SBBS: Day 11 ~ April Henry

Spring Break Blog Spectacular: April Henry interview & The Day She Disappeared review

Today's SBBS guest is April Henry. Already the author of several thrillers and mysteries for adults, April Henry has also published YA novels in the same genre, the most recent of which is The Night She Disappeared released on March 13 by Henry Holt and Co.

Interview

Ideal spring break destination: ski chalet or tropical beach villa?
Beach.  I don't like to be cold!  My last vacation was a year ago in Kauai and it was heavenly. 

In high school/college which was more likely spotting you on MTV’s Spring Break or just you and your friends enjoying the week off?
I put myself through college, and even back in high school knew I was going to have to.  So I either worked or tried to get a tan, which is pretty impossible in Oregon in March when you have skin like a vampire's. 

What was your favorite Spring Break ever (where and/or why)? Or if you didn't go on spring break trips, where did you always want to go?
I spent one break in London when I was living in Europe as a foreign exchange student.  I was on my own and there was a tube and taxi strike, so I walked.  And walked.  And walked.  But I still managed to feel very sophisticated.  And in 2007, we took our daughter out of school and went to the Cinque Terra, Paris, and London for two weeks over spring break.  That was an amazing vacation!  If I go again, I would spend it all in Italy. 

Fly and have the fun be at the destination or road trip and have the journey be at least half the fun
Fly unless it's a day trip. 

Do any of your characters take Spring Break trips? (During the novel or before/after.)
My character's trips are usually taken bound and gagged in the back of the kidnapper's van.  When you write thrillers, the characters don't relax. 

Where would their ideal Spring Break destination be? (Together or on their own.)
Cheyenne from Girl, Stolen would like to go someplace where there would be a lot of sensory input, since she's blind.  Maybe the ocean, with the warm sun and the sound of the waves.  Gabie from The Night She Disappeared would like to go with Kayla and Drew to Oaks Amusement Park and their old fashioned wooden roller rink. 

Which of your characters (in The Night She Disappeared or of your previous work) would you most have liked to have met on a Spring Break trip?
I would like to meet Drew and get to know him.  He's a strong guy.  Except I'd have to be his age or he would think it was creepy.

Best book to read on Spring Break or a road trip
Ashes by Ilsa Bick  was the most fun book I've read in a long while. 

Thank you!
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find more about April Henry on: Goodreads, her website, @aprilhenrybooks on Twitter


Review:

The Night She Disappeared
Henry Holt & Co. (BYR)
March 13, 2012
240 pages
add to your Goodreads/buy on Amazon /or Book Depository

Drew was the one working with Kayla at Pete’s Pizza that night. He was the one who took the order that sent Kayla out on the delivery. He’s also the one who heard the man ask if the girl with the Mini Cooper was working. Kayla, kidnapped while on the delivery, was not the girl who drives a Mini Cooper. Gabie is.

Gabie was supposed to be working at Pete’s that night, supposed to be the one making deliveries, supposed to be the one on the delivery that Kayla was on when she got kidnapped but she and Kayla switched nights.

Gabie knows she was the one the kidnapper wanted. It was supposed to be her. Now she – along with some help from Drew – won’t rest until she finds who has Kayla . . . before it’s too late.


The Night She Disappeared is an amazing thriller. I have been anxious to read another YA from April Henry since reading and really enjoying Girl, Stolen – and I liked this one even more, so much more (and that’s nothing bad about Girl, Stolen only how amazing this one is).

I love a YA thriller, mystery that can pack as much suspense and intrigue as an adult novel but keep things appropriate for a young adult book. While I do like adult thrillers and mysteries, sometimes I don’t love all of the violence and gore that seem to be prevalent in a lot of them, The Night She Disappeared doesn’t have that but neither does the story suffer for it.

Henry’s characters are great for the story. We switch between Drew and Gabie’s views along with some told by Kayla and the kidnapper, too. With some novels I like the action being isolated to one person and other things being left to your imagination but getting bits from different characters here only adds to the suspense and builds a deeper understanding of the characters, too. Drew and Gabie are both great characters. It’s really nice that they each have their own, pretty complicated, lives still going on in the midst of Kayla’s disappearance that we get to see bits of. It makes them more whole characters.

The ending – and the lead up to it- will leave you biting your nails, it’s incredibly suspenseful and fantastic.


Rating: 9/10

thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for my chance to read and review this title :)