I'm pretty sure I saw this as an after-school special. Too transparent for my taste. ( )

Reading this book was not necessarily a pleasant experience. The subject matter (an internet predator seducing and abducting a young girl) is highly disturbing and portrayed with unflinching and horrifying realism.

But it's a highly compelling and eye-opening book, and made me much more aware of how insidious such predators can be, and how even a smart young girl who has had lectures on internet safety could be bewitched.

I'd suggest this for mature teens only, though. It gave me nightmares!

Another book I decided to pick up from my tbr pile because I remember how emotional it would be. Other bloggers that have read it, said it was good and truthful. After I read it, I have to say that they were right.

Plot: This is about a girl who meets a guy in a chatroom. He manipulates her and gets her to meet him. She goes missing for days. Now and days the internet is a very scary place. People would chat and meet up and who knows…you could end dead in a alley somewhere. This is that plot. That what if? What if the person you are talking to aren’t who they say they are? It’s scary.

Friendship: One thing about Abby is that she was very vulnerable to begin with. She has low self-esteem and didn’t really have much friends to keep her grounded. Instead, she search for love/friendship elsewhere hence her meeting “Luke” and thinking he is the one. Things quickly escalated from there and the next thing you know…she’s gone.

Disappearance: Despite that teens think they know it all, they don’t. The world is a much darker place than it was when I was a kid and well, the internet is even worse. You have to be careful with what you say and what you do on the internet.

This story has a very good lesson to be told. It carries a good message that I think all teens should read. It faces the reality of what could really happen should you fall for this trap. Want To Go Private? is a breathtaking tale that you won’t forget. ( )

I found this to be a very fast read and realistic. I think it would be good for teens ages 13-17 to read, especially girls. I did not like the fact that it made the main character seem so easy to get her to remove her clothing via video, but yet I think it was realistic because this does happen. It gave a lot of factual information about not only what can happen and the what the local authorities and FBI can and cannot do to help, but it also showed one reason why some teen girls are easily groomed by online predators. ( )

I completely connected with the main character of Want to go Private? Abby is such a smart girl, and doesn't have the confidence or the popularity. She is pretty and smart, but she doesn't see herself that way. I have always had self esteem problems and I saw so much of myself in her. So when a guy, online starts telling her she is beautiful and worth it, she listens. I can see how easy it would be to fall into this trap. I mean, we all know about online predators, and that we can't give out our personal information. But she gets to know him, he asks her questions, remembers details of her day, and most of all makes her feel special. So, little by little, she gives more to him. Her address, because he wants to give her presents, and taking off her shirt, because it all of the sudden doesn't seem like a big deal. He thinks she is beautiful after all, right? This is the guy who listens and understands how she doesn't feel like she fits in at high school. He is the guy that sees beauty in her where people at school she might as well be invisible.
I can see her getting more and more obsessed with Luke and being by her computer. It is so hard to watch her giving up things in real life, friends and grades, all because she is addicted to Luke, to feeling special, to being his girl. I so wished that the story could have gone differently... That she didn't isolate herself from her best friend since 2nd grade Faith, or cute and flirty while very nerdy Billy. She just didn't realize what was in front of her.
Speaking of Faith and Billy. I loved the secondary characters in this book. Their depth and kindness and sincerity. Faith is not perfect.. she doesn't realize that Abby feels left behind when they all of the sudden don't have classes together, and Abby feels replaced by a new friend, Grace and the drama club that Faith joins. But Faith loves Abby, and is and has been there for her. And Billy is so sweet, nerdy and funny. I LOVE characters like him. He isn't broody, or super hot, he is a normal sweet guy who sees the good in Abby, that she is pretty and funny, and smart but he has been too shy until it was too late and she was wrapped up in Luke.
I did not want to put this book down, and I kept rooting for Abby to open her eyes, and wishing that I could pad the ground for her for her inevitable fall into danger.
I also really appreciated the other pov and what it brought to the book. It really showed how others saw Abby and how it effected them.

Bottom Line: Powerful book where I was sympathetic to the main character.