A nice debut

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michellerenee Avatar

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The cover of this book is its best feature--how lovely are those pinks and purples? It's like a perfect New Hampshire sunset. I had to get a copy just for this cover alone.

The book itself was good, but it didn't really live up to the high expectations I had for it when I started reading.

It opens with Cadie Kessler, a forestry researcher who is tracking an invasive beetle species to help stop a rash of fires decimating the country. When she gets a letter from her estranged friend, Daniela, she must confront a dark childhood secret she's spent her life running from.

I thought the writing in this book was beautiful; Dalton evokes those lush cover colors in her prose and she paints a vivid picture of New Hampshire. But I struggled with Cadie as the main character, particularly her childhood naivety. I get her desire to do the right thing, I really do, but she's acting as though Daniela is this selfish, terrible friend, when she never thought for a minute how much danger her family was in.

And, I don't know, there were parts of the narrative that felt incredibly preachy, and the issues that the reader is supposed to connect with felt forced, rather than organic.

A sincere thank you to Forge Books and BookishFirst for giving me this advance copy to review. I'm looking forward to Dalton's future books; though this one didn't entirely resonate with me, I like her writing style overall and would read more.