This book kept me on the edge of the seat the whole time - lots of twists and kept me guessing the whole time ! Highly recommend !

What started as a slow burn ..erupts into an action packed thriller. We meet Emlyn who works a outdoor guide seemingly hiding from the world after a tragic incident where she almost died. We meet her friend Janessa who is rich and confident and the polar opposite of Emlyn. After a fight over Emlyn's choice of boyfriends, the pair have started to make a tentative step to renewing their friendship when Janessa goes missing and the old boyfriend reemerges looking for help in finding her. Who can be trusted and is the past ever really over??

Emoji Book Review: 😐🫤 😐😕

⏰Short Summary: The past should stay in the past…or should it? Three estranged friends, Emlyn, Janess and Tyler. Now one is missing in the wilderness and the other two need to put aside their differences and find their friend before it’s too late.

⚡Thoughts: This is my first read by this author. While I would not put this into the thriller category, it was a decent mystery. So let me start with the good things.

It was a compelling story. I wanted to know what was going to happen and where each turn would lead. I wasn’t hugely invested in the characters, although Emlyn tugged at my heart strings and I was rooting for her. I would say I felt a strong connection to her moreso than any other characters. The landscape played an integral part of the story almost making nature itself a main character.

I struggled with the romance. I understand addiction - but I wanted more for Emlyn and kept wanting to scream at her for entertaining someone who had done what he’d done to her.

The story was compelling - but the mystery aspects left me wanting. Don’t get me wrong there was some captivating parts for sure, but overall it just didn’t come across as fully believable for me and I struggled with those aspects.

Overall, I definitely say give it a try. The scenery alone is majestic and there is a good story here. It just wasn’t as thriller-y as I’ve come to want from a good mystery/thriller.

📚Genre: Mystery

📅Publish Date: June 18, 2024

Big thank you to the author, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for my advanced copy. 🥰

This was a wild ride into the wilderness ! Very fast paced and kept me entertained the whole way through. I really enjoyed the alternating chapters between past and present. I liked the growth of Emlyn during the book and her journey to find herself again. I loved Kimi Cunningham Grant's last book, so when I saw she had a new one coming out, I had to get my hands on it. I highly recommend giving this a read if you enjoy suspense and books taking place in nature.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

I loved These Silent Woods by the same author and had high hopes for this adventure, mystery, suspense novel set in the Idaho wilderness. The vivid and atmospheric writing about nature and the wilderness had me captivated. However, I was not as captivated with the characters. The past/present timelines kept pulling me out of the story and released the tension building up. Still a solid read.

After having read and enjoyed These Silent Woods, I was very excited to read The Nature of Disappearing. The story pulled me in from the beginning. Emlyn is living a simple quiet life as a fishing and hunting guide. She rarely talks to her best friend, Janessa and never talks to Tyler who she thought was the love of her life. Then Janessa goes missing and Tyler asks her to help him go into the wilderness to find her. Alternating chapters slowly tell us the story of what happened with Emlyn Janessa and Tyler. I liked the pace of the book as the story unfolds and Emlyn and Tyler hike deeper into the wilderness and the wilderness becomes a character in the story. I enjoyed the survival aspects of the book as well as Emlyn coming to terms with her story and ultimately finding herself. Thank you for the advanced copy of the book. It was a great read which I give 4 stars.

This was such a great book! The only problem I had with it were the religious parts. They didn’t add anything to the story and they detract from the storytelling. Other than that, a great book with great characters! I adored Emlyn the most, she was perfection. I will definitely watch for more books from her!

I really enjoyed reading this book. I love books that put you in different state of mind. It made for a relaxing weekend read and was so much fun. I can't wait for the next book from this author.

This novel is a wonderful journey into a read that combines wilderness, mystery, friendship and betrayal. If you like slow burn reads, this is the book for you. I highly recommend reading it!

I got the ebook arc of this book. Thank you NetGalley and Kimi Cunningham Grant. I gave it 5 stars.

Emlyn is the main character in this book. It is about 3 friends who reunite after a falling out and something big that happened between them. One of the friends goes missing and the 2 others try to find out what happened to her. I love the dynamics of the friends. The book switches from present to past to let us know what is happening currently, as well as what happened in the past.

One of the friends, Janessa, is an influencer and I felt like that added a lot to her story and her going missing.

There was a little romance but it was mostly contemporary, Emlyn’s growth throughout the book. Also some mystery in there.

Kimi Cunningham Grant has a way of writing more slow-paced, but this is the second book I’ve read of hers and I love her writing. Even with the slow pace I was engaged throughout and was rooting for these characters.

Emlyn doesn't let herself think about the past.

Emlyn thought she's moved on to a simpler life. Tyler, the love of her life, left her to die in the woods three years ago. She doesn't speak to her best friend Janessa anymore. When Tyler shows up in her small town with the news that Janessa is missing and asks her to help Emlyn has to make a tough decision. Does she follow her ex back in to the woods?

This book immediately hooked me. I enjoyed the past and present timeline and how it added to the story as the plot thickened. This was my first novel by Grant, and definitely won't be my last!

This was such a fun thriller.

Emlyn left her old life years ago. Now her old best friend for that old life is missing and she needs to find her.

This thriller is not too dark and was like a breath of fresh air compared to some of the dark and twisty things I’ve read. This book had no dull moments. I have fully invested into the storyline until the very end.

This is mainly set in the mountains of Idaho and being from Utah I can picture everything down to the Mountain Maggots… I mean sheep.

Being an outdoors woman I felt a connection with Emlyn and even with her past. We see how Emlyn can heal from that trauma and build her new life.

The ending was twisty and it made you feel like you didn’t know who to trust.

Genre: Thriller
APK: Ebook
Pages: 304
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Series or Standalone: Stand-alone

Content Warnings: Talk of Substance abuse

First, I have to thank St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this thrilling upcoming summer read.

Kimi Cunningham Grant has done it again and better with “The Nature of Disappearing.” Her descriptions of Idaho, Wyoming and the west surround the reader with acutely accurate images of the natural beauty this area of the country holds. From the striking craggy mountains to the shockingly cold snow melt creeks, Grant focuses her attention to sensations of the environment that truly define the wilderness in the west.

The book’s characters are well developed, emotion-stirring and each maintain a relatable characteristic or three that any reader can resonate with. Emlyn is a tastefully flawed protagonist that guides the story and acts as a canvas to illustrate the other characters defects and qualities. She is brave, intelligent, keen and loving. One can’t help but want to be more like Emlyn during their upcoming summer hikes in the mountains.

Grant balances themes of romance, deceit, addiction, friendship and spirituality beautifully throughout the novel. It is a page-turner from start to finish and a book I struggled to put down before bed. Well done.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
A captivating mystery that I couldn’t put down. Beautifully written and you can’t help but love Emlyn. Loved the twists and will reflect on this book for some time. I was actually sad when it ended. Highly recommend and looking forward to reading more from this author.

So freaking good! I stayed up all night go finish it. The end was crazy and shocking! I loved Emlyn. Such a good book!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Where are all my Slow Burn mystery readers at ? Boy do I have a read for you !!

Be prepared to take an enchanting adventure through the back country of Idaho that has a wild ending !

Without giving too much away The Nature of Disappearing follows one narrator and bounces between past and present with a very likeable main character !!

We start off meeting Emlyn who is creating a new life for herself in Idaho , putting her past behind her while mending her betrayed broken heart. She is now a wilderness guide and a very good one at that!! When she is at a diner with one of her clients after a day of fishing the TV in the background is playing the news channel and she sees a banner " Missing person" and she swears its her old bosom buddy Janessa .

Well now she can't let it go and does some investigating and sure enough it is Janessa .

As the story unfolds we bounce back to the past where she first meets Janessa and is introduced to Tyler where a beautiful romance blooms and turns a little toxic .

Now out of the blue present day Tyler has tracked down Emlyn asking for help to find Janessa . Deep down Emlyn can't shake that feeling something isn't right and keeps second guessing her gut feelings.

While they are tracking down Janessa and her boyfriend Bush, Emlyn can't help feel little niggling's toward Tyler even though he left her in the middle of nowhere several years ago!!!

Then things really heat up and the last 30% is a whole lot of heart racing , the panic sets in and you just keep flipping page after page to figure out what the heck is going on and has a nice little plot twist at the end.

I really think fans of B.A Paris and Rachel Hawkins and Coleen Hoover Fans will swallow this read up!

The author did an excellent job of portraying someone who is into outdoor adventures, being an avid hiker and overnight hiker myself a lot of the items used in the story I have them or knew exactly what they were , so it made it more realistic and believable.

My only negative feedback is the chapters in past were a little too slow for me , and I wish there was a bit more suspense earlier on , but I appreciated the main charters development throughout the story and found her quit resilient !

Thank you Netgalley, St .Martins Press and Kimi Cunningham Grant for this wonderful digital ARC !!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

Solid mystery, as a friend apparently disappears,her ex gets his previous girlfriend to help hunt for her. Of course, things are seldom as they appear in these mysteries, and this one has plenty of good twists and turns, as well as solid character development (,the characters are believable, true to form).

Trigger warning re: wildlife cruelty, that really didn't seem to add at ALL to the story.

Traditional format 📕. This is a book about relationships, overcoming the past, finding oneself and defining the future all set in the backdrop of nature/outsdoor wilderness AND with some serious suspense all thrown in!!! This book drew me in from the beginning with the camping/hiking outdoors setting and some interesting characters.

The main plot is one of suspense and is heavily centred on an outdoor trek to locate a missing friend but there were several subplots and alternating timeline stories in the book that made the book about so much more than the main plot. The character development was great and had me hating several of them based on the way the author added depth as the story unfolded.

I also loved the Authors Note at the end of this book which described the original title of the book (Wliderness) along with details of how she developed the characters and plot. The last quote “wilderness is not the destination. It’s not the final chapter. Your story goes on” was just a super amazing wrap up to this book.

In writing this review I was debating on a four star or five star but the author’s note pushed my over the edge to give this a 5/5.

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for a digital ARC copy of this book.

This had a great start and I found the first 70% intriguing, but sadly the ending fell flat. I was hoping for more of a thrill with the climax but I was disappointed. I love the author’s writing style and still plan to read more from her.

I loved this book. As someone who has done some hiking/camping I highly enjoyed the views provided. I really felt a tie to Emlyn. She is such an imperfect character that it was easy to recognize myself in her.

The story also pulled me in. I did not expect how things would turn out with Tyler. I loved the way it ended.

I was provided this advanced reader copy of this book. This is no way affected by review of the book.