Oh my, Noelle W. Ihli did it again. I absolutely loved her book, Such Quiet Girls. But this one may be even better. I feel it’s in my top 5, definitely a new favorite. It has stuck with me since I finished it late last night. Yes, it was so good, I once again stayed up way too late to finish it.
When a tragic accident sidelines Miley’s dreams of Olympic gold, she takes a summer job at a mountain guest lodge. The Frank Church Wilderness is remote, but it’s the perfect place to train and recover. Local lore about a staffer who died years ago doesn’t scare her.
But it should.
Miley’s plans take a terrifying detour when she’s abducted during a morning run. Held captive in a desolate off-grid cabin, she’ll have to use her athletic prowess, cunning mind, and courage to survive. But as the nightmare at the cabin escalates, Miley is forced to form an unlikely alliance and attempt a risky escape.
Can she outwit her captors and survive the wilderness before it’s too late?
I loved that Miley was an ultimate fighter. She’s been fighting her whole life. And I love that she realized that she was, in fact, in love with Brent. But what she endured will stick with me. The torture, the captivity, the rape…it’s all too much for most people. But her determination to save herself, and hopefully Mary, along with Brent’s determination to track her down, kept her from becoming a slave to the two abductors.
And I had to save this quote from the book, which tells you all you need to know about Miley’s headspace:
Opening up your heart is messy. And risky. But keeping your heart spotless is risky, too.”
I was impressed with the way Noelle wrote this. It was thoroughly descriptive. It played on your emotions from the very beginning. And thankfully, in the end, there was complete happiness.