Heartwood

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC.

This was a really beautiful and unique survival story. It's much less a mystery or thriller as most are, I would peg this as literary fiction. In the end it's a beautiful story about humanity I feel like. 

It's definitely a slow burn story and there are twists but I saw them coming early. I don't think that matters though as this was definitely a book of the journey. 

I thought this was one of the better uses of COVID in book format since the pandemic too. It made sense and added well to the story. 

I really loved the mixed media way of telling the story as well. The multiple POV are really unique since some are interviews, some are journals, and some are just a POV. 

Overall I really enjoyed this book, I can't quite peg what didn't make it a 5 star read other than I questioned a few times if I liked it. In the end the characters were the story and were truly beautiful characters. 

This story sucked me right in and I read it in one day. I really enjoyed the details about hiking the Appalachian Trail, the friendships formed and the heart it takes to make it thru. The characters were great - the missing hiker, the friend she'd been hiking with, the leader of the search and rescue team and the armchair detective. All different viewpoints who added greatly to the story.

I received an ARC from Netgalley.