Six Months Later

De: Natalie D. Richards

Narrado por: Emily Woo Zeller

When Chloe falls asleep in study hall, it is the middle of May. 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 is 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 Chloe? Remembering the truth could be more dangerous than she knows.…

©2013 Natalie D. Richards (P)2014 Tantor

Good plot. Several unexpected twists.

The characters are endearing. They leave you hoping that there will be a sequel so that we can keep tabs on their futures. No graphic or uncomfortable scenes to read. Well written.

Loved the Whole Gosh Darn Thing!

Was the ending totally predictable? Why yes...yes it was. But it was so delicious getting to that ending that I didn't even mind!

Six Months Later starts with Chloe, a wise cracking slacker, who basically goes to sleep in class, and wakes up to find six months of her life is gone with no recollection of anything. Trying to wing it she finds her life is all sorts of upside down and sideways, and even getting things she's always wanted in life doesn't matter in the grand scheme of memory loss or going snap crazy. But everything still feels off, and she can't shake the shudder when her new boy toy touches her, nor can she shake the flashes of memories when she's near a certain bad boy. Memories that show her a different life, one she desperately wants back. In searching for answers Chloe finds more than she can chew, and realizes some memories are best left forgotten.

Again, totally transparent in the long run, but oh my word was it wonderful getting there! Total high five to the narrator for nailing the voice and characters in pure perfection. No lie. She is literally my top narrator now.

As for the characters themselves, they were so nicely developed! No stupid moves that leave you shaking your fist muttering the ever present "why, just why?" There was only one thing that Chloe was a little blind to, but I'm not giving anything away...

The plot was great, moved along pretty well, and had me listening intently. It was, as I've said, pretty easy to spot it, but I tried not to think of the who what and why so I could be "ta-dah" surprised. Didn't work out to well. I just wish the villains had been more villainous. Otherwise, top notch book, a great mystery/suspense, and I completely enjoyed it!

Knowing What I Know Now, I'd Skip This

Where does Six Months Later rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

My thoughts from Goodreads. Please ignore the above question:

This was an interesting story, to some extent, but it had some serious issues, including basic failures by the author to appropriately research and represent the world that the story is set in (high school kids getting ready to transition to top notch colleges).

Also, the MC has about the least amount of curiosity and persistence possible, for this being a thriller/mystery novel. She basically solves the mystery by everything miraculously falling in her lap at the right moment, and not through any amount of asking questions, pushing boundaries, or actual sleuth-like behaviors.

The side characters are cookie cutter versions of stereotypes and often inconsistent.

"Okay, I forgive you."
"Wait, no I don't."
"Let's be friends again."
"I'm not sure we can ever be friends again." . . . ad nauseam.

However, despite these negatives, the heart of the plot is interesting (Chloe falls asleep a mediocre student and wakes up having lost 6 months of her life to now having the perfect GPA and boyfriend ---although it's not even remotely realistic that she could improve her GPA and college standing so much in just 1 semester), so it ended up being a quick read. I think it could be a significantly better and more thrilling story, given the plot it had to work with, but it's too surface-level and constantly convenient to really sink hooks into the reader.

Fast-paced = yes. Thrilling = not so much.

No issues or concerns with the narrator, who did a good job, which probably helped the story along.

Interesting story idea, told uninterestingly.

I was intrigued by the concept of this book: a girl trying to figure out why she's missing six months of her life. But the weak and repetitive dialog (and internal monologs) wore me down. I struggled to finish this book and actually abandoned it for a few days.

The one-dimensional, male characters add little to the story. The villain appears suddenly at the end, apparently just so that he can partially explain himself. We're left to speculate on the roles and activities of his fellow plotters, following an unsatisfying end of the novel.

The narration by Emily Woo Zeller is well-done.

Hooked after the first page!

Natalie has a way of captivating you from the first words of her books! I have read 4 in a row and each has been a nail biting experience, but this has been my favorite!

Rip Van Winkle?

This was the quest of a girl who woke up and discovered it was six months after she thought it was. She is trying to regain her memories, not let on how much she has forgotten, and figure out the danger those memories hold . Worth a read.

This book was okay.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I guess so. It's interesting, but I don't think the author did very much research on the subjects that needed it. Most of the storyline didn't need background research, but there were some references that seemed...slapped together. It is possible that this was the issue: I've been on a teen fiction kick, so I started with Jay Asher's 'Thirteen Reasons Why' and then Lauren Oliver's 'Before I Fall' (Both books were just incredible). If I had read this first, I may have liked it more, but I had to compare it to the other two based on the order in which I read the books.

Would you recommend Six Months Later to your friends? Why or why not?

Audible does this all the time! THIS IS THE SAME QUESTION: "Would you recommend Six Months Later to your friends?" and "Would you recommend this book to a friend?" Ha Ha. Just look up at the first question and you'll see my answer.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I did want this question, because I have a clear answer that I thought about throughout the book. I'm actually a fan of Emily Woo Zeller, because of her performance of Grady Hendrix's 'My Best Friend's Exorcism,' which was done AFTER this. I believe Ms. Zeller has improved significantly, so her performance in this book wasn't up to the standard of MBF's Exorcism. That being said, she did do a decent job and I was never annoyed by her performance; I just believe that she progressed as an artist and this was one of her earlier works. She does have one of the BEST TEEN voices I've heard in audiobooks (Listen to 'The Hunger Games' trilogy and you'll see why I HATE when older sounding voices are put with anyone younger than 30). The only young female narrator that I think is better than Emily Woo Zeller would be Emma Galvin (Divergent, Poison Princess, and many others); however, Ms. Zeller is definitely in my top five favorite female narrators (including adult narrators like Julia Whelan, who did the voice of Amy from 'Gone Girl').

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Sure! I think that they would include more about the darker side of the book and actually do the research that Ms. Richards kind of glided over.

Any additional comments?

I do want to say this: I wish audible gave you the option for half stars, because I think that the performance deserves 3 1/2 stars. Also, the story isn't a complete 3, but it's also not a 2 or a 2 1/2. It'd be a 2 3/4, but I don't want to get that technical. I'm also a very tough judge and remember that I read two amazing books right before this one. I might be judging too harshly.
As for those who are considering this one, read it if you want a simple teen mystery. You might figure out the mysteries before the ending like I did, but you might not. Despite figuring it out, I still enjoyed the story and I had a very good time listening.

The narration is so good it takes you back in time

Suspense, intrigue, who is the bad guy?
Must listen to the story to find out.

A Page Turner!!

Kept me very interested. Perhaps could be "just the kind of book" I like? But I truly enjoyed this book. Not a cozy mystery like I usually read but still a mystery!! Maybe I was ready for something else but it was hard to not just sit and listen (when I didn't have time)

I can't really tell you anything about this book without giving away something but I can say the narrator did a really bang up job and that certainly helps make a more enjoyable read and I thought the book was written well.... She uses the verbiage "I say", instead of "I said" and somehow that seemed okay, even though she used it quite a bit, not overly and it seemed to work.

I'd give this one a try!! I'm looking for another just like it but this author has ONLY this 1 book out that I was able to find. Although, I did find another 3 book series by Jessica Brody, the 1st called, "Unremembered" that I'm going to try... sounds kinda good! (I love it when others mention good books they've read that are similar to a good book they've read)

Okay, that's it!! I liked this book quite well and would recommend it to you! Enjoy!!

Six months later, great book

This book was filled with so many surprises. I had a physical copy of the book while I was listening to the narrator. The narrator was great, she really helped me visualize what was going on by how she described everything with just the right conviction. I really hope this book would be made into a movie I know many people would watch it. A little biased but I would watch it :) for anyone who likes mystery books I definitely recommend. Have fun & enjoy the story of six months later.