Claire Kells

A debut novel. Easy read. Not a Times Book Review list contender, but kept your interest with people you care for. A bit unrealistic, especially swimming in a lake frigid from the cold and in the Rocky Mountains in November.Goodreads: An adventurous debut novel that cross cuts between a competitive college swimmer?s harrowing days in the Rocky Mountains after a major airline disaster and her recovery supported by the two men who love her¥only one of whom knows what really happened in the wilderness.Nineteen-year-old Avery Delacorte loves the water. Growing up in Brookline, Massachusetts, she took swim lessons at her community pool and captained the local team; in high school, she raced across bays and sprawling North American lakes. Now a sophomore on her university?s nationally ranked team, she struggles under the weight of new expectations but life is otherwise pretty good. Perfect, really.That all changes when Avery?s red-eye home for Thanksgiving makes a ditch landing in a mountain lake in the Colorado Rockies. She is one of only five survivors, which includes three little boys and Colin Shea, who happens to be her teammate. Colin is also the only person in Avery?s college life who challenged her to swim her own events, to be her own personÂ¥something she refused to do. Instead she?s avoided him since the first day of freshman year. But now, faced with sub-zero temperatures, minimal supplies, and the dangers of a forbidding nowhere, Avery and Colin must rely on each other in ways they never could?ve imagined.In the wilderness, the concept of survival is clear-cut. Simple. In the real world, it?s anything but.… (more)

Quick Review: This book and series is a fun, easy, read, but I'd enjoy it more with a little more time spent on character development and a little less objectification of Hux.

I got this one free from Netgalley. I had not read this author before but I have read a lot of books about crimes in National Parks and I really enjoy this subgenre of books so I had high hopes! Also, before digging in to this one, I went back and read the first two books in the series.

All three have enjoyable and complex crimes/plots and none of the books disappoint in that area. I did guess the bad guy in this one but I still enjoyed the overall story.

I really like the two main characters working as partners to investigate these outdoorsy crimes. What I really don't like is the possible romance angle between these two. There really is no romantic chemistry between them at all. It clear that Harland really, really finds Hux attractive (he's maybe too perfect in her eyes?) but we get absolutely nothing from him to make me think that he is interested in her in that way. No fun banter, no sweet displays of protectiveness, no flirtation. I LOVE a romance but in this case I think we are probably better off without it.

It's funny that in most action stories we have a well rounded main guy character and a one dimensional, hottie, female, sidekick but these books flip that dynamic. Guess what? I still don't like it!

Forgotten Trail ends with two juicy cliffhangers. If I started the series here I'd be excited about both of them but since I read the first two books in the series, I am a little irritated that the backstory of Harland's husband changed quite a lot for Book 3 to set up one of the cliffhangers. (This might be a problem specific to me because I read all the books in quick succession. People who space out their reading might not remember those little details and in the scheme of things.)… (more)

3.5

Got a netgalley copy of book three in this series and felt compelled to go back and read the first two before tackling the new story.

This introduces Harland and Hux as a crime solving duo in the National Parks. Lots of twists and turns in this murder plot and I enjoyed the backdrop of Sequoia NP.

I don’t know that there’s anything particularly special about this series but it was enjoyable enough. I did quite enjoy the author showing her Philly roots by mentioning Hux’s favorite food was Scrapple. He might really be the perfect man.… (more)

2.5 to 3 stars. It’s fine but really annoying at times.

Action packed but a super weird plot involving the Alaskan wilderness and infertility.

The writing isn’t great. It jumps around and gets a little confusing and there is so much time spent on the agent’s crush on her partner is almost painful to witness. So much time is devoted to telling us about how attractive and perfect she finds Hux it gets annoying real fast. Just show us why he’s awesome and stop telling us that he’s good looking. Give them some banter or some kind of legit friendship or just let them bang already.

Of course I’m going to ready book 3 because I got it from Netgalley and I promised to. I only read the first two because of the free book 3.… (more)