Two young women go for a hike in the aftermath of one of them being sexually assaulted. Understandably, she’s become nervous around men. The situation becomes even worse once they happen into a couple. But is Riley as innocent as she seems?

This was a taut thriller that had really high stakes, which kept me reading late into the night.

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I really enjoyed reading this book, but I do think it’s problematic that it basically told a woman to ignore her intuition. Of course she was afraid, and rightfully so. Because although it’s true that all men aren’t bad, it’s also true that most women would rather be stuck alone in the woods with a bear instead of an unknown man.

Her instinct told her to stay away from a specific man. It ended up with him not being a problem, but I still believe that women should always follow their instincts. We’re right a lot more often than we’re wrong, after all.

If you're a fan of stories of surviving in the wilderness you will enjoy this one. 49 Miles Alone takes place in the remove desert of Moab. I live in a desert and I'm familiar with how unforgiving and extreme the desert can be. This book did a great job at depicting those extremes and dangers. I could visualize myself out on the trail with the characters.

At times I felt the story was a little slow moving and repetitive, but overall there were some really good twists. I feel at times the story didn't flow smoothly, but it was still a very enjoyable and adventurous read!

Thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire | Sourcebooks Fire for a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! I love a good survival story, and this one constantly kept me on my toes. I love the cover, and I would recommend this to a YA audience who likes survival thrillers.

I love this author! She writes mystery very well. I loved the setting for this book and that the characters were hiking/camping. While the trauma that the characters experienced added to the story, I felt like it was a little overshadowing at times. I did suspect the twist before the reveal, but it was still a good twist and the ended wrapped up well.

3.5

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me the ARC to this book!!

Following Katie and aster on a 49 mile hike and the crazy ish that follows them definitely kept me on my toes! (And weirdly made me want to go on a hike like that don't ask me why...)

I liked the book however, it just felt like it was missing something for me. The 3rd party chapters felt mildly confusing and while I'm sure it was the point, it just left me feeling disconnected. The author tried to confuse us on who the bad person is until the last like chapter, but I wish maybe we had learned who it was sooner and had more of a dramatic ending.

Overall it was a good book but not the best I've ever read.

At first there were vibes reminiscent of the movie Fall, with a female character working through trauma through engaging with the outdoors alongside a friend (in this case a cousin). Things shift towards humans being the real danger in the outdoors with misleading pieces and a quick wrap up at the end. I do appreciate that Katie’s recovery journey was multifaceted and included sleep clinics, therapy, a chiropractor, and therapist. A solid read with content warnings for sexual assault off page.

Wow, what a gripping book this was told from multiple points of view. Cousins Aster and Katie decide to hike the Utah Desert for four days. All goes well until they meet Riley and Finn. Aster feels something is off about Finn. When they take off, they find Finn outside their tent at night. The girls hear Riley and Finn fighting, and they girls think Riley is in trouble. The next morning Riley and Finn are gone. Katie wants to find Riley, but when they see just Finn they run away from him. The girls see vultures circling. Is that a body on a ledge? When something happens to Aster, Katie goes for help. Where are Riley and Finn?

Thank you Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for this eARC, these opinions are my own. What a thrill ride! Cousins Katie and Aster were once close. Then something horrible happened and now they are trying to repair their relationship by hiking in the backcountry of Utah. The trip doesn’t go easy for them and they may have found help in a young couple. While Riley is likeable they can’t say the same about Finn. That night the couple argue and in the morning the cousins can’t find them. Fearing that Riley may be in trouble they set out to find them. But can they do it before it’s too late? And can they mend their relationship? Natalie Richard’s sets up a beautiful depiction of the Utah desert, my home state! The book is adventurous and full of danger and will keep you hooked! Along with Katie and Aster’s pov you have a third pov from an unidentified woman and figure out who she is and what happened will have you consuming the book!

Review: Oh my gosh! What a ride this book was! I have loved every one of Richards’s books and this one was no exception. It had me squirming at certain parts. And I really felt for Aster. She just couldn’t catch a break! The ending was a shocker to me and that is the sign of a great thriller in my book! I can’t wait to read more of her books! This one comes out July 2nd! Make sure you preorder your copy today! I know I will because I need a physical copy of this book for sure! Thank you @netgalley and @sourcebooksfire for my advanced copy!

I have read almost all of the books by Natalie D. Richards and this one did not disappoint. This is a top favorite book so far this year. I love her characters. The story of this one is unique and I loved it so much

I love a "lost in the wilderness" type book, and this one about two cousins doing a short-ish through hike that goes very wrong was absolutely perfect for this genre. The twists were creepy enough to get me thinking and wondering, but not too scary for me to sleep at night, and I was turning pages so quickly to find out what happened!

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of 49 Miles Alone. This story of survival and finding your way back to a relationship that you love but that has changed is beautifully woven and fast paced. These girls, who have clear history with each other, have endured a fundamental shift in their relationship, and they're both hoping to gain something on what might be their last hike for a while. From sickness to injury to creepers on the trail, the pair faces it all as they work through their personal issues and issues with each other. Add to that a mystery that feels ripped from the headlines -- an unhappy couple at first appears to vanish yet later seems to be circling them on the trail -- and you have the recipe for a thrilling ride. A must-purchase for the high school set.

Firstly I love this author. Her books are easy creepy reads I think anyone can manage.
I also love adventure thrillers, especially when they take place in places I have been. These young girls are relatable and they are just trying to reconnect with each other one last time before college and life comes between them.
I love that there is not a scenario where they would be safer as big mem or adults. All of the danger is danger than can happen to any hiker, we just have the added element of Katie's trauma.
The ending actually made me cry!

First of all, as someone who's not an avid outdoorsperson, I really appreciated the detail in navigating a long stretch of hiking-preparation needs, signposts to watch for, explanations for decision making. It really added credibility to the story and was done in an engaging way.

The dual POV for main characters (and cousins) Aster and Katie gives a good boost to the story. It's nice to see where their communication disconnects lie and how the two are struggling to navigate their relationship. Each POV also gives good insight into the other character, which provides a better understanding of the bond they used to share and why they're struggling so much now.

The plot itself was pretty interesting. Some moments seemed better paced than others, but it was the quick wrap-up at the end of the book that just left me a bit too unsatisfied.

Overall: 3.5 stars (I liked it)

I'll tell my students about: rape, trauma, graphic injuries/violence, murder, language

**Thank you to NetGalley & SOURCEBOOKS Fire | Sourcebooks Fire for the free ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

This book was great! It was suspenseful, it was emotional, it was lovely. I loved seeing how the two main characters were able to grow back together, and work together to figure everything out. I love the plot twist towards the end, it was so unexpected!

3.5 stars

Here is my confession, again…

I love a good survival trope. The whole, lost in the wilds, miles from anywhere, limited supplies, and oh, there might be a killer amongst us, is exciting. Hence, my delight in being selected to review “49 Miles Alone.”

Our story centers around two young women, Kate, and Aster, who forged much of their relationship while backpacking and hiking in Utah. The two cousins, became very close after losing a parent. Their relationship became fractured, after a college party, where Katie was raped and Aster wasn’t there to protect her.

Drowning in guilt, Aster puts together a hiking trip for the two of them to hopefully repair and restore their relationship. Of course, it won’t be that easy, as nothing is going to go as planned for this trip…

Richards, creates a well researched, fully immersive backpacking adventure. Her attention to detail and description lends an authenticity to the whole story, and if you are a backpacker you will be impressed, and if you aren’t, you may want to try it after this!

Moab, is a stark and beautiful place. It was a fitting location for this story. For me, this was not only a ‘thriller,’ it was a story about trauma and perception.

Richards, introduces multiple characters, and each could be the ‘villain’. Each chapter is told from the POV of Aster, and Katie, with sprinkles of a mysterious woman thrown in for good measure.

This is a quick, adrenaline fueled trope. The ending wrapped up a little quickly and prettily for me. However, it was a fun and easy read. A really good YA book.

Thank you NetGalley and SourceBooks Fire for this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I loved this one and learned so much about the setting and culture of the area . It was a page turner of the highest order .
Thanks for review copy to Netgalley and the publisher

thank you to NetGalley, and SOURCEBOOKS fire for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

this was quite the page turner! I was super invested in this story and wondered every chapter what the heck was going on!! I was still a little confused at times while reading but it was still pretty good!!

A fast-paced, tense thriller featuring two girls alone in the Moab desert…except they’re not alone.

Four Miles Alone follows two cousins, Katie and Aster a year after Katie survives a devasting, awful night that lingers in her to this day. She’s desperate to heal from the trauma and the cousins decide to tackle four days of hiking in the Utah backcountry. It’s a desert they’ve hiked in for years except this time, danger lurks more prominently. With an unplanned injury, illness, and freak, flooding storm leave them off-kilter and plan, they’re relieved to find a young couple on the trail. Except, Katie doesn’t trust the boyfriend and the two girls have to fight to survive against the elements and people with secrets and danger.

This is such a fun thriller. I love books set in the wild like this, where survival is really dependent on the setting and the character’s knowledge. Survival stories are something I thoroughly enjoy, mostly because you could never catch me in these situations and I love to live vicariously through the characters. I loved the setting here, set in the Utah desert. It was so interesting and descriptive—I could picture the landscape so easily even though I’ve never been there. It made for such an immersive, tense read as the plot really takes a lot of turns.

Katie and Aster were good main characters. It’s a dual POV so we get to see from both of them and a third, mysterious POV. Aster is so good at survival! She’s so smart and knowledgeable as her dad has taught her a lot. But so is Katie which I found really refreshing. They’re both very capable and make good choices for the most part, and the ones I didn’t agree with, made sense for what they’ve portrayed. I feel so bad for Katie but she overcame so much throughout the novel. So did Aster as there was some lingering guilt for the events from the previous year, but it didn’t derail their relationship. I really enjoyed reading about them and their friendship as cousins. They have a very strong bond that I appreciated.

The plot is really great and is so easy to read. It’s incredibly fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The ending was a good twist that I didn’t entirely see coming so that was fun to read about. The author does a really great job of keeping you guessing until the final reveal.

Definitely would recommend if you like YA survival thrillers!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

* Thank you NetGalley & Sourcebooks Fire for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. *

"We save ourselves."

I have read most of the mystery thrillers Natalie D Richards has written, and I've enjoyed almost all of them. 49 Miles Alone is one I did like - it isn't anything extremely new, but it delivered exactly what I wanted out of a thriller: it kept me guessing at every turn and flipping the pages to see what happens next. I did sort've guess the bad guy, but I enjoyed seeing how that played out, anyway.

I was interested in the unique aspect of the Utah canyon hike - I've never experienced anything like that, and I've never read a book about it, but I have heard the horror stories from search and rescue teams and seen the documentaries. Hiking long distances alone, with zero service, has always terrified me... and admittedly, that really added to the stress of this book. Everything that could go wrong goes wrong for Aster and Katie, and it was a wild read from beginning to end.

I definitely recommend this book to any fans of easy, YA thrillers.