Posts Tagged: YA

I received this book for free from Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Sometimes danger is hard to see... until it’s too late.

Britt Pfeiffer has trained to backpack the Teton Range, but she isn't prepared when her ex-boyfriend, who still haunts her every thought, wants to join her. Before Britt can explore her feelings for Calvin, an unexpected blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a remote cabin, accepting the hospitality of its two very handsome occupants—but these men are fugitives, and they take her hostage.

In exchange for her life, Britt agrees to guide the men off the mountain. As they set off, Britt knows she must stay alive long enough for Calvin to find her. The task is made even more complicated when Britt finds chilling evidence of a series of murders that have taken place there... and in uncovering this, she may become the killer’s next target.

But nothing is as it seems in the mountains, and everyone is keeping secrets, including Mason, one of her kidnappers. His kindness is confusing Britt. Is he an enemy? Or an ally?

There is a lot I could complain about with this book, but I was still strangely entertained by it all. I also think the fact that it was an audiobook made me enjoy it more than if I had read a paper copy – the narrator was great and really brought the MC to life. As if she was telling me her story.

But man, the romance. *pokes out eyeballs*. First, I’m sorry but that was totally Stockholm Syndrome. Or at least it started that way, which creeped me out more than it made me swoon. This dude is forcing you to bring his criminal ass back to civilization so he can run from the cops, but you fall for his charms because he’s hot? Eh, okay.. But anyways, I’m getting ahead of myself. So this book starts out like your average horror movie – girls get stuck in a storm and walk into this strangers’ cabin only to find out they’re not exactly as friendly as you had made them out to be. Obviously, it’s not the most original of plots, yet I found myself compelled by it all. I enjoy survivalist stories, which this one turned out to be, and it had me curious as to how it would all turn out. And like I said, the lively audiobook narrator made it entertaining!

Britt, the main character, I have very mixed feelings for. I didn’t like her, really, but I didn’t exactly hate her either. She’s resourceful and with enough balls to take risks – she doesn’t just cower in a corner as a helpless victim. She’s also strong and smart when it comes to knowing how to survive in the wild (or at least she seemed to be from someone who has no clue about hiking). So I admired these qualities in her. On the other hand, she can be awfully oblivious and this frustrated me on a regular basis. Like I mentioned, the romance is just strange, and when she’s not swooning over her captor, she’s reminiscing about her jerk of an ex boyfriend who cheated on her. Plus, it becomes so clear who the “bad guy” in this story really is, and I wanted to slap her for being so blind to it all. For automatically blaming the wrong person and not putting 2+2 together. I mean come on! Maybe I’m just tuned-in to the obvious because I’ve read about a million mystery books, but I found it terribly predictable.

Due to this predictability, the plot was not as thrilling or exciting as it could have been. The tension is missing for the most part, and there isn’t anything especially shocking. The story is also told with the help of regular flashbacks, during which we learn of her past relationship with Calvin and what he meant to her. Instead of coming to understand her admiration for him, however, it only cemented my opinion that this guy is a complete ass. She keeps believing that these “bad boys” have a heart of gold somewhere hidden inside and that just made me sad, to be honest. She wants her knight in shining armor, a guy that will take care of her and protect her – save her from herself, maybe? Bleh. Though to be fair, she also chose badly when it came to best friends. Her “BFF” is a bitch who keeps up a journal listing the ways in which she’s better than Britt O_o

I’m aware that this review contains mostly complaints. And this book is far from being perfect, but even with all its faults I was always happy to be getting back to the book; it compelled me despite it all. I also did like the ending. I liked that they gave it time and didn’t expect their love to heal all. So overall I found it was 3-star worthy!

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