Holy Moly sister - hold your hat!!!
My heart ached for Avery from the get go!! The abuse at the hands of her "father" and "mother" and her psycho siblings brought me to tears. She wanted so badly to be "good" according their standards. We get to and thru the fire and it appears that only she and Cole have survived and this is all just the beginning. I felt like poor Avery could NOT catch a break!! Good or bad - not sure yet lol - she and Cole discover the greatest secret of the book - which leads to even more drama and trauma. I enjoyed the narrator as well!! I was provided an audio version of After We Were Stolen by Netgalley.

I tried several times to get into this one but it just fell a bit flat for me and I ended up DNF this book. Please do give this one a try for yourself and don't base it on my review, as there are many great reviews out there.

The writing was so good for this story. The emotions and feelings were so well betrayed. Yet this was such a triggering read. I struggled a bit with the subject matter but i think writer did really well with it. This book was so haunting. So disturbing. I think for some it may be too difficult. But if the triggers aren’t bothersome really worth the read.

The narration was really well done as well and she inflected the emotions properly that i felt it all.

It's been a minute since I first read AFTER WE WERE STOLEN, and I have now had time to process my thoughts on it. I really enjoyed it and thought that it was so well written.

I have a weird fascination with books that include a cult, and thought the author did a great job at creating such a dark, intricate storyline.

I had both the physical copy and the audiobook,. and enjoyed them both, and I thought the narrator was a great choice.

*many thanks to Sourcebooks and Dreamscape Media for the gifted copy for review

5 BIG stars!

You know when you read a book that you loved SO MUCH, it’s now in your Top 5 reads of the year, and you need a few days to compose yourself in order to write a review… and then you forget to write the review? Yeah, that’s me. But seriously, I absolutely love this book. Everything about it. I’ll be ordering a physical copy to add to my personal library. Would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys a little mystery and family drama with twists and turns here and there. Will likely be keeping my eye out for more of Beyfuss’s work. Well done!

(ALC received from NetGalley in exchange for honest review. Thank you!)

This was a great story with twists and turns along the way. It did start off a little slow and took me a while to get into the story, but once I did I was fully engaged. Well done!

This was a miss for me. I had to abandon the book part-way through as it just wan't holding my attention.

It tarts out kind of slow but picks up and keeps you engaged through the end. There are many twists and turns and the characters are well developed and easy to empathize with.

Nineteen year old Avery lives with her nine siblings and parents in a compound built for survivalists. The children have been taught how to survive when the "end" comes, which the parents constantly reminds them will happen. They are told they have been"chosen" and the parents rule over the children by means of fear of cruelty. The "end" does come, but not in the way the parents had anticipated. And if Avery and her siblings survive, what will be the cost?
After We We're Stolen by Brooke Beyfuss is a chilling exploration in to a survivalist compound and the trauma inflicted on so many. It is suspenseful and full of shocking events.
I was given an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
#netgalley
#afterwewerestolen
#survivalists
#brainwashing
#brookebeyfuss

After We Were Stolen was a unique and curious exploration of life in a doomsday prep cult that flashed between before the fire and after escape told through the eyes of 19 year old Avery. What made this story utterly heartbreaking was that most of the cult members were children, stolen from their families.

After a fire destroys their cult compound, killing most people, Avery and her brother Cole manage to escape. While on the road, trying to survive they are caught shoplifting and arrested by police. It is then that they both discover that their whole lives have been a lie as they are really Celeste and Noah, kids who were kidnapped 15/years earlier by the cult leaders. What follows is an impassioned attempt to make sense of what happened to them, fit into the lives they were supposed to have and come to terms with the abuse and trauma they suffered at the compound.

Although I listened to the audio version and enjoyed the story, there was something about the narrator’s performance that didn’t work for me. She seemed to have only one way of expressing character emotion and it sounded too whiny for my liking. Therefore I would probably have preferred to read this book. However, with that said, the performer did an excellent job of staying true to the characters’ emotional experiences.

A gracious thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review. #afterwewerestolen

When I came to review this book and discovered it was Beyfuss' debut novel, I was shocked. There is nothing immature or underdeveloped about the writing here. Beyfuss' writing is beautiful. Her plot is dark but not gratuitous. Whereas many novels about cults focus on the time in the cult, this focus spends 70% of its time focused on the aftermath of the cult. More than a study in cults, this is a story in trauma, its long lasting impacts, and the fact that it impacts everyone differently. I am definitely interested in picking up anything else that Beyfuss puts out.

Brooke Beyfuss sets the bar high in her debut novel, After We Were Stolen." It's the story of Avery and Cole, siblings who survived a fire that killed their cult-like family. For the first time in their lives, the pair experience life outside the compound, an environment they are neither emotionally nor physically prepared for. Survival is hard, especially when you don't know where you're going - or where you came from. Where the words mom, dad and family don't mean what you hoped they did.

Both the audiobook and the ebook are fascinating. The narrator brings listeners into Avery's world, while readers follow the pair on their life-changing journey. Both audiences will be excited to read - or hear - what the author brings next.

Love it when a book surprises you. I loved this story of a brother and sister as they escape a cult. The narrator was fantastic, the writing was good and kept me completely engaged.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* this was, intense. lots of stuff was going on and started reading this right after watching a documentary about similar stuff! would reread in the further future.

This was a story about growing up in a cult, where deprivation, intense survival training, physical abuse and extreme brainwashing are a part of daily life for the children in this large family. Avery is 19-years-old when she wakes up to find her family’s home on fire. She and her younger brother, Cole, who is the sibling she’s closest to, flee the grounds of the only home they’ve ever known. They assume the rest of the family has perished in the fire, and hoping for freedom from the brutality of their father, they set out with little money and venture into the unknown, not sure who they’ll encounter or how they’ll survive. As days turn to months, they have nowhere to live and no money to support themselves and are forced to steal in order to get the food they need. One day, they’re both arrested for shoplifting and taken to the police station. As the police investigate who these unusual kids are and where they came from, it’s discovered that they were kidnapped as young children by the people they thought were their parents. As the story unfolds and the police investigate the fire at their compound, the bodies they find of other family members, and what they unveil about the people she thought were her parents, Avery feels overwhelmed. This story definitely felt authentic to me and seemed to accurately depict the trauma, resilience and long process of healing experienced by those who survive being kidnapped and raised in a cult.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to and honestly review this audiobook version of After We Were Stolen by Brooke Beyfuss.

Wow, this book was hard to read at times. Not because the writing was bad, no, quite the opposite! The author did such a great job of putting right in the middle of all the awful things that were happening and you could feel like you were right there with the characters.

I didn’t fully know what to expect with After We We’re Stolen, but overall it was a really good book. It was very sad in a lot at times and you just wanted to reach in and hug the characters because you just felt bad for all they were going through. I would have to imagine that cult books are a tough subject to bring to life, but this author did a great job with such a sensitive subject.

This book revolves around the story of a teen girl, Avery, and her younger teen brother, Cole. After they escape from a horrific fire at their home, life begins to unravel in more ways than they could have ever expected.

A story that really digs into cults, brainwashing, and the ripple effects throughout the lives of those who leave, your heart breaks for these kids. And as more and more secrets are revealed, your heart is crushed even further. But you also get to see a hell of a lot of resilience and you really cheer for these kids.

I really loved this book and would love to read more by this author. And the audiobook reader did a great job pulling you in!

(Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for my honest feedback)

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

Oh this was a good one! The build up, the characters, everything was well written. Some aspects were hard to read like the child abuse that keeps unravelling but I really enjoyed listening to this overall. The narrator was excellent as well.

We here about cults in the news. Sometimes we get an inside look from former members but mostly it’s a world in its own. Avery and Cole belong to a cult ran by their Mom and Dad. They are taught survival training and are forced to punish their brothers and sisters for doing things against the rules. No one leaves and they don’t accept new members. They are completely closed off from the outside world so they don’t realize that the world outside isn’t like their Mom and Dad have taught them.

One night Avery is awoken by a fire that she barely escapes with her life. She finds Cole and they watch as the compound and their whole world implodes. They are on their own and try to use their survival training but that will only get them so far. They have to resort to shoplifting and are caught. They thought they were going to be in trouble but actually find out that they have been saved. Fifteen years ago, Avery and Cole were abducted from their families and brought into the cult. They both find out that their identities and everything else they thought they knew about themselves was lies.

Cole is immediately returned to his parents and they cut off all communication between him and Avery. She is left alone to deal with life without her “family”. Avery finds out that there is another survivor and sets off to find out what really happened the night of the fire and if her “Mom and Dad” are truly gone. Sometimes digging into the past doesn’t give the outcome that you hope for.

This was a very interesting book. Avery and Cole lived in such horrific circumstances while in the cult and once they were out in the world, they both struggle to begin again as Noah and Celeste. The beginning of the book was really strong, talking about their lives inside the cult. From there it kind of dragged. Their time before their arrest was just kind of glanced over. I didn’t feel like I got enough of that part of the story, Once Cole and Avery were separated we get a good description of what her life is like but Cole just kind of disappears which was disappointing. I felt like seeing both characters rejoining the outside world would have been very interesting. I definitely didn’t see the ending coming so that was very satisfying.

I received this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I thought this looked like an interesting read, and it definitely was. It took a few twists that I wasn't expecting and had me liking and hating different characters all the time. Although it's a made-up story, it's sad to think that in the world we live in this is probably happening. I would recommend this book if you don't mind reading about twisted scenarios.