4.5/5.0

Finding Zach is the story of a 15 year old young man who was taken hostage and held for ransom in the Venezuelan jungle. Even though the 10 million dollar ransom had been paid, Zach wasn’t released and endured 5 years of being starved, tortured, raped and caged like a dog until he was found, quite by accident, during a mission to rescue some other hostages. Now, reunited with his family Zach has to learn to trust and love again, and that includes trusting and loving himself.

The story didn More...

Dear Person who recommended this book -

Next time it may be quicker to have you plunge a knife in my chest, dig around a bit, cut out my heart, toss it on the ground while rolling it in dirt and rocks. Then have my heart run over by a couple of cars at which time you can put it back sew me up for the HEA. Basically, that is what this book did. Tragic and beautiful what us mere mortals can overcome.

morning clarity?? not certain . . .

*4 star read.
*powerful
*well developed characters
*well developed plot/story arc, but i needed more. that punch or spark with the climax of the story didn't happen for me
*intense opening grabbed me immediately. but intensity not rebuilt or maintained
*can easily feel the relationship between the two MCs
*POV shifts done well
*****WORTH THE READ


but . . . .there is always a but, lol
here are my thought immediately after completing the book

Ok. Huff. Pause.............. More...

~~~

4 Strong Stars -

Powerful. This book gives us a hard, deep look behind the effects of utterly inhuman treatment and how, for Zach Tyler, he even begins to find himself again.

Hatred, anger, torture, inhumanity, shame, a beaten and defeated spirit how can a human be whole again? Through love, tough love, friendship, devotion, sex, tenderness, honesty and patience. It's all in this one book, an amazing journey that may not be for everyone. I very much recommend this read, if you can stomach some More...

What to say? Where to begin? The books I love always seem to leave me speechless! Soit seemsthis is another one of those books.

So I think I will just make a list of...my opinions:

♦ I read it straight through all in one day

♦ I had no idea what it was about before I started.

♦ I loved every word of it.

♦ It was beautiful

♦ It was sad, but I didn't cry.

♦ It was angsty, but not too angsty for me.

♦ It felt real.

♦ Zach was stronger than anyone gave him credit for.

♦ David had the patience of a saint.

♦ Th More...

urmm...it was not as angsty as I'd hoped, which was disappointing. This story has the potential to be quite an emotional roller coaster ride, but it fell short of expectation. It might sounds a little messed up on my part, but Zach was not emotionally damaged enough for me. Considering how f*cked up, figuratively and literally, he was by what happened to him, I thought he should have been a bit more, I don't know...unbalanced? skittish? insane? ...something that would more strongly conveys how t More...

All through the book, I kept thinking if only I had parents as understanding and supportive as the Tylers and Annie when I was growing up. A moment later, I'd think to be fair, I'd have to be a terrorist's tortured sex slave so I'm happy with what I got.

After that heart-stopping start, Finding Zach settled down into a rather sedate pace by comparison. While not unputdownable for me, since I did take days to finish it, at no time did it occur to me to ditch it. There were moments of ambivalence f More...

This is an amazing story about the ability of the human spirit to endure the most horrendous situations - and come out, if not unblemished, whole enough to have another go at leading a fulfilled life.

It is not a book where I can simply say "I loved the book" and give a list of reasons. The truth is, I didn't love all of the book because the thought of a human being, Zach in this case, having to go through such suffering and torture is not something I can "love" reading about.

The reason I gave it More...

It was amazing! Be prepared to want to throw the computer/ebook reader out the window on ocassion and there will be a need for tissues a TON of them!!!!

I enjoyed this book very much. It deals with a difficult theme, it describes painful situations such as abuse and torture, but the author doesn't insist on the most gruesome aspects of Zach's imprisonment, so that it never gets unbearable.

The book is the story of Zach and David reunion after the years spent apart because of Zach's kidnapping and rehab. David feels guilty because he thinks he is responsible for Zach's fated journey to Costa Rica. Zach's grasp on reality is still shaky. He's tried More...

This book has been recommended to me on several occasions. For some reason I just never read it. Now I could kick myself for putting it off for so long. This is the most powerful, wonderful book I have read in quite some time. To watch Zach heal and learn to trust after he had been treated for 5 years was utterly amazing. Not many people would have the strength to do what he did and survive. To watch David take care of Zach and to see how much he loved him. And to realize he had never stopped lo More...

WOW!

The abduction and captivity part of this story is scary.. in an OMG this could totally happen in RL kind of way.

Zach is abducted at 15 and held captive for 5 years (if I remember correctly). He is beaten but not completely broken. The beginning of this book is tough to read. Heed the warnings (it's not all pleasant) but if you think you can get past that, you'll get to go on this amazing journey with Zach & Taff. It's not all moonlight & roses for these two all the time but it is Fo More...

It was a fawking bloody disaster....

Gotcha! Caught your attention didn't I? Just yanking but it works. LOL Well, relax, I'm not talking about the book. I'm talking about the story in and of itself. The cluster fawk of events, the circumstances and what made this story so gut wrenching, hard to stomach and one that should win an award for best novel for 2010. So far.

What this story brought on was: I was sickened by the details of pain, the suffering, the years of endless torture and mistreatment More...

M/M. Hurt/comfort of the 'kidnapped for five years of rape and torture in the South American jungle, followed by lots of sexy cuddling' variety. Like you do.

I'm tempted to think the flickers of beauty and interpersonal complexity were accidents. I mean, look, if someone wants to write a book for the sole purpose of hitting emotional buttons connected to the healing powers of love after ludicrous amounts of suffering . . . go for it. These types of stories are often intensely wrong-headed about t More...

da www.sognipensieriparole.com

Reincollando Zach
Rispetto ad altri M/M, dove c’è la classica storia d’amore con colpo di fulmine e proseguo incerto e tormentato, magari con l’ostacolo delle reciproche famiglie o del proprio ambiente sociale, qui si parte da qualcosa che c’era già ed è andato irrimediabilmente in pezzi.

Si parte da due ragazzini non ancora uomini, uno di quindici e uno di diciotto, da una bacio, un solo casto bacio, che non doveva essere dato e che ha portato all’allontanamento del More...

I started this book in the evening, thinking that I would put it down after a few chapters and go to sleep. Ha, I should have known better. I couldn't put this bloody book down. I am sitting here with gritty eyes trying to put into words what I thought about this book.

Zach was kidnapped at the age of 15 and he wasn't rescued until 5 years later. We got to read about his release and return to America, and his parents, but then the story jumped two years. This was a little upsetting to me. I would More...

3 ½ stars. I enjoyed the relationship development, but some parts were heavier than I was in the mood for.

David was like a big-brother-best-friend to Zach while growing up. At age 15 Zach kisses David for the first time. Then they are separated when Zach flies to visit a relative and gets kidnaped. Now it’s several years later. Zach is alive and returns home. The best part of the story is the two of them reconnecting and beginning a love relationship. Zach has PTSD with many psychological issues More...

SlashReaders: Brilliant, Zach Tyler was abducted at age fifteen. He was being sent away shortly after his first kiss with his older friend David, the son of the family house keeper. Being older David wanted Zach to be sure of his feelings not just acting on a crush. Unfortunately, for both of them Zach Tyler wasn't rescued until five years later and from there the drama begins.

What it all amounts to is that Finding Zach, is the story of Zach's recovery and eventually his continued relationship w More...

I’m glad I read it, but I won’t be reading it again

Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 7/10

PROS:
- I love stories in which the main characters knew each other earlier in their lives and find each other again once they’re older. And this one has some added bonuses on top of that: a teenaged relationship that was disallowed because the parents didn’t approve of it, and one man helping the other to overcome the emotional trauma of long-term captivity. It’s More...

You know that thing where you open a book intending to just read a couple of chapters - halfway through at most - and you end up not wanting to close the damn thing 'cause - being a nosy git - you just have to find out what happens next, but you're tired and sleepy and guilty as hell 'cause you're supposed to be working on beating a deadline and not angst-ing over some fictional gay guys and their HEA, so you end up rushing through the ending and now you feel like if you'd just waited until you More...

This story begins with the rescuing of Zach from a paramilitary camp in Venezuela. He was horrendously tortured and used for 5 years. The story then skips to two years later and moves into the beginnings of the relationship between Zach and David.

I liked that the author didn't spend tons of time on the recovery and went from his rescue to a point where he was functioning in society, albeit not very well. David and Zach grew up together and fell in love with each other before Zach was taken but t More...

An emotional rollercoaster of a read! Rowan's mix of first person and third person narrative really fits well with the story, and gives amazing insights into the minds of the characters. From page 1, she pulls the reader straight into the dark, underground world of paramilitary Venezuela, and her grip on the reader is not broken till his/her eyes rest on the final line of the story. Also, her potrayal of the psychological battlefield Zach is fighting is so realistic, it makes you wonder if this More...

Breath of fresh air in the m/m category. It took me a long time to pick this book up because of the subject topic - an abused protagonist with severe PTSD usually isn't my cuppa. However, Rowan Speedwell managed to convincingly tell the story without glossing over the issue (none of that sex-heals crap).

I admit I had a major kick reading about the author's not-so-subtle geekiness over MIT and technology in general. Honestly, this may be one of the first m/m novels that breached technology witho More...

My rating is 3.9
Well, it was an indulging tale. I was a little odd with the incoherent flashes of the past, but their short description was precise enough to draw me in the plot line again. The story is very captivating and potent, yet sensitive. I don’t know about others, but in my personal opinion, many occasions were left in the grey area where I could have liked to read at least pages and pages of that specific encounter since those events were the key axis of the story. A little commencemen More...

A tender, difficult, at times heartbreaking and sad, optimistic, and well written romance which deals with a difficult topic: PTSD and the rebuilding of a life and a family after kidnapping, torture, and rape.

Zach was kidnapped at 15, and spent the next five years imprisoned in the Venezuelan jungle. The book begins with the recovery and return of Zach, the rest of the story following Zach two years later when he has reclaimed some of his life, but is still struggling to move on to a full life. More...

From the opening sentence, this story was a roller coaster of a read. Very character-driven, heart-wrenching story of one man's, one lover's, and one family's, struggle with PTSD.

Few writers come so close to accuracy. Even fewer get it right. But Speedwell hits the nail on the head at every turn. I especially enjoyed the sporadic insight into the twice-daily therapy sessions that the MC maintains for the first few years of his recovery. Would that more individuals plagued with PTSD had such dedi More...

Zach's comfortable life was abruptly thrown into turmoil when he was kidnapped at age 15 by a paramilitary group whose leader kept him imprisoned, torturing him and abusing him. Rescue is only the beginning of the long process of rediscovery and re-entry into "normal" society. This is the premise with which "Finding Zach" begins - a heartwrenching premise which leaves the reader on the edge of his/her seat, hoping/praying that this damaged boy can find his way to manhood and, eventually, happine More...

Finding Zach is for sure one of these novels that use angst to involve people in the story, but I have to say that it has also its moment of tenderness and sweetness: in the end, the romance part is so strong that outbalance the sadness.

At 15 years old Zach was in love with David, 18 years old and his best friend since they were kids. David’s parents worked for Zach’s ones, and so they were always together, David posing as guardian angel for the younger boy; and so, when teen Zach impulsively d More...

(I read this as part of a group read and discussion story)

I went into this story with great reluctance. Its summary did not appeal to me and the first few chapters worried me in what I would find - something distasteful, over sensationalized, focusing on the wrong things. Finding Zach was none of these things.

The more I read, the more I became interested in Zach's recovery rather than the romance and the interrupted potential relationship the boys could have/would have had, if Zach hadn't been t More...