Review of Six Month Later by Natalie D. Richards

Six Months Later is YA mystery/thriller. The story opens during the month of May and follows a high school girl named Chloe Spinnaker who falls asleep in Study Hall. But when she wakes up from her tiny nap, it’s now November. Somehow, six months have passed, and she doesn’t remember anything about them.

But that’s not all. Her life is also now completely different:

1. Where she was once a mediocre student, she’s now at the top of her class and is being recruited by Ivy League universities. Yes, she is now apparently super smart.
2. She’s now dating Blake Tanner, the most popular guy in school, someone to whom she’s barely spoken to over the years, and who happened to be was her secret crush.
3. Where before she was a nobody, now she is super-popular at school.
4. Her best friend Maggie is no longer speaking to her, and she has no idea why.
5. She also seems to be involved in some kind of relationship with the school bad boy named Adam Reed, another boy she barely knew until now. Actually, she finds herself strangely attracted to him, which makes no sense to her.

So now Chloe is on a quest to find out what happened during those missing six months, and as she soon learns, remembering could prove deadly for her, especially once she starts getting close to figuring things out.

I had so much fun unraveling this mystery, and it really was a compelling mystery. The characters in the story are mysterious; the sudden spike in her IQ also mysterious, and the events of the last six months, even more mysterious. I enjoyed the fact that in this story, you just don’t know who to believe.

I loved how the author slowly gives us pieces of the puzzle, bit by bit, peppered in with numerous twists and turns, all of which propelled the story to its surprising conclusion. It was fun trying to guess what was going on, though none of my hypotheses (aliens, parallel worlds, a brain tumor, or magic) were correct.

And what about all these new people in her life? Are they hiding something? What about her parents? Are they in on it? There were many questions that needed answering.

A creepy and captivating mystery, with even a murder thrown in, that kept me riveted throughout — so much so that I read it in one sitting. The characters are excellent as well, especially Chloe, who I found to be brave, determined, and headstrong — also quite snarky, which was fun. Additionally, I liked that I wasn’t able to guess the ending, so it was fun being surprised. All in all, an enjoyable, fast-paced, well-plotted story.

Purchase Six Months Later from Amazon