4.5 rounded up. This book is a slow deep dive into a woman's heart. The wilderness that she loves and fears at times, the men she loves and fears and her estranged best friend who is missing. It is a love story about coming into self and a love story to words and simple pleasures. There is a mystery underneath but it is not primarily that

I would like to thank NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on June 18, 2024.

I loved These Silent Woods so I was excited to read The Nature of Disappearing. This ended being a disappointment. If you read it on its own merit it’s fine, but if you compare it to Woods, which I mistakenly did, you will likely be as disappointed as I was. Emlyn lives in her airstream, illegally, and moves from spot to spot in the vast woods where she works as a nature guide. She is estranged from her two closest friends and when one of them goes missing under mysterious circumstances, the other reaches out to Emlyn for help. These characters just weren’t believable or authentic or likeable in any way and I never felt a connection towards any of them. I didn’t care much about what happened and I had no problems putting this book down for days at a time. The writing is fine, the plot is fine and the pace is fine but it never became more than that for me. These Silent Woods remains one of my favorite books ever so I will definitely read another by this author.

This was a great book. I loved every paragraph, every sentence and every word of this masterpiece! I read it in 12 hours, which is a lot for me to do! It had everything and more laid out in the novel! I sure hope There is more to come from this author! I am totally hooked!

The Nature of Disappearing by Kimi Cunningham Grant is an exploration of wilderness, both within and without.

In this novel Emlyn lives in an airstream trailer and is keeping herself withdrawn from most others. She has a unique quirk of assigning a word from the dictionary to people she meets, and the word she's chosen for herself is "pathetic." She spends her time working as a guide for visitors to the area. One day after a guiding session she is having lunch at a local restaurant when she sees her prior best friend Janessa on CNN.

Emlyn reunites with her old flame Tyler, with whom she shares a dark history, and embarks on search through the wilderness for Janessa. The narrative is told in flashbacks between the past and present, and although there are few characters, the wilderness of Idaho itself acts as a character. The descriptions and language are vivid and direct, and this book was a real joy to read.

I recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed Kimi Cunningham Grant's prior books, including These Silent Woods, or those who enjoy books like Peter Heller novel The River. I rate The Nature of Disappearing 5 stars.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy of this book for my review.

This story is a beautiful character story of rebuilding your life and growing past heart ache. I think it is beautiful realistic and the motivations and choices of the characters were spot on. I would recommend this to so many people!

This is the second book I've read and LOVED from the author. Her writing is hauntingly beautiful. The way she can describe nature and create the peaceful but spooky atmosphere is spectacular. The pacing was a bit slow at times and felt like the book could have used a bit more editing. Overall, I enjoyed the story and writing.

The Nature of Disappearing by Kimi Cunningham Grant - 4 stars

The Nature of Disappearing is a good fast-paced thriller about a friend searching for her missing former best friend.

The twists kept on coming while the backstory and the characters were carefully crafted. The descriptions of nature and the wilderness made me want to go camping off the grid.

I would recommend this book for anybody loving a good thriller or nature.

I read and enjoyed These Silent Woods but this author and so couldn’t wait to read this one.

Kimi Cunningham Grant can write beautiful, captivating descriptions of nature. Her settings are spot on and you can imagine the characters walking through each stream and valley. This author writes setting with more detail and clarity than some do their main characters.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book didn’t hold up. The characters were hard to connect with and the alternating timelines only seemed to make things feel disjointed. The climax was not fleshed out enough, it felt rushed after all of the build up without enough backstory to make it believable.

I will keep my eye out for more books by this author as I enjoyed These Silent Woods because of her beautiful writing style. I know this one just wasn’t for me and not indicative of her writing in general.


Thank you to NetGalley and to St. Martin’s Press for providing the eArc in exchange for my honest review.

Alternates between past and present; a lot of eerie suspense, unease, and foreboding; engaging and intriguing; great character development and scene setting; excellent storytelling; a little predictable; loved the survival and wilderness theme, and the juxtaposition of the beauty and danger in both nature and people; I do wish I had more closure at the end though.

Special thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and Netgalley for a DRC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is easily my favorite from Grant so far! Throughout the story, Emlyn is so easy to relate to, love and root for. Emlyn is raw, vulnerable and perfectly imperfect--she's me, she's another woman on the street.

For anyone that's ever felt less than or struggled with their self-image, this is a must-read (a bonus if you have found peace in the outdoors when feeling this way!).

THE NATURE OF DISAPPEARING is one of those books that I will go back to time and time again. The plot is very well-done, but the Emlyn's internal journey is what makes this book.

Emlyn lives in a tiny town in Idaho, enjoying her time as a fishing guide. She's finally forgotten her past, but when her ex-boyfriend comes back into her life, she has to confront her past.

The Nature of Disappearing was okay, in my opinion. There wasn't really anything special about the story or the characters. The climax was a little ho hum, and I just wanted to get to the end.
Emlyn is a likable character, but I don't think she's fully fleshed out, despite being in every chapter. There were moments where you could see some layers, but too much time was spent on her and Tyler's relationship (and we know how it ended from the very beginning) and not enough time on her family.
The writing is good but not enough to move it from 3 stars for me.

3.5 stars rounded to 4. I loved the last book I read by this author but this one was just ok for me. It has a decent premise and the switching back and forth between past and present kept me interested to find out what was going on. I did like that this mystery/thriller didn’t have much profanity or explicit sex scenes. As I write this review, find myself thinking more highly of it overall. I think my expectations just got the best of me in this case and maybe it just wasn’t the right timing.

Kimi Cunningham Grant is has become an auto-buy for me. I loved the mystery set in the mountains, and will be recommending this to others.

I’m going to say 3 rn but might change my mind once I think on it more.
I was so glad I went into this blind because the beginning had me so intrigued! It went in a different direction than I was expecting. And loved that it was based in Idaho. I am not an outdoors girly but I still liked reading about the hiking/camping/fishing. I love this authors writing style but I did want more or maybe expected more suspense??
After how I felt finishing These Silent Woods, I expected something that was going to really tear my heart out but it just didn’t get there for me. There was suspense but the ending fell flat for me. I wanted more of a twist or gut punch than what happened but idkkkk… I guess I understand what the author was trying to do with the ending.
Anyway, yes worth the read!!!

There was so much I loved about this book - I loved the main character, loved the dual timelines, even loved Janessa despite her many many flaws. And the setting really couldve been a second main character with how fully fleshed out and complex and well described it was.

Her books always stay with me and leave me feeling sad but also hopeful and inspired and beautiful.

Overall, a 5 star read from me.

Thank you for the ARC, it was my pleasure to read and review!

I couldn't be more excited to get my hands on Kimi Cunningham Grant's next novel after our 5-star experience with her last book, These Silent Woods.

This new thriller sits perfectly in the romantic suspense space, pulling the reader into a slow-burn mystery in the first half with estranged friends brought together through an unexpected wilderness excursion.

Janessa and Emlyn once referred to themselves as bosom buddies growing up. Emlyn's mother struggles with depressive spells that leave her daughter caring for herself and financially unable to indulge in a lot of things that her peers can. Her new friend Janessa offers Emlyn friendship and stability in a world where she doesn't have access to those things.

Let's be clear that the transaction isn't one-sided, though, because Emlyn is both indebted and in obligation, in many ways, to do whatever Janessa wants because of the help she offers her. Her role is to fawn and go along with whatever Janessa wants, and she's always been happy to oblige.

All is well until Janessa's next-door neighbor and other best friend, Tyler, falls head-over-heels for Emlyn, and Janessa requests that the two not be engaged in a relationship. Emlyn doesn't understand her friend's request, but the attraction between them is unstoppable, and when Janessa discovers that they have resumed this relationship in secret, their friendship slowly dissolves.

Later, we find out that the relationship between Emlyn and Tyler also has ended through a dual timeline that can become confusingly intertwined as they merge into one story.

That's why it is a surprise when Emlyn, now working as a wilderness guide, receives an unexpected visit from Tyler, sharing that he believes Janessa may be in danger in the woods of Idaho. He needs someone of her caliber and skills to find her.

Janessa is a travel influencer with her partner and has suddenly vanished somewhere in the woods and has they uncover chilling clues, they worry that her partner may not be all that he seems.

Through these shifting timelines, we discover why these three friends are estranged and how she views her role in these friendships dissolving. She also must navigate the reemerging feelings she has for Tyler and the haunting reason for the dissolution of their relationship, to which I will be vague.

Grant expertly crafts an atmospheric and suspenseful first half, immersing readers in the lush landscapes of Idaho while untangling the mysteries surrounding the trio's fractured relationship.

However, as the story progresses, the plot veers into far-fetched territory, wrapping up quickly with a lot of telling instead of showing for the reader. Additionally, the infusion of religious undertones, while not problematic for me, did detract from the overall narrative flow as they started to overwhelm the plot as Grant pulled in religious parallels for this journey.

This novel will tick the right boxes, though, for readers who want to explore Idaho through a new lens and for fans of authors like Nicole Baart, who weave heartfelt messages into the threads of their thrillers for readers to uncover.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Beautiful descriptions of the scenery brought this book alive. I really enjoy a book that immerses my mind in the setting.
The relationship between the three main characters, Emlyn, Janessa, and Tyler, is complicated. Tyler reaches out to Emlyn after abandoning her years earlier. Their mutual friend, Janessa has gone missing. Emlyn is hesitant to trust after their past, but her concern for Janessa wins out.
The book has two timelines, Emlyn’s history with Janessa and Tyler which is essential to understand the present timeline.
I really liked the characterization of the three main characters, they become real on the pages.

This is the second book I’ve read by Kimi Cunningham Grant. Both are very unique stories.
In this story we follow Emlyn, Janessa and Tyler. We learn the history between the three friends after Janessa goes missing, and Emlyn and Tyler have to work together to find her.
I loved the wilderness atmosphere, and the suspense throughout the story. It kept me on the edge of my seat until the very last page.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy of this story.

Thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books and the author for this digital ARC.

I will say that I was immediately turned off by the God references at the beginning of this book. I shave always struggled with the concept of organized religion, and I didn't feel like I had signed up for any of that based on the description. But, despite the fact that there was a character nicknamed 'Reverend' who made reference to God a few times, overall they weren't too heavy handed or preachy. The concept of trust and faith were introduced as a way of telling the reader that this would be a book about letting things unfold as they may. And overall it made sense to include that. I can definitely agree, letting go a little and trusting in the process of life is a message we could all stand to be reminded of.

I read and enjoyed one of Cunningham-Grant's other books--These Silent Woods--so I was looking forward to another book rich in lush imagery with a heavy dose of 'man vs nature.' And I was not disappointed.

As somebody who worked as a white water rafting and sea kayak guide, I find it difficult to find books that deal with the topic of wilderness survival (or just being in the back country) in a realistic and engaging way, but this one got it right. I loved that everyone involved in the story had extensive experience with being in the wilderness. There's nothing worse than reading a story about somebody who is supposed to know what they're doing, and they are doing literally everything wrong. You would think that everybody knowing their way around the back country would make the stakes feel lower, but it was actually the opposite. Because the reader knows how skilled all the characters are, we also know how frightening of a situation they are in.

I also appreciated the direction that this story went in the end. It was sightly unexpected, but again it was realistic and satisfying. This is a difficult book to talk about without giving things away, so I will say that there were a couple of plot twists that were slightly out of left field to me, but I understand the need to add those kinds of details to appease the short attention spans we all have today.

The writing was quippy and never felt overly fraught. The characters were easily distinguishable, albeit a little subdued at time. But I very much appreciated some solid 'girl power' moments in this one, and I am always here for strong female characters and friendships.

I brought this book with me on vacation and it was the perfect read for lounging in a hammock, next to a cenote.