In the third volume in The President's Daughter series starts off with Meghan Powers really feeling that things are starting to settled down. Between her mother's election and a later assassination attempt, things have been pretty hectic over the last few years. Then there is her growing relationship with Josh, one of her friends from school. It is no question that they are boyfriend and girlfriend, but she can't help but wonder if he is overwhelmed who she (and her family) is.

Unfortunately, Meg doesn't get to explore it too far with Josh. Just as she has talked to him about their maybe taking a step back and being friends, she finds her world full of turmoil when she is abducted.

The President's daughter is a victim of kidnapping by terrorists. She finds herself in custody of a cruel, yet normal-seeming and intelligent, guy. He does everything to scare her before leaving her chained to die in an abandoned mine. It is up to her to do the things that must be done to survive, but it is really what happens when she returns to her family that things really start to get tough.

From there on, the struggle becomes an internal one as she is confronted with how her physical injuries will affect her plans and how the emotional scarring makes it difficult to deal with her family, her friends, and Josh. It takes the helping hand of Beth, her lifelong friend from Boston, to start to focus on the fact that not only does she have to realize that she has a future but that she has to start living again or she will waste it.

As with the rest of White's book, Meg's voice (both internal and external) is the real strength of the book. While she is such a strong person, the reality of her self-doubt is so real and frank. I know I was on the edge of my seat as I joined her through her abduction, her being held, and her settling back into a new life of normalcy. I have already read the next book, Long May She Reign, in which Meg heads off to college. She is still trying to deal with the remaining physical and emotional scars in that volume, too.

On a really exciting note, I just found out that their will be a fifth volume in the series while I was looking to get a copy of the book cover for this review.