Christine Hartmann

I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of a book tour for a fair and honest review.

.A mix between romantic suspense and literary fiction, Wild Within by Christine Hartmann is an enjoyable story dealing with grief, recovery, family relationships, romantic love, fear and danger. Colorful characters, emotional angst, good dialogue and just a light touch of romance, kept me turning the pages to discover what would happen next. If you’re looking for a good read to start your summer reading, you’ll want to give this story a try.

Ms. Hartmann does a good job developing the main character, Grace Mori, right from the start. Her backstory is told via flashbacks as Grace sets out on a 2600 mile hike across the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in honor of her brother’s life. A hike she is wildly unprepared for. I found Grace to be a likeable character and enjoyed her running commentary as she walks across a desert like terrain.

Mentally and emotionally strong, Grace took care of everyone but herself after her brother’s accidental death. This hike is both her tribute to his life and a chance for her to deal with her grief. While she’s mentally prepared for her journey, she’s not physically prepared to deal with drought like conditions and finds herself depending and learning from more experienced hikers. I liked the fact that she was determined to continue the hike regardless of what she faced and that she was willing to learn from complete strangers.

The secondary characters were interesting, mostly well developed and contributed a lot to the story. Ms. Hartmann also does a good job describing the PCT, which becomes a character in the story on its own. While I’m not a hiker by nature, I did enjoy reading about the trail and it did make me think about taking some longer and perhaps more challenging walks in the area where I live. The villain of the story is introduced fairly quickly and it was interesting to get their backstory too.

The romance is very low key, and Grace falls for “Lonestar” almost instantaneously, which is something I would have preferred to have been further developed. The story’s pace is quick and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reading guessing as to what Grace will discover next. Ms. Hartmann’s author’s voice is easy to follow and I enjoyed the story’s tone.

Will Grace make it all of the way through her long hike? Will she be able to keep out of harm’s way when a killer joins the hike? And will her romance with Lonestar be a “trail thing” or the “real deal”? You’ll have to read Wild Within to find out, I enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next book in this series.… (plus d'informations)