I absolutely loved Mindy Mejia’s Everything You Want Me To Be, but I could not get into Leave No Trace in the same way.

Trying to figure out Mya’s secret was exciting and for the first half of the book I was hooked! But as soon as Mya revealed her secrets and we s l o w l y crawled to the ending - it all just felt anticlimactic.

So that’s how the inmates make it to the outside, with inside help of course. Seems Maya forgot what her job entailed and decided to take matters upon herself, and for selfish reasons. A well contrived plot with realistic characters but having been to Minnesota in the winter I would have located the story somewhat south, but I am not the writer, and the wilds of Minnesota do make the story that much more chilling. Breaking her love interest out of a max security “lost soul lockup” shows not only the courage but the deviousness of Maya and her total disregard for the laws and moral norms of society, gotta admire that gal. This story written with descriptive reality to allow the reader to be on the scene witness to surroundings and events is further enhanced by an ending quite fitting to the legalities and repercussive actualities of society. Tough to set aside this five-star read at bedtime.

I'm at 4.5 stars here.

Ten years ago Josiah Blackthorn took his nine-year-old son Lucas camping in the Boundary Waters, an area of northern Minnesota full of forests and ice-cold lakes. One day it appeared their campsite was ravaged by bears or other creatures, and the two were never heard from again. Once media interest died down, the Blackthorns were all but forgotten.

Until a night 10 years later, when now-19-year-old Lucas Blackthorn was apprehended trying to rob an outfitter store. He became aggressive and violent, and was uncommunicative, so he was sent to the local psychiatric hospital for observation. Both the doctors and law enforcement want to know what happened to Lucas' father, but he refuses to talk—to everyone except Maya Stark, the new, young assistant speech therapist, who seems to engender reactions from the once-lost no-longer-a-boy.

While at first her interactions with Lucas are mainly keeping him from hurting her and others, Maya begins to build what she belies is a genuine connection with him. She can't explain why he feels like he can trust only her, and she can't quite determine where she crossed the line from acting in a professional capacity to wanting him to be able to find his father, without having to go through law enforcement. She knows he doesn't need speech therapy; what he needs is a protector, an ally, and despite warnings from her supervisor and her father, she's determined to be that ally.

The thing is, Maya has issues of her own. Her mother abandoned their family when she was a teenager, and she's spent a number of years blaming herself, as if she wasn't enough or right for her mother. And that's not the only secret Maya is hiding.

"What lies beneath us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."

Will Maya do the right thing, if she can figure out what that is? Will her single-minded determination to help Lucas put her in danger? Will helping him get her the answers she has been seeking to her own questions, or will her decisions end in disaster?

In Leave No Trace, Mindy Mejia has given us a taut, compelling exploration of the pull of family and the need to be understood. I devoured this book, and while there were certain twists I expected, she threw in some surprises here and there. I found these characters fascinating and even a little unique, and while certainly I questioned Maya's judgment, I could see how past events in her life could lead her to make the choices she did.

Sure, not everything in this book is realistic. But you could see why the characters were compelled to do what they did, and how certain events unfolded. The coincidences and other things didn't bother me. I was hooked from start to finish.

I really enjoyed Mejia's last book, Everything You Want Me to Be (see my review), and with Leave No Trace she proves she's capable of something completely different. She's definitely an author I'll continue to watch with great anticipation, because no matter the genre, she's immensely talented!

NetGalley and Atria Books provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

The Boundary Waters is a wilderness area in Minnesota with hundreds of miles of glacial lakes. Ten years ago, Lucas Blackthorn and his father walked away from society and into the Boundary Waters and were never seen again. That is until Lucas was found while breaking into an outfitters store. Lucas appears to be non-communicative and is placed in a psychiatric hospital for treatment and observation.

Maya Stark is a language therapist who works in the psychiatric facility where Lucas is placed. She has a troubled past - her Mother abandoned her, and as a teen she spent some time in a psychiatric facility herself. She is asked to evaluate Lucas and although he initially refuses to talk about his father or the ten years they were missing, he does form a bond with Maya.

This book proved to be a fast read for me. There are so many questions at the beginning of this book - why did Maya's mother leave? Why was Maya hospitalized? Where were Lucas and his father for the last ten years? Where is his father now? Why is Lucas not talking? etc. There are some twists and turns along the way, with a few revelations to keep things interesting and the characters and readers wondering what is going to happen (or be revealed) next.

As Maya connects to Lucas, she tries to find the answers to the above questions but finds that sometimes knowing all the answers comes with a price. I will admit, I am still not sure how I feel about the ending of this book. I did take some issue with the transference in this book. Anyone who has ever worked in the Mental Health field can tell you about the dangers of transference. True, she was not a Mental Health worker, but she did work in a psychiatric facility and the rules do apply. I also saw a lot of red flags regarding moral, ethical and legal issues concerning her behavior. But I was happy to see some of those addressed in the end of this book.

So, the ending, everyone gets answers but there is the one thing that did not sit right with me. I would be giving away spoilers if I say why, I am interested if anyone feels the same way. I will say I enjoyed this book right up until the end, then it went a little downhill for me.

3.5 stars

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After reading Everything You Want Me To Be by Mindy Mejia I was really excited to read more by this author. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of this book I didn't have to wait long! As with Everything you want me to be I was immediately drawn into the story and the characters. I really liked the main two characters though they are both quite flawed, however you want to keep reading because you care what happens to them. Chapters vary between the first person and third person so it keeps your interest up. I look forward to reading more by Ms. Mejia!

LOVED this book!!! I couldn't wait to read it because I loved "Everything You Want Me to Me." The book was fast paced and I couldn't put it down. I read it in a day and was then sad when it was over. I felt like I was part of the book. I loved the characters, story and writing style. I was immediately pulled into the story and wanted to know why Lucas was missing for all those years.

Maya works at a psychiatric facility as an assistant speech therapist. She previously worked there as an orderly and was once a patient. Maya is asked to work with Lucas Blackthorn. Lucas is a nineteen and disappeared ten years ago after going camping with is dad. He was presumed dead until he was found breaking and entering into an outfitter's store. Maya connects with Lucas and makes it her mission to get him out of the psychiatric hospital. Maya eventually finds out what happened to her mother after she abandoned the family many years ago. She reveals to Lucas what caused her to be admitted into the psychiatric hospital.

The book is full of twists and turns. I loved it and definitely recommend it and can't wait to read more books by the author.

Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books and the author, Mindy Mejia, for a free electronic ARC of this novel.

What an amazing book! When the book started I thought I had missed a prior book...but I was just impatient. The book was full of twists and revelations that was a fabulous read. When I was getting close to the end I had to walk away and dry my eyes so I could see the pages. I have found this author is so very talented in writing a book well worth the time to read it.

This newest book from this author was another fun to read adventure. Some interesting twists and turns kept the reader waiting for the next surprise. This is a book I would recommend to all.

I don't often read thrillers, but I picked up this book because of its beautiful and slightly haunting cover and then I couldn't put it down. It is an intricately plotted psychological suspense novel. Most chapters are written in first person from the main character's point of view, but there are several chapters written in third person from another character's viewpoint, and this adds extra depth to the story.