Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Really great book. The setting made it for sure. Daphne was an ok character though not my favorite.
Author did a great job keeping the book interesting. The setting of the book in the mountains really did make me love this one.

This was an exciting read; I have never heard of someone who did holistic medicine, so that was new for me.
She starts her life over pretty much as she is a hedge fund baby and is not wanting to deal with all that from her parents. She finds a small town which I love and ends up finding herself in more trouble than she has ever been in before.
The man she uses her holistic medicine on goes missing. She knows this isn't normal, and she truly tries to have someone find out what happened. Though she sadly keeps hitting a stop sign every single time, it makes you wonder why? What is this town or the people in it hiding exactly? Once you get the answer, you are left going oh wow, I didn't see that one coming. I will say one character I did not even think about playing a role in this, and that was awesome for me! I loved that little surprise.

This book exposes several truths. Stereotypes are never good ways to judge people. Small towns in the mountains are not always friendly good places to live. Small towns often do not promise much future for people if they do not leave. Rural America suffers from poverty. People in cities, especially wealthy people, do not understand small town rural communities. Wealthy progressive people, though they may have good intentions, do not understand the needs of people living in forgotten rural areas. There is a drug problem in America. If you need schooling in any of these truths, Lost Sierra is a good read for you. I received this as an arc from NetGalley and am under no pressure for a positive review.


Ramona Thompson.

I was drawn to this one because of the setting, and it really did set the stage for this thriller. The setting was as much a character as any of the actual characters. However, Daphne had to be the most immature person ever. Although her degrees were mentioned incessantly, she was not the smartest. It was intentional, but it was very hard to connect with her. Instead, I found myself yelling at her all through the book for her choices. Lots of twists and turns, but it was a bit frustrating to read. Overall, 3/5 stars.

This was published on March 7, 2023. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Florence & Reynolds, for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At the age of 27, Daphne Barlow left the safety and security of her wealthy family for a chance to make it on her own. She has moved to small-town Sierra Ridge to practice holistic healing. She knows the longtime members of this small community believe she is some kind of a witch, but not one of her clients, John Sharpe. John is retired military and has been one of her best clients, but she begins to wonder if he is having health issues. When John goes missing, it seems no one cares, including the local sheriff. John saved her life when she first arrived and she won’t give up on trying to find him. When his home is invaded by men searching for something, the sheriff still doesn’t seem interested, nor do the men at the local bar. As she is continually warned to stop asking questions, I couldn’t help but cheer her on as she was determined to find her friend. With wildfires raging, you can’t always know who you can really trust, but will she make it out of the forest alive? I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (paytonpuppy)

It took a bit for me to get into this book. But once I did MAN did I HATE Daphne. She could not be more pretentious and privileged. And not see it until it was literally almost too late. Fortunately, she does realize what an asshole she's been her whole life. Doing the right thing was almost her undoing and ended up being the making of her. This book was definitely worth the time spent reading it!

#LostSierra
#NetGalley

Steam level - 2.5

The plot -
27-year-old Daphne Barlow escapes her parents’ ruthless expectations as the heir to their Fortune 10 organic food brand and finds a different kind of ruthlessness—the remote town of Sierra Ridge in the inhospitable Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California.

With a new PhD under her belt and eager to avoid her pre-determined path at the company named for her, Daphne seeks out an idyllic Mayberry existence in a small town where residents might appreciate her personal brand of homeopathic techniques and herbal cures. While she manages to gain a small collection of clients, she is mostly met with cold skepticism from the locals. When her favorite client—John Sharpe, an army veteran in his 70s—goes missing and no one in the town seems to be care, Daphne is deeply concerned. He saved her life once and she is bound and determined to return the favor.

Pitting herself against the townspeople, who assure her that Sharpe is just on a bender despite all the evidence she finds to the contrary, Daphne is drawn deeper and deeper into trouble, all while a wildfire rages closer and closer to the town.

My thoughts -

Secrets left and right, in a small town, but I didn't feel connected with any of the characters. The plot twist, were so unexpected like I had to keep guessing in the end who it was. Daphne was so immature. The writing was good and really easy to go through.

Thanks to netgalley and the author for a eARC in exchange of a honest review.

Heiress Amanda optimistically starts a new life I. The Sierra Nevada mountains. At times naive she leaves no stone unturned and makes plenty of enemies in her quest to find our what has happened to her friend Sharpe. She is about to find out just Who is a friend and who an enemy.

Daphne is an heiress looking to find her own way into the world. She has hopes that she has found her path and moves to a small town. Suddenly she is drawn into a mystery and no one else seems to care. A thrilling, suspenseful story with an exciting plot and interesting characters. An engrossing thriller.

Disclaimer: Thank you NetGalley and Florence & Reynolds for this copy and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

An interesting setting which is well described makes for a good foundation. It’s a decent mystery with lots of interesting characters and small town dynamics, There is a bit of a romance angle which didn’t really add much and was a bit annoying,

Danger Within a Rapidly Closing Perimeter

Lost Sierra is a well-written suspense thriller, but in a sense, it's a coming of age story. Daphne's not a child, but she's been effectively insulated from the rougher side of the world. She wants out of the wealthy, spoiled existence her parents have given her and, determined to break free, makes a home and career for herself far from them. She's not settling in so well, but she's made a few friends. One of those friends has gone missing.

I was quickly drawn into the story, despite being instantly distrustful of most of the other characters. I've lived briefly in an insular town like "Mayberry" before, though no one I knew ever went missing. The darkness some people hide behind smiling faces is shocking sometimes.

She's kind and sensitive, but Daphne's extremely tense and innately reserved for someone who's chosen to provide relaxation therapy as a career. She tries to take her own medicine, but even herb tea and yoga doesn't relieve her grim attitude. And her obsession to find her friend doesn't help.

As she loyally continues her search, it becomes clear that she has good reason to worry. I admire her persistence as she tries to find out what happened to her friend, but the locals don't. She's brave in the face of growing opposition and apparent danger, although the truths she learns makes it apparent that she's been naively blind to how much danger she's in.

Her romantic feelings toward Logan seem to grow out of her gratefulness when he saves her bacon more than once. I was skeptical because I didn't believe that someone as uptight as Daphne would be in the mood under the circumstances, but Amanda Traylor specializes in romance and obviously knows that these things do happen.

Fortunately, Traylor skillfully put together more than a romance, but an excellent mystery as well. The all-devouring wildfire creeping steadily towards them lurks like an unintroduced character in the background, but knowing that it's there puts even more adrenaline to the suspense.

Thank you to the author, Amanda Traylor; publisher, Florence & Reynolds; and also to NetGalley for their gift, without any obligation, of an advanced reader's copy of Lost Sierra. It's a thrilling read and my recommendation is freely given.

Gripping and full of psychological twists and turns.

Daphne has moved to a rural town in the Sierra Nevada mountains to escape her privileged life. She wants to help people with nature pathic healing, not get rich off her ideals. When one of her clients shows up the day before his appointment, agitated and acting strange, Daphne is on edge. He fails to show up the next day, and she can't shake the feeling that something is very wrong.

She goes to report him missing, but finds that the sheriff's office is not only understaffed, but the single sheriff has no interest in investigating. Sure that something is going on, Daphne decides to look into things herself. However, everywhere she asks about Sharpe, she only gets warning to leave well enough alone.

Daphne can't give up on the man who once saved her life. She continues asking questions, coming up against wall after wall of evasions and dismissals. Soon her questions start to meet vague threats, and Daphne has to wonder if the whole town knows more than they're letting on. And just what they're covering up.

Once this book truly got going, I was unable to put it down. A quick, compelling read!

I loved this book. All of the characters were well thought out and developed. I felt like I knew all of them personally. And the detail to description of the area. I could just picture myself there as I read. Plot kept me guessing and was unique and genuine. Good book for a book club discussion.

Very interesting book how northern California was different from Southern California and I like how this author tied everything together. Defina was a very rich girl from San Francisco her family founded a company based on her name. She had trouble on her past because people were just user for money. So she decided to go up to this town in northern California boy did she have an adventure up there. She ran a clinic for pain management And be friends with a man named John Schne SPE. He goes missing in the book so she tries to find out what really happened to him. This leads her to a very undecided world which had a lot of shady dealing with the local town people. These people wanted to be left alone they dealt drugs and marijuana. She somehow got caught up with Logan who became her friend but also her enemy. It was interesting how a small town would not react to anything going on. She met a boy from the reservation who also was running drugs for a local man. He was very frightened of everything but she became his friend and she Be Sore the good H I m. He was very important for her and the end of the book because realized he got a lot Of courage to help her. Sarah her other friend in town was also too To face. She had her crazy past as well and somehow the song got tied together in the story. Small towns are like this even the police force are afraid to make Arrest. Now I'll have a guessing for one minute to the next and I really liked it because it was well plotted and how it tied together like a string

Daphne Barlow sets out to make a new life for herself in a small town in the Sierra Nevadas. The scion of millionaire parents and the heir apparent of an all natural & organic producing company, she leaves it all behind, to try to start a new more authentic life as a holistic healer in the mtn town. But all her best intentions are for naught when she goes on a search for a customer who had become a friend as well, and who vanished, leaving no word behind to anyone. The townspeople are hostile to her inquiries and she is warned again and again, to back off and forget about him and his disappearance.
The story builds from there with mounting tension and town disinterest in his disappearance and continued incidents of threats against her, for continuing to search out what happened to him. No one is who they seem to be in this remote town.
The characters were all fairly similar and none were very deeply portrayed.
It was definitely not a page turner for me but finding out " who done it" was my impetus to finish.

Lost Sierra by Amanda Traylor

The protagonist in this mystery/thriller is Daphne Barlow, a young woman from an upper class family in the Northern California Bay Area. Daphne decides to move to the mountain town of Sierra Ridge to escape the confines of the expectations of her wealthy parents. She buys a cabin in the small community, desiring an idealistic life where she supports herself as a holistic healer. Six months into her new life, her favorite client, a seventy-year-old Veteran, goes missing, but no one in Sierra Ridge appears to care. Daphne then takes it upon herself to unfurl the mystery, even after most of her acquaintances in the town have warned her to let it go.

As I live in the mountains surrounding the author’s fictional town, I enjoyed the atmospheric setting and rich imagery. I was engaged in the story, but was distracted by the ignorance of the protagonist. For an educated woman with a PhD, Daphne was too naive about life in mountain communities. Her continuous push to find the truth, in spite of numerous warnings and violent encounters, was difficult to believe.

I may be a bit biased due to my life in her mountain setting, but I would have enjoyed at least one compassionate character/companion to join her in her pursuit for justice. While I, too, have seen drugs, violence, lack of health care and other social issues mentioned in the story, I have always found a few good neighbors—people willing to drop anything to lend a helping hand.

Overall, the story was well written with enough suspense and interesting characters to make it a good read.



Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Her second novel, Lost Sierra by Amanda Traylor is a mystery thriller. Relocating to Sierra Ridge in remote Northern California, Daphne Barlow avoids her rich family’s expectations and starts a small homeopathic business. When a seventy-year-old client goes missing and the locals don’t seem to care, it’s up to Daphne to find him. With wildfires raging, she is told to leave well enough alone causing her further trouble and placing her life in danger. The narrative of a somewhat idealistic, if naïve hero, requires a certain suspension of disbelief, given its rosy ending and thereby a three stars rating. With thanks to Florence & Reynolds and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

I was unable to finish this book and thus will not be posting a full review. I got to 40% and could not go on ... I found the narrator to continually repeat herself and the story was going nowhere. Thank you for the opportunity.

3.5 rounded up to 4 stars

Daphne Barlow relocates to the remove town of Sierra Ridge in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California. She is escaping the demands and expectations her parents have set for her to be the heir of their large and successful organic food company. She recently finished her PhD and started a homeopathic practice where she has a small amount of clients. Most of the community in her village are skeptic of her and her practices. When her favorite client- John Sharpe, an army veteran in his 70s whom she befriended goes missing no one in the town seems to care. Daphne seems to be the only one who is concerned that something bad may have happened. He saved her life when she first moved there and she is bound to return the favor. Daphne starts asking questions and investigating his potential whereabouts. She is met with many demands to stop poking around asking questions and the townspeople telling her he is just on one of his benders. The one person who decides that she may be right starts helping her and he ends up dead. Meanwhile there is a wildfire closing in on the town and just when she needs to escape for her safety, the fire blocks her in. Just how far is she willing to go to repay the favor of someone who saved her life?

The author did a wonderful job describing the setting. I felt like I had been transported to the top of the Sierra mountains and would start coughing at any minute from the ash and smoke from the fires.

Intertwined with this thriller were a multitude of current issues discussed such as the covid pandemic, rising fentanyl and opioid abuse, child exploitation, drug cartels, lack of resources to rural US communities, and some issues that Native American reservations face. I feel like the author ties some of these issues into the storyline better than others. Some were haphazardly mentioned without pertaining much to the storyline. Overall, a wonderfully written thriller that exposes the struggles of remote US communities as well as Native American reservations.

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this book. I could see how some people wouldn’t like the main character but I think she was portrayed well. She’s naive and it shows she comes from a rich background not really understanding life fully. Only feedback is I wish we had like a falling out with her parents vs. wanting to be on her own. I don’t think many people can resonate with a rich 27 year old who didn’t want to be apart of a large business. The background of the city and where she lived was fully accurate - I lived in Chico during the Paradise fires. How people are about secrets/minding their business is true.
I give this 4 stars only because I felt the ending lacked. I wish Willa was caught a different way, but was surprised it was her form the first chapter.

I read this on the Netygalley app and on page 241 it randomly says ‘Chapter forty-three’ in the middle of the page. The next chapter was 42 so something’s off there.