Grace's father, a forest ranger in the Smokey Mountains, has been missing for several weeks, and everyone except Grace seems to think he has died in a terrible accident. No body has been found, and Grace can't accept that her father is dead. She is convinced that he is injured and is determined to find him.
Grace has been brought up in the woods and her father has taught her well. Each chapter opens up with a survival tip. She is an experienced hiker, fly-fisher, and survival expert. So Grace spends every spare moment combing the woods to find evidence to convince the police to continue the search for her dad.
Along the way, she meets Mo, another hiker and wilderness survivor. He's a geology major, British, and is exploring the woods to assist his studies. These two do end up in a romance, but it doesn't overpower the story and is quite believable. There are several other characters that round-out the story. Wyn, Grace's ex-boyfriend is still a great friend (or maybe more?) and tries to help Grace. The police chief is her friend and tries to be a father-figure, but he's really fed up with Grace's insistence that her father is alive.
Her mother is alienated from Grace. I didn't really buy this relationship. I had a hard time believing that she would leave Grace alone so much. The fact that Grace is seeing a psychologist, but not her mother, was ludicrous to me.
Johannes puts Grace in danger several times throughout the book, and gives Grace many opportunities to show her kick-ass determination. Grace also gets pretty lucky. I'm sure that some will say she made terrible decisions at several points. But if you put yourself in the place of a very frustrated, grieving teen who has no one that will believe her, maybe her decisions aren't that difficult to understand.
The tension mounts several times throughout the story. There are nice breaks from the tension--the romance helps--and the pacing was perfect. The ending was poignant and not all happy, which is good. The major plot lines are resolved, but there's a wonderful opening for the next book in the series. Which I will be happy to pick up!
This isn't a complex book, although I was surprised by several of the twists and turns of the plot. It's exciting and emotional and easily kept my interest. I would recommend this for younger teens--girls would be especially drawn to Grace's determination and spunk, but I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to boys either.
Published by Coleman and Stott, November 15, 2011
EBook obtained from the author for review
634 KB
Rating: 4/5
I don't think I had heard anything about this book, but it sounds awesome! I'm going to have to look it up, if for nothing more than the survival tip that starts every chapter! It sounds really neat! Glad to see you liked it!
ReplyDeletethanks annette - the new cover is up if you want to change it out.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the support! :)