Title: Heartwood
Author: Amity Gaige
Narrated by: Justine Lupe, Alma Cuervo, Rebecca Lowman,
Ali Andre Ali, Cary Hite, Helen Laser
Publisher: Simon
& Schuster Audio
Length:
Approximately 8 hours and 45 minutes
Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio. Thank-you!
What is a goal that you hope to accomplish in the next ten years? I hope to get back to the Grand Canyon so that my kids can see it for the first time.
Valerie Gillis is forty-two years old and close to finishing her goal of hiking the Appalachian Trail when she goes missing in Maine. Alone and lost, she writes her thoughts down for her mother. Maine State Game Warden, Beverly, is leading the task force looking for her. Lena is a seventy-six-year-old retired woman in Connecticut that is fascinated by the disappearance. Will her armchair sleuthing help to find Valerie?
My thoughts on
this novel:
· I love, love,
loved the full cast audiobook recording.
There were three main points of view:
Valerie, Beverly, and Lena. I
also loved the interviews/conversations that popped up throughout book with her
hiking buddy, Santo. The voice actor
really brought Santo to life! I loved
his story of being a black, “fat” hiker on the Appalachian Trail. I want a book just on Santo’s adventures.
· I enjoyed the hiking
aspects of the Appalachian Trail as well as the relationships between hikers on
the trail.
· Valerie’s husband,
Gregory, also follows along and meets Valerie at stops along the way to keep
her supplied. She decides during the
hike that she no longer loves Gregory and lets him know. Did Gregory have
anything to do with her disappearance?
· Valerie’s trail
nickname was Sparrow. I thought the
trail nicknames were interesting.
· Valerie decided to
go on this hike after being burned out as a nurse during the pandemic.
· I enjoyed the
guitar music at the end of the audiobook.
· Over the course of
the book, I grew to love Valerie, Beverly, and Lena as well-rounded
characters. I like how the book looked
to the future to where their lives went after this mystery.
· The pacing of this
book was slow at times, it’s not a fast-running thriller, but I was intrigued and
wanted to know why Valerie was lost and whether she would be found.
· This is a Read with Jenna Book.
Heartwood by Amity
Gaige was an intriguing contemporary suspense audiobook set in nature with well
rounded characters. The audiobook with
the full cast was a great experience.
I've always wanted to hike the AT, although I think the opportunity to do so is fast diminishing. Sounds like such a good book. Sounds like audio is the way to go with this one.
ReplyDelete