First of all, the narrator of this book was wonderful. She kept me invested right through the bitter end. With that said, I adored this book until about the halfway mark. The plot twist was, honestly, unexpected and unwelcome. I found myself really needing to try to get through the last half, which was disappointing.

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an ARC of "The Trail of Lost Hearts" in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion.

Oh my goodness, what an absolutely beautiful story. I felt like reading it healed a piece of my heart and I loved witnessing Wren’s beautiful journey to heal her soul, while loving Marshall who did the same. It was just such a romantic, captivating, and moving story and I am so sad that it’s over! The audiobook narration was also excellent!

I did this one as an audiobook and the narration was perfect.

The story grabbed me right away, as Wren gets herself into a sticky situation almost immediately. Thankfully a knight in shining…errr…ummm hiking boots saves the day.

It was fun to see the relationship in the book develop and to see the characters grow as individuals because they are both processing some serious trauma.

I didn’t see the stuff with Wren coming but it def tracked after seeing how she was treated by a certain male character. It made me so mad.

I was absolutely invested in the story and attached to all of the main characters.

Also, now I want to go geocaching. I downloaded the app and everything.

The Trail of Lost Hearts surprised me right off the bat. (This is what happens when I don't read blurbs because I like surprises.) The premise is simple: Wren, at age 34, is healing from the death of her fiancé, but her grief is complicated by his betrayal, which she only learned about after he died. She finds herself in Oregon, on a weeklong solo geocaching trip in an attempt to jumpstart the healing, but on her first trip out, she barely escapes a violent assault, thanks only to a fellow hiker who jumped in to help. Marshall is dealing with some grief of his own, and he suggests they team up for the week--for both safety and companionship. A friendship blooms on their road trip around the pacific northwest, and before she flies back home to Ohio, it turns into something more.

That's only the first part of the book because once she returns home, she's faced with another life-altering predicament and romantic entanglements take a backseat. Eventually, though, they do reconnect, and the ending is utterly sweet and tender and worth the wait.

This is a SLOW BURN. And it's closed door. This is definitely less of a romance and more an exploration of grief and loss and love and how they're all connected. But it's so beautifully written and super tender. Tracey Garvis Graves hasn't let me down yet; all her books are absolutely wonderful.

My mom's best friend actually went through a situation very similar to Wren's in her thirties, and it was devastating for her--like Wren, it was difficult for her to trust in the aftermath of such a total deception. I feel like Tracey did a phenomenal job of holding space for her characters to process their emotions.

Kate Handford (and also Eric Meyers) delivered a great performance. The audiobook was a great way to experience this book. (Even if I was maybe crying in my car. No biggie.)

2.5

Too dramatic and overly emotional for me personally. I loved On the Island by the same author and was excited for this one. A few elements could have been removed and I would have enjoyed this a lot more. I liked both Wren and Marshall and their relationship, but there was too much soap opera melodrama for me to take seriously.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan for the advance copy.

The Trail of Lost Hearts is my fourth book by Tracey Garvis Graves. The first two, On the Island and its novella Uncharted, were amazing five star reads for me. So much so that I started buying her backlog and couldn't wait to read them all. I began with The Girl He Used to Know but it just didn't do it for me. Like to the point I was like are we sure this is the same author?! I was hesitant to try more but the blurb for this book really caught my attention so I decided to give it another go. So glad I did! This one is a winner!

Wren Waters has been dealt some earth shattering news & is having a bit of an eat pray love moment and can't get off the grid, and as far from reality as possible, quick enough. She has picked Oregon and geocaching as a means to leave it all behind and test her limits. Solo. It doesn't take long for things to go haywire when she encounters two men who seem to be on the hunt for much more than a cache in the middle of nowhere. Enter Marshall Hendricks. Marshall is also running from grief, also geocaching, and just so happens to be in the right place at the right time. A knight in hiking pants, if you will. The two quickly bond over their similar situations and decide to turn their individual solo trips into a week long buddy adventure. In doing so Wren slowly feels herself healing...and Marshall becoming more closed off. But the undeniable connection is there. Can these two help heal each other or is the pain so deep that it can't be healed without hurting others in the process?

This book packs punch after punch of emotional blows, but somehow remains positive and hopeful in the process. I felt like the pacing was perfect. Nothing felt forced or over the top dramatic. Just two lost hearts looking for a soft place to land...and heal. The story is told primarily by Wren so I was excited when we got a glimpse of Marshall's POV, via electronic correspondence. The narrators did an amazing job and felt like they were perfect for the part. Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. 4 starts

WISH I HAD KNOWN.

Some might find this *spoilery* regarding a specific trope. Read at your own discretion.

I know there’s plenty of discord over whether or not tropes should be included when discussing a book, but y’all, this is prime example number one why I appreciate them and how I wish just one review I happened to scan through had mentioned the surprise in this one.

It made me feel like things could have been handled better. With only a week together and confessing a lot of things about yourself, but not feeling that reciprocity (and calling the MMC out on it) to then being secretive yourself? I don’t know, didn’t work for me.

This was a super quick (less than 9 hours) audiobook and I will say, I LOVED the narrator. I had no issues with the production or anything of that nature. My issues are about the book themselves.

And I was really loving all of the outdoorsy content that after the halfway point just disappeared. I feel like a little more length within the book would have allowed some deeper exploration of feelings and combining what felt like two different halves of this book.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: low-moderate
Romance: 2-3 brief, low explicit open door
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a fiancé, infidelity, loss of a sibling, brief mentions of gun violence, birth scene

⭐️4.5 stars⭐️

This story was empowering and emotional. I was drawn to Wren’s strength and courage and how she chose to take control of her life and make it what she wanted, despite whatever obstacles she faced. And as a single mom myself, I can only dream of meeting a man as loving and selfless as Mitchell. I like that their love story wasn’t perfect. That’s reality. Nothing is straightforward. But it is worth fighting for.

I enjoyed this book so much and enjoyed the narration as well. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the chance to review it.

it wasn't bad as much as it was just very not for me.

i admit whenever i see anything that takes place largely in the wilderness and involves a woman trying to find herself by going on her very own cheryl strayed adventure i get really excited. i love stories about women finding themselves, navigating coming to terms with mental health issues, arrested development, having to start over, etc. this book was not that and that's absolutely on me.

the trail of lost hearts is a dramatic contemporary romance of the colleen hoover ilk (she's not my bag, either, so i wish i'd have done more research and stay away). i do think that fans of hoover's will really enjoy this one.

our story is about wren, who travels about the country for geocaching, which is an outdoor hobby where people leave containers all around and the purpose is to find them in the wild. a very cool concept, i think so much can be done with that. on the hunt for a new cache, wren bumps into marshall. rightly, as a woman alone hiking, she curves him as fast as possible, only to stumble upon two men who have actual insidious plans for her and from whom marshall rescues her.

from there, wren and marshall head out on the trail to find more caches and grow increasingly closer, but wren, stung from the betrayal of finding out her recently killed fiance was storing a whole family including a wife she didn't know about, isn't happy that marshall is unwilling to share himself, too.

not going to go into detail here - and maybe this is another issue that's uniquely a me thing - but a lot of what wren does is pretty selfish, in my opinion, and usually pretty naive. though stung by her ex and vowing to not get close to people with secrets, she immediately falls in love with marshall within the span of a week. there's also a pretty upsetting scene later on where she's in an awkward situation and she harangues someone into letting her into their house because it's what she wants.

i didn't like her as a protagonist much. i didn't really understand her or the choices that she made and maybe because this is a heterosexual romance i didn't feel the vibes between her and marshall either.

HOWEVER i do think most of these issues are my own and colleen hoover and taylor jenkins-reid girlies should be all over this one.

This is such an emotional love story that's born out of grief, but somehow manages to find its own way and flourish. I really enjoyed both of the main characters and I was cheering them on even as their paths had to take their own twists and turns. I've been geocaching a few times and it was so fun to see them bond over the activity and how they each used it to help them cope with their loss. Grief is such a personal journey and I love how Tracey handled such a difficult topic with so much sensitivity. The audiobook is fantastic and I would definitely recommend giving it a listen!

I alreaedy knew I loved this story - I began reading it approximately three minutes after I received an email with a link to download an ARC five months ago. Since then, I've thought about this story several times and knew it was only a matter of time before I picked the book up to read it again.

But then I got approved to listen to an advanced copy of the audiobook and dropped the book I had been listening to - because there is nothing better than a smart, intelligent, realistic romance story with likeable, mature characters. This is what you get from Tracey Garvis Graves every time. Add in a fantastic female narrator and you have a listening experience I found difficult to turn off.

This is a beautiful story of two hurting souls who find each other when they need someone the most. It will stick with you long after you've finished reading (or listening!) to it.

This was a heartwarming romance that feels like a Hallmark movie in a good way.

Premise - what if your fiancé dies suddenly and then his WIFE shows up? 34 year old Wren Waters thought her life was going great, but then life throws her that ultimate curveball and she 'Eat, Pray, Love's her way through the western US wilderness on a geocaching journey to help her grieve and heal. Along the way, she meets a grieving psychologist who's very emotionally unavailable, but clearly also a match for her in many ways. But life isn't done throwing her curveballs yet.

This was a lovely romance, perfect for readers who love a good love story, but wish protagonists weren't so often hormone-crazed teens whose lives (jobs, ambitions, etc.) cease to matter when their protruding eyes (that's what describing them as orbs has to mean, right?) fall upon a guy who leans against a shoulder frame and smirks. This was not that - this was written as women's fiction, with a fully developed world in which both MCs exist, and ultimately their development as individuals brings them together. I believe in them and I believe in their union!

Tropes:
* Only one room in the hotel
* Unplanned pregnancy
* Single mother
* Dead (but also awful) ex
* Mature protagonists
* Age-gap (10ish years, not crazy)

📚 Series or Standalone: standalone
📚 Genre: romance
📚 Target Age Group: adult
📚 Cliffhanger: no
📚 HEA: yes

✨ Will I Reread: maybe
✨ Recommended For: fans of Nora Roberts, readers who'd love Nicholas Sparks if only he'd give a HEA

💕 Characters: 5/5
💕 Writing: 4/5
💕 Plot: 4/5
💕 Pacing: 4/5
💕 Unputdownability: 3/5
💕 Enjoyment: 4/5
💕 Book Cover: 3/5

Thanks, NetGalley and St. Martin's, for the gifted ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who is transplanted from Ohio to Washington state, this story truly spoke to my heart. One thing I absolutely love about this location is the beauty and nature that surrounds you no matter where you go in the Pacific Northwest. This author truly captured the feelings and emotions that go into hiking and being one with nature.

The narrator for the book did a good job, but ultimately it was not who I would have pictured for Wren. Her infections truly made the words come to life but there was something missing in her tone that did make me connect her with Wren.

The story to me felt more of a story of the journey of self discovery and growth rather than a romance. Wren had experienced intense emotional trauma and reading her piece together the broken pieces with each step she took felt empowering and captivating to read. This author did a great job by taking heavy topics but not having them overtake Wren's personality.

This book is a well written story that left me feeling uplifted and hopeful. It felt inspirational without the book’s story feeling too emotionally heavy or overwhelming. I felt that those going into this book expecting the romance to be the center of the plot would be disappointed because I felt this book centered more on Wren's personal journey. Don’t get me wrong though, the romance wasn’t lacking, it’s just not the center of the book.


Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read and listen to The Trail of Lost Hearts in exchange for my review. This is such a refreshing novel. It’s the emotional journey of two people willing to do the hard work – to face their grief and other challenges. I really enjoyed Wren and Marshall and loved watching their story unfold. It was an addictive read that I finished in a few days. I’ve read one other by Graves and remember a similar reading experience. I’ll be adding her backlist titles to my TBR.

You can read the publisher’s description but I recommend going in blind. I think readers will enjoy this one.

Narration:

If you prefer audiobooks you can’t go wrong listening to The Trail of Lost Hearts. Kate Handford and Eric Meyers brought the novel to life in the best way. Their performances truly enhanced my reading experience.

I was thrilled to get an Advanced Listeners Copy of this because this is my 7th book by Tracey and I have loved them all! I enjoyed the narration of this book. The characters were very likable and I appreciated their vulnerability. There was one of my least favorite tropes included, but everything else made up for it. I found myself thinking about this book when I wasn’t listening and I couldn’t wait to keep going! A very sweet, heart-warming story of life after tragedy.

Thank you netgalley and Macmillan audio for the free ALC in exchange for my honest review. Wow wow I was unprepared for this emotional Rollercoaster book. Very clearly could see it as and adapted movie. Captivating interesting and fresh.
4.5/5☆ rounded up

This story pulled me in quickly and the first half was really enjoyable. I didn’t care for the plot twist at the mid point, but the character development and growth that had been set up to that point ensured that the resolution was still satisfying. The Pacific Northwest wilderness setting gave me some fierce wanderlust!

I loved the female audiobook narrator! She embodied the character perfectly and had crisp delivery that was clear, even when listening at my usual 2.5x speed. I didn’t think the male narrator’s voice matched the character, so I was glad he had only a brief part.

This was my first time reading this author, and I now look forward to seeking out more of her backlist!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for gifting me with an ALC to review. All opinions are my own. I enjoyed it!

A new favorite book from one of my favorite authors!! This was an incredibly moving friends to lovers story about moving on after heartbreak and grief and sees two strangers meeting while geocaching in the Oregon wilderness.

34-year-old Wren is still trying to get over learning that her recently deceased partner had a secret other family while mysterious Marshall is a psychologist running from his own grief and guilt over the loss of a loved one.

Together these two bond on the trail and gradually their friendship turns into something more until their week-long trip comes to an end and Marshall leaves Wren wishing for more. Heartbroken again, Wren returns home to discover that the universe has yet another surprise in store for her.

With excellent mental health rep, this book is great for nature lovers and anyone who enjoyed Cheryl Strayed's Wild or Katherine Center's Happiness for beginners. It was also great on audio narrated by Eric Meyers and Kate Handford.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy and the author herself for sending me a physical ARC copy through a giveaway. If you're looking for your next great read this spring look no further!

Steam level: some open door scenes

4.5⭐️ When Wren Waters is dealt not one but two major blows back to back, she embarks on a geo-caching journey as a way to process her grief. There she meets Marshall Hendricks, a psychologist dealing with own grief and turmoil. A friendship forms when the two agree to partner in order to help another achieve their goals, while staying safe from those looking to cause harm.

This book caught me completely by surprise. It pulled me in immediately as I learned about what Wren had endured, and kept my attention with the introduction of Marshall (soon to be everyone’s newest book boyfriend). I loved the way Graves tackles the long term ramifications of grief especially when it intertwines with guilt.

The characters feel so real and each handle their emotions in a very real way. One of my favorite aspects of this book is the emotional growth these characters show from where they started - both quite broken by life. I laughed, I cried, I swooned and felt all the other feelings a great book can bring about.

Of note, I’ve listened to, and read this one, and have to give credit to Kate Handford who does a remarkable job narrating this book almost in full. She voices Wren exactly as I imagined her.

Read if you like:
•emotional love stories
•first person, single POV
•PCT setting (hiking)
•stories about overcoming grief
•happiness for beginners
•eat pray love

Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copies.