despite my little fire alarm adventure, it’s not like we run in the same circles.

 

Natalie D. Richards won her first writing competition in the second grade with her short story about Barbara Frances Bizzlefishes (who wouldn't dare do the dishes.) She later misplaced her writing dreams in a maze of cubicles and general office drudgery. Natalie never forgot about Barbara or those dishes, and eventually she found her way back to storytelling, following the genre of her heart, teen fiction. When she's not writing or shopping her manuscripts, you can probably find her wading through the towers of dog-eared paperbacks that have taken over her bedroom. Natalie lives in Ohio with her amazing husband and their three children, who inspire her every day to stick with her dreams.

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Question of the Day: Or a couple questions...hehe...Answer one or both!
If you woke up and didn't remember the last six months, what is the first thing you would do? 
If you woke up and realized your long time crush was now your boyfriend, what would you do? Tell him you don't remember him? Or just go with it? LOL

~Giveaway~
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