I was very excited to read this one because I've read other things by this author and those books have been really wonderful. However, I was very disappointed because this book failed to deliver.
The good: Super creepy cover. Interesting characters, especially Neena, whose parents emigrated to the US from India. Two friends who want to go on an adventure together before they go their separate ways for college.
The Not-So-Good: Pretty much everything else.
1. Nothing much happens in this book for 100 pages. These girls have never ever been hiking before, and they set off to an unknown place and are ill-prepared for the rigor of the hike. Shades of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, but only in the fact that they are doing something they have no business doing.
2. When something does happen, it is so unbelievable that I was rolling my eyes. Josie would have died from shock if this was a real life situation.
3. No motivation or back story is ever given for the villains. They just appear and are psycho. Then the end.
4. The book is way too short and there is just no development of the plot, the characters, or anything. I'm not sure why the GR data says it is 304 pages, it is 216 pages. We briefly get introduced to Neena's background and her motivation for going away to college and her parents' sacrifices for their family. But it is so brief and never explored fully. Josie is a blah character with no background.
5. The entire first 100 pages consists of bickering, whining, arguing, bickering, and more whining. They are both totally unlikable and I can't even figure out why they are friends or doing this hike.
6. There is a requisite semi-HEA and it is not believable at all. So many of the tropes with the villains, the girls, and their situation are cliched and overdone.
I just cannot recommend this book, it didn't give me the creepy vibes I was hoping for, it didn't scare me at all.
The good: Super creepy cover. Interesting characters, especially Neena, whose parents emigrated to the US from India. Two friends who want to go on an adventure together before they go their separate ways for college.
The Not-So-Good: Pretty much everything else.
1. Nothing much happens in this book for 100 pages. These girls have never ever been hiking before, and they set off to an unknown place and are ill-prepared for the rigor of the hike. Shades of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, but only in the fact that they are doing something they have no business doing.
2. When something does happen, it is so unbelievable that I was rolling my eyes. Josie would have died from shock if this was a real life situation.
3. No motivation or back story is ever given for the villains. They just appear and are psycho. Then the end.
4. The book is way too short and there is just no development of the plot, the characters, or anything. I'm not sure why the GR data says it is 304 pages, it is 216 pages. We briefly get introduced to Neena's background and her motivation for going away to college and her parents' sacrifices for their family. But it is so brief and never explored fully. Josie is a blah character with no background.
5. The entire first 100 pages consists of bickering, whining, arguing, bickering, and more whining. They are both totally unlikable and I can't even figure out why they are friends or doing this hike.
6. There is a requisite semi-HEA and it is not believable at all. So many of the tropes with the villains, the girls, and their situation are cliched and overdone.
I just cannot recommend this book, it didn't give me the creepy vibes I was hoping for, it didn't scare me at all.