I received a Netgalley copy to review. Unfortunately the ARC had issues with formatting especially where the Elizabeth letters were concerned. I would have liked to have actually been able to see the drawings and to have been able to navigate the text a little better.

Overall, there was some slight believability issues right off the bat...mostly concerning how much a police detective would let a civilian with ties to a case know and be able to witness. But the characters grew on me.

This is the second book by Courtney Stevens that I have read, and one thing she does well is write friend groups. The relationships between characters are more real and more alive than in most books I read. Her characters motives are pure and she allows us to get into their headspace and know what they are feeling without ever having to say this is what they feel. It's her unique gift and the strong focal point of her work. I especially liked Aulus as a character. I felt like I knew his pain and heartbreak. One thing to note is that the author tends to include some religious experiences in her work...at least the two I have read.

I did feel that we didn't get enough perspective from the culprit. That maybe that character could have been included a little more for some insight. Also, I didn't quite get the Elizabeth letters until the author's note at the end. I felt like that could have been easily explained by the character writing them or even had the letters be addressed to someone else. The book also took longer to read than most books like this usually do for me. Not saying that it's the books fault at all, but my reading has been thrown off during this pandemic.

Trigger warnings: kidnapping, death, murder, child neglect, mental illness, trauma, grief, gun violence, captivity, starvation, blood

This book is utterly entrancing and works best if you know very little going into it, so this will be a fairly short and vague review. 

The formatting and structure of this story is sublime, with Stevens feeding you crumbs of information that eventually build up to reveal an explosive larger picture. We alternate between two very distinctive and rice voices that I couldn't draw myself away from. Generally, the characters are all so well-rounded with genuine feeling relationships and an underlying bond of friendship that felt so strong. However, you always feel slightly distanced from them, as you can never bring yourself to fully trust them. You're constantly second guessing, as Stevens keeps throwing in curveballs and brilliant twists and turns. 

Stevens imbues the story with such emotion, with one moment in particular utterly wrenching my heart in a powerful and distinctly disturbing way. This is not an easy read, as it delve into dark and intense topics and never shies away from graphic moments. At times, the format can feel slightly confusing, as you get swept into the tangled wed of secrets and deceit. The writing always feels polished and carefully selected, but also just organic and as though it's had room to breathe. I cannot say the same for the reader, as the entire book feels like you're walking a tightrope with the tension taut and the general atmosphere of foreboding danger and deception.

This is my first book by Courtney Stevens so I didn't know what to expect.
The Gemini Thief is a person who has been kidnapping young boys in the state of Tennessee for the past 1o years.
Thea's cousin, Aulus is missing. and all clues start to feel that her dad has to do with the disappearances. Thea with the help of her friends will try to discover who is the Gemini thief before it's too late for the boys.
I must start by saying that it was super difficult for me to read this e-arc because of the format.
In my opinion, the story seemed a bit slow to me. Halfway through the book I only cared about Aulus and his friends. The main characters were disappointing as I never felt a connection to them.
The best and strong part of the book was the ending, it was unexpected and entertaining with a lot of plot twist that made me cry at 3 a.m. in the morning.
3.5 stars
Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Even though it has some flaws, The June Boys is a gripping page-turner, full of suspense and action.
The alternation between Thea's and Aulus' POVs added depth to the story and its characters and I loved how the Author orchestrated the mystery and made me suspect, retract, doubt and suspect again more than one character.

Recommended!

A well written mystery that will keep you guessing to the end.. It is listed as a YA, but anyone who enjoys a good puzzler will like this book.

The June Boys is a suspenseful mystery about the search of boys who are stolen in June and then returned in the June of the following year and The Gemini thief, their kidnapper. To start with this was such a captivating book with such a creative idea.

One of my favorite parts in this book is the characters. They were dynamic and interesting. We have Thea’s POV and also her cousin-one of the June boys- Aulus’s POV which we follow through letters throughout his kidnapping time, a little bit in the future relating to Thea’s POV. Thea is everything human. She is lost and she is devoted to finding her cousin and most of all she is scared and doesn’t know who to trust, what it means to trust people you love in situations where they might be doubtful. She still loved hard even if she didn’t show it at all times. That’s what I liked about her, even though she hated not trusting her family, she couldn’t help but to, because she is human. I admired Aulus too, his letters transported hope, fear and the desire of freedom through his darkest time. The location where emotions are most dominant in the book would be in Aulus’s letters. I wish the writing described how they looked more because while we saw their emotional side, I couldn’t imagine their appearance.

Although they are supposedly the main characters, I couldn’t help but like the other characters a lot too but really worthy of mentioning:

Thea’s relatives who were always there, despite the judgments . Nick, who never gave up, although he could but he didn’t because he was loyal. Most of all, Her father who went against the normal on a crazy obsessive path, not that it’s healthy but because he didn’t care what people thought of him and Tank, who was always there and who cared too much.

The themes portrayed in this book made an amazing part too. Other than Hope, Friendship and Family.

The writing was intriguing. The beginning was slow to me, I took some time to get absorbed but when I did I couldn’t put it down. It was descriptive enough, in addition to Aulus’s sketches, which made
me envision the environment. The only thing that I would like to note is I found one or two punctuation errors. (The format of the ARC was pretty hard to read but I checked and it’s solved in the final edition!)

The suspense in the plot was built-up quite well. The mystery engulfed you and you felt like you were tied to it. As of the ideas, the book had very interesting ones ranging from The Gemini Thief to her dad’s castle. It gripped me to the point where I thought I had finally figured it out but then a plot twist I didn’t expect comes up. It was a little confusing with the change of POVS in the beginning, but I picked up on that fast and i think it is a vital entertaining part.

This was a very riveting read with really good character and plot development and surprising twists that didn’t disappoint me.

Wow, this book was so raw, and intense. I was completely caught up in the mystery, and couldn't put it down. I loved the complicated, nuanced relationships in the book. I was constantly asking myself who the culprit was, who we were trusting that we shouldn't be, and how and why the crimes were taking place. There were also times I was even asking myself what was real. I feel like I often figure out what's going to happen in the story early on, but I didn't this time, at all. There were moments I was incredibly distressed about what was happening, this isn't a light-hearted story by any means, but I never felt completely hopeless. And I also loved that there were depictions of people with a range of very real, relatable, stances on religion, and faith, but none of them were hateful or self-righteous. One of my favorite aspects of the story was a brother-sister relationship between a couple of side characters that not always easy, but was supportive and loving. I would recommend this YA mystery/thriller for anyone craving a, distracting, engrossing read. (Thanks NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the free eARC to review.)

The premise of The June Boys with boys going missing every year on June 1st by the Gemini Theif, then returning again the following year was really intriguing. Unfortunately, this book just fell flat. Flat in characters, in plot, and in execution. It's a shame, because I really wanted to like this book, and no one wants to give a book they were sent a bad rating, but this book ended up being the worst book I've read so far in 2020. Let's talk about why.

1. The characters. The main POV characters in this are Thea, whose cousin was kidnapped and whose dad is suspected of being the Gemini Theif, and Aulus, the cousin who was kidnapped writing to "Elizabeth" through letters. The characters in this story were flat and boring, all of them. Aulus was the most well-rounded but also his story was one of basic survival. Thea could have had a really interesting story, but we really don't get much sense of who she is, just that she's kind of in the center of a storm of people. She didn't know for YEARS that her dad was building a castle? Or that he had a wife before Thea's mom? I found that incredibly hard to believe. How do you live with someone and not know basic facts about them or their daily activities?

Plus, Thea has SUCH a big family and I found it really hard to keep track of all of them. Who is Uncle Warren, Griff and Ruby, and which one is Aulus' dad? None of them?? I was just so confused about how people were related. Not to mention, Thea's mom is brought up at the beginning of the novel and then swiftly shut down by her dad, so you would think she'd be a big part of the story from this set up but... Thea's mom isn't a part of the story at all. I think that was a missed opportunity for the author.

2. The plot was very weak. This is Courtney C. Steven's first thriller and it really shows. I will say, she sets up some good red herrings. Unfortunately, there is not enough hints throughout for people to guess the Gemini Thief's identity or motives, and that really kills this story. Yeah, thrillers should keep you guessing but you should also be able to look back and be like "oh yeah, I see now!" But no, we don't get any of that. And much of it is because Thea, our main character, is kept in the dark about major life events for her family members. I can understand not knowing things about your aunt or uncle but... we the reader need to know to understand the conclusion. The reveal and identity of the Gemini Thief just did NOT work because there was too little to go on, so it made it seem very unbelievable.

3. Odd details and formatting. This one is admittedly not as big a deal, but there was a LOT of formatting issues in my arc for the letters from Aulus, to the point where many of the pages were a couple words and then half a picture of a piece of notebook paper? I hope that gets fixed in the final addition. Also, Aulus writes to "Elizabeth" which was confusing because... there's no character named Elizabeth. At the end you learn this is meant to be Elizabeth Smart, a real life kidnapping survivor, but I just felt like that was too confusing for this story and didn't really make sense. Is it a nice idea in theory? Sure but I was just so confused about who Elizabeth was the whole time that it really bothered me. If they were written to Thea, they would make SO much more sense and really show the connection between the two. Like, the book keeps saying that they're close but... we never get flashbacks or anything to show us HOW close they are. Another minor detail that bothered me is the names. What high schooler is named Gladys in 2010? Literally none. AND she has high schoolers graduate "summa cum laude" when that DOESN'T HAPPEN IN HIGH SCHOOL. That one little detail bothered me SO MUCH it was unbelievable.

It was really for these reasons that this book did not work for me, as much as I wanted it too. This seemed like a first draft, not a final copy, and that's really disappointing to me. I unfortunately cannot recommend The June Boys to anyone.

The June Boys is an interesting read. It's about The Gemini Thief, a serial kidnapper, who kidnaps three boys and holds them hostage for the month of June, although they are left unharmed. Our main character, Thea, believes her cousin has been abducted, and that's where our story begins.

I found the characters to be realistic and the writing easy to read, but at times I was confused about the plot. I'm not generally a fan of non-linear storytelling. And maybe it was because I'm reading an e-ARC, but the letters from Thea's cousin seemed not be formatted correctly. I assume this will be fixed in the final copy.

This story was intense at times, and quite a good mystery!

This book was a highly anticipated read of mine. I was intrigued by the synopsis and it definitely lived up to it. I was captured and immersed in the dark storyline. The thief is smart and terrifying and the mystery of it. You begin to question the motives of the suspects unable to clearly tell who is the Gemini Thief that takes boys? I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships with one another. It was a wonderful, flowing book that was unique and thrilling in its own way. I definitely recommend giving this book a chance.
FIVE STARS

Thanks NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The June Boys had a strong and thrilling start but over the chapters I kind of got lost in it... A girl named Thea's cousin Aulus has gone missing and there is a crazy kidnapper around town called The Gemini Thief, on June 1st they kidnap 3 boys and hide them for 13 months and release them unharmed. Thea thinks it might be her dad, but also has a very shady uncle that it could also be from the descriptions of the kidnapper having a hair tie on the wrist. There was a lot of back and fourth with characters which was a little confusing and the arc that I have received all the letters were jumbled so it was a bit hard to follow the story properly.

Thankyou netgally and publishers for this early release in exchange for a review.

Last year I read Dress Codes for Small Towns and it was a revelation. I was desperately hoping to see a repeat performance here from Courtney Stevens with The June Boys despite the difference in genre. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

I don't have some horrible issue with this book. It didn't commit any egregious literary crime, I just honestly haven't the faintest clue what it was trying to do. And it was trying to do something, that much is clear.

The nonlinear timeline does not read well, and this isn't a spoiler but the way the letters were addressed just...why? What did that add to the story? Also the speculative aspect, if you can even call it that, seriously lacked nuance and finesse in my opinion. I really didn't enjoy it or find it neccessary to the plot. I feel like there were so many other things the author could have done instead of that?

Conceptually, the Gemini Thief was very interesting and I wanted to see the mystery solved, but the plotting was clunky and amateur and the conclusion was not really satisfying to me. It felt very much like one of those rushed, here's a bunch of clues you could not have possibly recognized thriller endings to me and I HATE those.

Of course the argument can be made that I'm not the target audience for this book and that's true. And honestly whilst reading it I didn't hate it, I didn't love it it either but y'know.

From a critical standpoint I wouldn't say this was particularly good, but on the basis of did it distract me from the craziness going on in world right now and was it decently enjoyable in the moment it gets a 3. I think if I was like 14 I would have really loved it.

I don't think I would recommend this to almost anyone except maybe an actual teenager, but I think the one thing that really shone through, the saving grace of this book, is Courtney Stevens's writing. I don't want to read this book or anything like it ever again but I am excited to see what Courtney Stevens does in the future.

Yeah, I enjoyed reading this book so much! The idea that your parent could be a serial thief of boys-who is holding your cousin captive, that's pretty scary. Then there's the back and forth between Thea and Aul's perspective, which confused me a bit until I realized that they were on different timelines. Yeah.

So the idea that her dad is the Gemini Thief was a bit one in this book. I kinda thought that it'd just be her and her friend group investigating him, but nope, law enforcement gets involved. But since Nick's sister is with the law, well, it gets complicated! Given that he hid he was building a castle from her, well, there is some trust issues there!

So Aul was writing notes to an Elizabeth, which puzzled me, since I had no idea who she was and how he knew her. At the end, there was a note that the Elizabeth was Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted as a child, and later came home. I did a little search, and it turns out that this was a real life case. And it makes sense that he was writing to her.

When we find out who the killer is, well, that's a pretty tense moment, given all the factors. It brought all the clues together quite nicely, and it made sense. I felt a bit bad, because it's just one hit after another, for everyone involved.

This book was an enjoyable read, I enjoyed the mystery and the characters, and all around great read!

The June Boys captivated me until the end. Once I was hooked to the story and mystery, I couldn't put it down! I needed to know what was going on. And now that I've finished it, I can't say the "who did it" really surprised me but this book was one wild journey and I just loved it.

If you're wondering, The June Boys is a story about three boys being kidnapped on June 1st every year (or every couple of years) and are being released after a year of captivity by "the Gemina thief". We don't know who is doing it or why but after the abduction of her cousin, Thea is determined to get to the bottom of it. When all proof is pointing toward people she loves, she doesn't know who to trust.

I cried toward the end and the twist revealed concerning Aulus was heartbreaking and I just wanted to take him in my arms to give him a hug. The poor guy clearly needed one after everything that happened.

(Thank you for letting me read and review an ARC via Netgalley)

The June boys. Ah what to say about it am I right?! Uh was definitely something else. Lord of the flies sequel? Yes.

I found this super confusing and convoluted and was not interested enough in the actual plot to try to push through unfortunately. I'm sure there are many people who will love this book, but I'm unfortunately just not one of them.

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I’d hoped. The Gemini thief had so much potential but it wasn’t very well executed. The copy I received had so many formatting issues. The sections where a certain character is writing letters was all over the place and the drawings were separated into various sections. Also some of the things that happened in the book weren’t explained at all. God tells the dad to build a castle so he does it. Why? She has a vision of ringing the bells. Why? Just so the ending can happen? It was one of my most anticipated of the year but fell very short of my expectations.

2.5 stars

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely mine.

I was immersed in this story. I was loving the emotional response I got from the obsessed family member trying to find her "brother" and the letters were terrifying and gross at parts and were my favorite part. However, the two parts did not work together well. Furthermore, I liked the letters but the letters were the sole cause of the confusion. These letters are to an Elizabeth and as readers, we do not know who this person is but the 'brother' definitely has an emotional connection besides both being taken. Then after we finish the story we get a note clarifying who she was. I wish we would have got that at the beginning instead.

My biggest critique is that mysteries always have multiple suspects but I like it when the question of their innocence is at similar/same timeline. I have never liked it when it's supposedly someone and just as suddenly there is proof it not so now its this other character. Essentially all characters have a singular/ one-track mind and it frustrates me.

A note for my reading experience is because I had the E arc the downloaded format had some errors of the notes, drawings, etc were weirdly jumbled in the document I read from. I just did not get the full experience. I will probably give the finished book a reread eventually to see if my thoughts change.

This was different then my normal read. Very suspenseful with twists and turns you will not see coming. Definitely recommend this to mystery and suspense lovers.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

As a fan of Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney C. Stevens, I was hoping to love her new foray into YA murder mystery. The premise had me hooked: a serial kidnapper takes 3 boys every June 1st only to release them the following June 30th, repeatedly, never being caught. One year, one of the boys shows up dead, changing everything.

I wanted to love this, but it just fell short. Not only was the formatting a literal nightmare, but there were frankly too many characters to keep track of (and they weren't differentiated enough) and a plot that just sort of meandered. My favorite part were the letters from captivity (even though formatting was the worst on those) as they helped to break up the story and offer context for what was going on above-ground.

I feel like this is going to work for a lot of people but it just didn't for me. I'll continue to check out Stevens' future work because even if the story itself didn't blow me away I still enjoyed the author's voice.