Be Not Far from Me

by Mindy McGinnis

Hatchet meets Wild in this harrowing YA survival story about a teenage girl’s attempt to endure the impossible, from the Edgar Award-winning author of The Female of the Species, Mindy McGinnis.

The world is not tame. Ashley knows this truth deep in her bones, more at home with trees overhead than a roof.

So when she goes hiking in the Smokies with her friends for a night of partying, the falling dark and creaking trees are second nature to her. But people are not tame either. And when Ashley catches her boyfriend with another girl, drunken rage sends her running into the night, stopped only by a nasty fall into a ravine.

Morning brings the realization that she’s alone—and far off trail. Lost in undisturbed forest and with nothing but the clothes on her back, Ashley must figure out how to survive with the red streak of infection creeping up her leg.

• ISBN10: 0062561626
• ISBN13: 9780062561626
• Publish Date: 3 March 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

Reviews

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

4.5*

Two things I love: Mindy McGinnis and Survival Stories. So this was sure to be a win for me, and indeed it was! I really couldn't put the thing down (which, if you ask me, is the hallmark of a good survival story. And in typical Mindy McGinnis fashion, this book goes there. Where? Wherever she damn well pleases for the sake of an awesome story, basically. The author does not, ever, hold back. And that goes for this book just as much as always. And frankly, it's what I'm here for. I have read some "survival" stories that are like... mildly inconveniencing at best. This one is downright harrowing and makes you want to not even step foot in any place with even more than two trees ever again.

And look, this is a survival story, which means I shan't tell you much about it. Ashley is an awesome character, which is an incredibly good thing since we spend a huge chunk of the book alone with her. I mean, she is lost after all, but sometimes books that take place with just one person can feel repetitive. This one does not, I assure you. While Ashley has to worry about a ton of physical challenges, she also has a lot of time to ponder all kinds of stuff. Namely, who she is as a person, who she wants to be, amends she wants to make, people she wants a chance to repair bonds with. And much more, frankly, but that should give you an idea.

Bottom Line: It was simply unputdownable, because I absolutely needed to know what was going to happen next. And perhaps even more, what profound lessons about herself Ashley would learn during the next obstacle.