Wow, not what I was expecting when I read the description of this book. Thriller, survival story, personal reflection and growth and so very much more. Upon finishing I just want to tell friends ' read this book"! Thank you to Net Galley, Rebecca Hodge and Penguin Random House Publishing for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review

This book was intense at times due to the subject matter and while it was not mystery-suspense, it was definitely suspenseful. That being said, I didn't love it. I finished it, but honestly it didn't really work for me.

I received a free electronic copy of this debut novel from Netgalley, Rebecca Hodge, and Crooked Lane Books. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this deeply moving novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I am happy to recommend Rebecca Hodge to friends and family. She writes from the heart about important milestones in life. Those curves in the road that measure our spiritual worth by our response.

Kat Jamison is in her late-40's, an Alexandria high school teacher, mother of a single adult daughter who is a vet and works with and trains dogs. Kat was widowed a couple of years ago, and a breast cancer survivor. This time despite the radical mastectomy, radiation, and chemotherapy in the past her cancer is back, and advanced. Kat nursed her own mother through to the end with breast cancer. She remembers the pain of body and soul, the emotional energy she had to find to see her mother in such pain, the bleakness of each day structured around medication and nausea and sick room duty. The months of watching her mother waste away, fade away. And while she wouldn't take back a day of that time with her own mom, she wouldn't want to put her daughter through that experience. She is toying with the idea of taking those good days left to her and spending them making different, joyous memories with her daughter. But Sara is doing her best to guilt Kat into fighting off the dreaded C. Again.

Kat assures Sara she will consider her viewpoint, but she has booked a month at a vacation house on a mountainside where she and her husband Jim once stayed. Good memories there, clean clear air, views to break your heart with their beauty. At the end of this 'vacation', she will have decided one way of the other. There is, of course, no landline phone, nor cell phone coverage. The road is primitive, a two-track badly rutted, but she promises to call Sara when she goes into town to shop. She had packed up four boxes of memorabilia, filling the whole back seat of her car, touchstone memories that she has saved over her adult lifetime - her daughter's schoolwork, souvenirs, and college work, play programs from the classes Kat has taught over the years, important photos and paperwork from their lives and those of her parents - all things Sara will one day want. Hopefully to pass on to her children... Kat will use this month to sort and preserve this life story into a couple of albums that she can pass on to Sara.

Her rented cabin is at the top of a pass, and the view is extraordinary with bench seats placed in the best viewing areas of the pass - and popular with the down-road vacationers. All those long hours of solitary, serene introspection she had pictured might not be. She is met on her arrival in the driveway of the cabin by daughter Sara, who insists that she keep a golden lab named Juni with her while she is on the mountain despite the fact that Kat has never had a dog, never wanted on. Sara's life revolves around dogs so she can't understand that mindset. They argue again about starting cancer treatments at the car as Sara gets ready to leave, headed for Florida to judge a regional agility competition.

Within the hour, Juni has befriended Malcolm Lassiter, late 40s or early 50s, a security consultant at his firm in D.C.. Malcolm is ex-Special Forces military with a badly scarred face, and with him is his recently adopted son Nirav, a nine-year-old Pakistani orphan Malcolm encountered while working in Istanbul. Nirav has limited English and is a bit shy and has only been in the US for a few days. The Lassiters are staying in the cabin toward the bottom of the road while their new home purchase in D. C. is being finalized. Something that Malcolm says as they are leaving to walk back down the road to their cabin makes Kat aware that he overheard her argument with Sara as she was leaving. Kat hasn't shared her recent diagnosis with anyone but Sara as she doesn't want the side effects that go with that knowledge - the knowing looks and sympathy and unsolicited advice that comes with sharing that sort of news. Well-meaning but not helpful when faced with making the decision between a little good time now or perhaps more time, but much of it as an invalid.

By day two, Juni befriends the third and last cottage of visitors on the mountain, Scott Bradford and his twelve-year-old daughter, Sara. And as Kat and Sara walk down the mountain road just past the old wooden bridge, Juni finds a puppy trapped in a fence, starving and filthy and very smelly, which they take to a vet in town. Sara named the dog 'Tye' for a river in Virginia, and Kat agreed to pick him up tomorrow, after his surgery for an embedded collar and cut leg. Once Tye is cleaned up and relieved of his many parasites. Kat can afford the bill, and the alternative was to put the pup down. Now Kat has two dogs she didn't know she wanted. Pets are a long term commitment and Kat doesn't have a long term to offer. Vaguely she wonders if this truth is how her daughter is seeing her own decision to decline treatment.

Sara and Nirav are having a sleepover at Kat's cabin by day three. A sleepover with Juni and newly sprung Tye. Dry lightning during a waterless thunderstorm during the night sets the woods toward the base of the mountain on fire. Nirav is terrified - he has extensive experience with bombs and fire - but Sara is controlling her fear as they head down the road crowded into Kat's compact vehicle. The wooden bridge is already burning. They can't get down, and no one can get up. There is no phone service short of the landline in Scott and Sara's cabin on the other side of the burning bridge and way down the hill. The fire is in a feeding frenzy as it works its way up the drought-dried canyons on the mountain. How is Kat going to get these children - and dogs - down the mountain and to safety?

This is keep you on the edge of your seat reading. It will completely grab your attention and keep you happily turning the pages. Happy reading!

This is a page turner! Kat has retreated to a mountain cabin to think about her choices to deal with her recurrent breast cancer. She finds herself instead surrounded by fire and struggling to take 12 year old Lily and 9 year old Nirev, along with two dogs, to safety. Nirev's adoptive father Malcolm and Lily's father Scott (distinctly unlikable but wait) search for them in a rented helicopter but it's not easy. Hodge has done an incredible job with this- I felt the smoke, the heat, the fear- and had nothing but admiration for everyone (including, ultimately, Scott). I don't know why the publisher chose to suggest this for fans of Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreve as it's a distinct achievement but if that gets it more readers, then that's great. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Terrific.

Wildland by Rebecca Hodge is a story that combines so many aspects of every day life in one beautiful and harrowing novel. Kat Jamison retreats to a cabin in the Blue Ridge mountains to work through her feelings about the loss of her husband and to make a life-changing decision that she thinks will mostly affect her. While having a sleepover with two children whose fathers she just met, the unthinkable happens: they are cut off from escape to the safety of the town by a deadly wildfire and have to work together to try to get out alive. Now the possibly life-changing decisions not only affect her anymore, but also the young children and two dogs in her care, and in the struggle through the mountains she also struggles through her emotions. Will she be able to make the right decisions and save everyone in the end?

This book made me laugh and it made me cry, it made me cheer and it made boo. While the start was a bit slow, it did build up the characters and surroundings in a way that I could picture so easily. As soon as the excitement started, I could hardly get myself to put the book down again. It kept me on the edge with my nerves because the feelings of the characters - whether it was fear or hope, love or disappointment - were conveyed so well that I sometimes caught myself feeling them right along with everybody.
"The stars above us govern our conditions."

One of my favorite things about this novel (a debut novel at that!) is the impressive character growth that takes place throughout the story. Hodge takes the time to show not just the strengths but also the shortcomings of her characters at the beginning and the possibility of losing their lives or their daughters' lives gives each character the chance to grow into a stronger person than they were before. Kat herself goes from someone that life happens to to someone that happens to life.

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves."

Thank you to @rhodge.fiction, @netgalley and @crookedlanebooks for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you enjoy stories that incorporate animal rescue, adoption, race, disease, and so much more in a way that isn't necessarily the main issue but just a part of life like it is in the real world, then this is a book for you.

What a debut novel by Rebecca Hodge. From start to finish it is so good you won’t want to put it down. It will keep you captivated all the way.

What would you do if the lives of two children and two dogs were totally dependent on you. And you are stuck in the middle of a raging forest fire. And you are on top a mountain and said fire is heading straight for you. And the children are not even yours. Could you make the decisions that would help these children and yourself escape alive. Would you want to give up and let the smoke fill you and lay down to just give up.

Kat went to a cottage in the Appalachian mountains to get away for a month. To think about her future and what she wants to do. She has already been through a lot with cancer. Having had breast cancer, having her breasts removed and gone through the horrible treatments that go along with cancer. Can she do it again for her daughter. For herself. It’s why she is there. Her daughter brings her a dog to keep her company and two other adults lower down the mountain visit with their children. One man, Scott and his daughter, Lily, are spending their time together on vacation. He has plans for them and he is somewhat judgmental toward others. His daughter is only 12 and loves meeting Kat’s dog. Then there is Malcolm who is there with his adopted son, Nirav. Nirav lost his parents in a fire of a different kind.

Kat has to make some very serious choices in this book. Some that will either save her, the children, and the dogs. Or they may not make it at all. She does not feel adequate in her choices. She’s not sure what she is doing is the right thing. The whole area is burning wildly around them and it seems hopeless. They don’t even know if anyone is going to come try to save them.

This book will make you feel actual pain. Not just pain in your heart, or tears in your eyes and believe me there are plenty of tears shed, but physical pain. The descriptions in this story take you right in the middle of everything. You feel all the things that these people feel. It describes in very good detail what happens and all the fears each character goes through. It’s so realistic I actually held my breathe and cringed in many many places.

Will everyone make it out alive. That is the ultimate question. Will they be ok if they do make it out. Will the father’s of the two children blame Kat for the choices she makes. This is a story of such intense feelings you will truly feel the fire’s heat. The pain when something happens to one of them. The sadness when they are sad. The hopelessness that is felt. The many many fears of all the adults.

This is a book that you won’t be able to put down until you know how it’s going to play out. How it’s going to end. It’s so realistic. This author did a wonderful job of writing her debut novel. I can’t wait to read more by her.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #Rebecca Hodge, #Crooked Lane Books for this eARC. This is my own true review.

I gave it 5 stars and highly recommend it to everyone I know. It’s a great book. It’s an edge of your seat book. Not a thriller but not exactly a mystery either. It’s just a story of three families who get caught up in Mother Nature in the worse way.

Wow wow wow! I reads this book in one sitting and I am warning you, do not start this late at night, because you will not want to put this book down.

I loved this character driven, fast - paced book about Kat Jamison, a strong woman who has survived breast cancer and was in remission, only to find out that her cancer has returned. Faced with an important decision, Kat retreats to a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountain wilderness with her rescue dog, to decide her next steps. Continue the fight and have more chemo and radiation therapy, or just give up.

While there in the cabin, she befriends her neighbors’ children Lily and Nivar, along with another rescue puppy. However, during a sleep over with the children, a fire has started, and it is now up to Kat’s determination and resourcefulness to save the children and the dogs.

Rebecca Hodge’s writing was rich and vivid. It felt as if I was in the wildlands with the characters and was completely immersed in surviving the fire in the woods. I felt the intensity of the situation, the heat of the fire, and lived the courage and strength of the characters. Hodge told this story in alternating viewpoints that moved the story forward, gripping the reader with an exciting and thrilling story of survival. This was a beautiful story about ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances that was heart wrenching and heart-stopping at times. This was a well written book and what an amazing debut novel. I enjoyed this immensely.

I highly recommend this riveting survival story full of heart, perseverance, self-discovery and most of all, the unrealized inner strength we all have within.

Magnificent Tale of Guts and Survival
I love this book. I know that I will re-read it in the future. The author is such a good storyteller! It is as if the reader is right there trying to breathe. The entire book is absolutely believable. From the children to the dogs to the firefighters, not a word out of place. I will be watching for future works by this author. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

Wildland by Rebecca Hodge

I could not put this book down! I knew it was a survival story but it was a pulse pounding, though provoking, life or die story that kept me on the edge of my seat till the very end. I kept wondering what I would have done if in Kat’s shoes and whether or not I could have been as strong, focused and resilient with a huge forest fire to get away from. This hit close to home due to the fact that during the California Camp Fire that wiped out Paradise, California I was checking in with family and friends hoping that they had made it out of the fire safely. The harrowing tales they told, their flight, their seeking shelter from the fire and then the losses sustained were remembered as I read this book.

What I liked:
* Kat: marvelous character who has reached a crossroad in her life with a big decision about her future to make. She was so very real as she took on the responsibility of getting not only herself but others to safety.
* Malcolm: a scarred warrior who has undertaken fatherhood and a man to be admired. He takes charge when he must and is a bulwark for those that need him.
* Nirav: a young boy with an old soul – he suffered so much and yet persevered – he so deserves happiness with Malcolm
* Lily: seemed a whiny pre-teen but proved to be a leader in the making
* Scot: father of Lily and a man who grew a lot in this story
* Sara: a good woman and daughter of Kat
* The writing was compelling, vivid and made me feel I was there with Kat and her crew
* That I was made to think and feel and care
* Really liked all of it except…

What I did not like:
* I am trying to think of something and...can’t ;)

Did I enjoy this book? Definitely
Would I read more by this author? Without a doubt

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is a story of self-worth and fear and forgiveness and futility. A superbly written story with characters that lead you through their every emotion. I highly recommend this book. Enjoy! 📚

Wildland has everything you would want in a story- suspense, character development, evolving relationships between strangers. The story was a little slow in the beginning as the reader gets to know the characters, but, once the wildfire starts, there is no turning back. I could NOT put this book down. I felt like I was right there trying to outrun a fire. At the end, I was dying to find more about the characters so I’m hoping there will be more to this story.
Thank you to Rebecca Hodge, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

5 stars for Wild Land by Rebecca Hodge!

Years after undergoing chemotherapy, radiation, a double mastectomy and implants, Kat is faced with a new lump and big decisions. She retreats to the Blue Ridge Mountains for some alone time away from her daughter, her family, and the noise of life. Kat wants to be able to think about what exactly it is that she wants to do with the rest of her life, and she doesn't think she has the strength to spend the time she has left nauseated, bald, and running back and forth from one doctor's appointment to the next. Her daughter feels like she is giving up.

I finished this book in 2 days. Wild Land reminded me of why it is that I love to read. It had a different mix of the usual elements I love. Kat is dealing with something that so many women we all love and know are faced with and fear. Breast cancer. Immediately, I was drawn to her story and her character. But, don't write this book off as a sappy novel. It takes a turn quickly and before you know it, the suspense is in full force and Kat's breast cancer diagnosis becomes secondary to what she must survive.

Growing up in NC, this book is rich with imagery that I appreciated. I'm lucky enough to have spent time in the very same Blue Ridge Mountains that Rebecca Hodge describes so perfectly. This book will appeal to all of your senses and you'll appreciate how random strangers pull together when it matters most. I didn't want this one to end.

Thank you to @netgalley and @crookedlanebooks for the opportunity to read this one before everyone else. And, @rhodge.fiction I hope this book soars. It was so very well done and I hope you will have more books to come. #wildlands #booknerd #5stars #bookreview #bookaholic #ncbook #ncauthor #blueridgemountains #suspense #mustread #quickread #breastcancer #grit #inspirationalauthor #inspired #reflect #netgalley #

This survival story is different than my usual mysteries. A 50ish woman retreats to the Blue Ridge Mountains to decide on a course of action when her breast cancer returns. She hasn’t even gotten settled in when she’s saddled with two dogs. One, a yellow lab that her daughter asks her to foster and another a stray found on a trail. The author is a veterinarian, so trust me she gets the dog aspects right. Because of the dogs, two children staying nearby also bond with her. All five get caught when lightning starts a wildfire and they must attempt an escape up the mountain.

The chapters alternate between Kat’s attempts to bring them all to safety with the two fathers’ attempts to find them. It works well to keep the tension up. And there’s a lot of tension and intensity here. Kat is a great character and her thought processes when comparing death by fire to death by cancer rang true.

The book blurb says this works for fans of Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreveport. Now I like both, but it’s not a completely accurate comparison. This book is much more action driven than anything those two authors have written. And don’t look for twisty plot lines here. But it does feature a cast of characters that all have to draw on their strengths and do things that don’t come easily to them.

The descriptions here spot on perfect. You feel the heat and breath the soot right along with them.

Well done, Ms. Hodges! If this is your debut, I can’t wait to read your next effort.

My thanks to netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advance copy of this novel.

Wow!! Wildland is an intense, page turning ride! There were times that I felt myself holding my breath, just waiting for what was coming next. I love discovering debut authors and Wildland by Rebecca Hodge blew me away! Wildland is the story of self discovery set against the backdrop of an Appalachian wild fire. I cannot wait to read what Rebecca writes next!

This book is just so full of heartbreak...in the most beautiful way. It's rare that you read a novel that punches you in the heart and the gut all at the same time. I'm naturally an emotional person, and I'd recommend keeping some tissues nearby.

When I learned that Wildland is Hodge’s debut novel. I was shocked. The writing is extremely tight and the characters unique and believable. Plus, I could both feel and imagine the settings by her descriptions.

The story begins with Kat Jamison, a cancer patient, who has rented a cabin in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s the same place she and her husband vacationed once, and she remembered it as a lovely area. She needs quiet time to mull over her medical options. Another round of chemotherapy for her advanced-stage of cancer, or skip it and enjoy what’s left of her life.

Kat recently lost her husband, so she is alone at the vacation cabin. But her daughter Sara, who works at an animal shelter, shows up with a companion for her mom. You guessed it.

Mom isn’t fond of dogs but Sara won’t take no for an answer. Juni, a well-trained golden Lab is from the shelter and is looking for a home.

Sara again tries to pressure her mom into having chemo, but Kat isn’t in the mood to talk about it. The visit is less than perfect.

As Sara drives down the remote mountain road Kat tries to think of relaxing thoughts. But as she surveys her surroundings, the cabin she remembered is now badly in need of repairs. The once lush greenery is dry and the pine beetles and ash borers have destroyed many of the trees. The view is disappointing, but she just needs time to relax and think. It should work just fine for that.

But almost immediately she discovers neighbors from down the mountain. There is a newly-adopted boy and his dad, and a divorced father and his daughter.

Will Kat actually get to think and rest?

Neighbors and an upcoming storm are sure to create a story worth reading.

My thanks to St. Martin’s and #NetGalley for an ARC and the ability to freely express my thoughts.

What Concerned Me
Not one thing at all. Nothing. Nada!

What I Liked Most
I can’t say enough about this book. It’s inspirational, thrilling, suspenseful, and the characters are well developed.

I highly recommend it. Trust me, Wildland will keep you flipping pages until the very end. It’s a heart-pounding novel, for sure!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley!


Wildland covers some sensitive topics. Death of a spouse, breast cancer, fire. The story was just so... powerful. The main character just found out her breast cancer has returned... just after her husband has passed away.... so she takes time at a resort. She finds herself watching some kids and their dogs play close by when a fire breaks out. She finds that she and the children are cut off from everyone else.
There's an act of bravery of course.

The story, while slightly predictable, is beautiful and touching.

The summary of this book was so interesting that I knew I needed to read it. I was a little hesitant when the story began with two separate fathers allowing their young children to visit with a woman that they had just met while camping. I kept reading, as the story did intrigue me, and I am so glad that I did. This was a wonderful story of hope and the desire to survive. Kat Jamison has a decision to make. Does she go through chemo again or just accept what she believes is her fate? When a fire breaks out near her rented cabin, she is alone except for the two children and two dogs. How can she possibly save them as the fire gets closer? Meanwhile the two fathers have joined forces to locate and save their children and Kat using all resources available. You will read along with these characters as they fight through nearly impossible odds, but never give up…what a rush! I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

A woman facing the recurrence of breast cancer and difficult choices. A man and his adopted son bearing scars, external and internal. A young girl and her father, trying to find their footing with each other. Their lives converge on a mountaintop, and when a wildfire erupts in the forest, they must dig deep in order to save their precious loved ones. This is an absorbing novel of extraordinary bravery and self-sacrifice. I read this page-turning novel with all my senses: I could feel their fear, their doubts, their pain; I could feel the fire scorching my face, the smoke clogging my throat; I could see the ashes and the flames and the devastation; I could taste the soot: I could hear the crackling of the fire and the trees as they were consumed