3.5 Stars
There were some things that I really, really enjoyed about this book. And then there were a few that I really did not. It was a mixed bag, but in the end landed on the side of positive more than negative.
So, let's start off with the things I really enjoyed!
- The Appalachian Trail. This is kind of a phenomenal premise for a book to begin with, but actually travelling through the trail with McKenna was so, so fun. Talk about an adventure! The entire time, all I could think about was "holy crap, I never, ever want to do anything like this, but at least I get to read about it in the warm, dry comfort of my bed".
But McKenna is clearly not like me, and she is bound and determined to do this ridiculously long hike. I loved her determination, and her amazing attitude toward the hike. It was nice to read about a young woman pursuing such a rugged adventure. More of that, please! And there's this very cool site that tells you about real life hikes and hikers (and also shows that the author definitely did her research for this book, as I noticed a lot of things that were presented very accurately in the story)! Honestly, after reading about McKenna and her badass goals, I thought about doing this, for at least ten minutes before I remembered that I was not "that guy". - McKenna's character growth was on point. It would have been ridiculous to have a book about a girl going on a solo hike in the damn woods if the girl wasn't going to go through some changes. So, good thing she did! I mean, yes, there are times she makes some really asinine decisions, but I think that is a huge part of her journey. How could she not, really? She had no one to ask for advice, no one to bail her out, she had to figure it out for herself. Even the initial decision to continue on alone when Courtney backs out may not have been the smartest, but I understood it.
- Sam's challenges and backstory made things interesting. McKenna comes from a place of privilege, and it was nice that she was able to hear some stories and perspectives outside of her comfort zone. Sam's behavior and actions didn't always appeal to me, but I felt like he learned quite a few lessons on the trail as well, and taught McKenna a lot of them too.
- Part of the ending. Don't worry, I will be incredibly vague here. There was a part of the ending that I thought was perfect and adored. I just wish there was a little more.
The things I was less fond of:
- McKenna's "friends" are crappy human beings. Courtney ditches her for some on-again-off-again boyfriend. And lets her supposed best friend hike a few thousand miles completely alone. Some other stuff happens between them that I seriously wanted to take Courtney and strangle her for, but that's later, so I'll leave it at that. I also hated her crappy boyfriend from like, minute one. Brendan was awful and I was glad McKenna was hiking away from him in a hurry.
- McKenna's parents were pretty naive. Like, I get why McKenna lied, she's young and had this idea stuck in her head that she was going to hike the trail. But as a parent, if my kid told me that they were going to hike through the damn woods, I would not only be making them call every single day, I would also be keeping in touch with her friend's family on the regular, so I would have known she was going alone before she'd even attempted to leave the driveway. This isn't the only example of course, but the only spoiler free one :D
- Sam and McKenna's relationship annoyed me at times. It wasn't really insta-lovey, because McKenna didn't profess to love him ten minutes into meeting him or anything, but they did become close very quickly. I guess I could see it, being alone on the trail, but then Sam kept doing things that were incredibly douchey, and I couldn't really understand why he kept repeating the same mistakes over and over with McKenna, or why McKenna kept allowing him to. I wanted them to both cut the crap, basically.
- I wish I had just a bit more insight into McKenna's personality. I wanted to know a bit more about her, I felt a bit disconnected from her at times. Even when she was being vulnerable, I still couldn't connect as much as I might have wanted to.
Bottom Line: Overall, this was definitely more good than bad. It was entertaining, especially since I adore a road trip (or a trail trip, I do not discriminate). I liked that McKenna had to fight through a lot of obstacles to try to make her goal come to fruition, and while there were parts that I found a bit lacking, I enjoyed the overall story a lot.
*Copy provided by publisher for review*