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Wyatt isn’t a stranger to secrets, but when he’s sent to stay in upstate New York with an old acquaintance of his mother’s, he finds a sleepy town lost to winter, isolated from civilization, and cloaked in mystery. There are things from his own past he’d rather forget. But something about the town intrigues him, calls to him, and he isn’t beyond digging a little deeper. Decades-old tales are told of people who disappeared without a trace. It could be the hand of a serial killer, or they could be mere runaways. Then, quite by accident, he discovers a journal that may hold answers.
Meanwhile, Rachel has been living in a ramshackle tower for many years, watching the birds fly below and the endless green forests stretch around for miles. The woman watching over her tells her she must remain there in secret: The world isn’t safe. Someone means her harm and is still looking for her. She wonders if it is the same person who killed her real mother. Then one day, the monotony is broken when a boy — a boy she’s seen in her dreams — discovers her tower.
Together, Wyatt and Rachel may be the only people who can unravel the secrets surrounding the town’s disappearances. And if a prophecy nearly two decades in the making can be believed, Wyatt might in the one to break Rachel free from captivity and help her fulfill the role she’s been destined to play.
I’ve put off writing this review because, quite honestly, it’s hard to sum up my overall thoughts about this book. I wanted to like it… but I didn’t.
Towering is a Rapunzel retelling that begins with a dark mystery set in a small, sleepy town. I really enjoyed the threads of thriller introduced so early on. In fact, I wished the story had taken the route of being a realistic thriller. Instead, paranormal elements were thrown into the retelling, and things quickly became weird. Thrown into the mix was a confusing prophecy that made no sense but which the characters accepted without question. Then there was an insta-love romance, in which kissing commenced within an hour of their meeting and frequent declarations of love were made, as well as a proclamation that they were destined for each other.
Overall, this book really just wasn’t for me.
Rated: Moderate, for two uses of moderate profanity; sexual content includes a lot of kissing, sometimes heated, including one makeout scene between strangers in which characters are mentioned to “fumble with clothing.” A reference to characters making love is mentioned in a diary. A character retells the horrific event of the day his two best friends are shot by their own father — who later commits suicide himself. Many side characters are kidnapped and submitted to drug use and forced labor.
