Special thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book. A journey into the wilderness that is laced with mystery with each step. Although, a little predictable I was into it the entire time.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kimi Cunningham Grant and St Martin’s Press for the free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this one, it’s my first from Grant and I have to say that now I want to read her first one really badly. It was an amazing atmosphere or low level dread the entire way and the twists were epic. Definitely recommend.

The Nature of Disappearing by Kimi Cunningham Grant @kimicgrant

Out today!!!
Mystery/thriller
4✨

Thank you to @minotaur_books for my #gifted copy for honest review!

🌲Emlyn’s heart is the wilderness. It been her constant through life. I enjoyed how we are in the future, as Emlyn’s ex best friend Janessa has gone missing while on a vanlife adventure. Past memories starts spilling out as she works with an unlikely ally to find her friend. The suspense of being looking for a lost person and what happens if you do was so intense. This book really highlighted just how beautiful and dangerous the forest can be! It packed with dangers and that what will happen next feeling, I loved it!

The Nature of Disappearing is at once an ode to nature, a book about growth and self discovery, and a compelling mystery. I flew through the audiobook - finding more reasons to do yard work so that I could finish it in one listen. Emlyn is a flawed main character and the back and forth timelines provide the readers with a front row seat to witness her come into her own throughout the book. I read and adored "These Silent Woods" last year and if I have a complaint about this newest book it would be that I think it lacked a little bit of the depth that I so loved in TSW. This book moves more quickly and I missed some of the more introspective moments. That being said, they are still there, just fewer! I particularly connected with the character Rev, I love that in Kimi Cunningham Grant's books there is always an element relating to faith (without bashing you over the head with it). I got more out of the back half of this book as more of Emlyn's past was revealed and we got more of her backstory with Rev and Varden. The mystery was perhaps the weakest element for me, but overall I was drawn in by Grant's excellent writing and stunning descriptions of the natural world.


Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an audio ARC.

Emlyn is living a "new" life. She lives by herself in an airstream trailer and works as a hunting and fishing guide. Her only partner now is nature as she's moving on from a pretty dark past. We find out early in the book that her ex-boyfriend Tyler left her in the woods and she almost died. We eventually get the whole story of what transpired via flashbacks starting early in their relationship. In the present timeline, Tyler suddenly appears because Emlyn's their mutual friend Janessa has gone missing and Tyler is requesting help to find her. Emlyn and Janessa had a bit of a falling out and they don't talk like they used to but she's more than willing to drop everything to go track Janessa down. So the present timeline is Emlyn and Tyler on a journey in the wilderness trying to find Janessa, or find out what happened to her.

I was really intrigued by the plot at the beginning but it was such a slow-burn that it steadily lost my interest until maybe the last 20 percent of the book when the action really starts. I wish more of the book had remained in the present timeline with more excitement. I didn't really care much about their past and break-up or any of the drama. The best part of the book for me was the wilderness survival aspects. Overall it was an easy read but I do wish it had been a little more fast-paced.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing me a digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

These Silent Woods captured me with it’s endearing father daughter duo, but completely knocked my socks off with it’s ending. It was so unexpected because I knew nothing about Kimi Cunningham Grant, had never read anything from her before. I just saw it on Kindle Unlimited and thought I’d be in for a decent secular suspense novel. By the end I was a weepy mess. Kimi’s books aren’t marketed as Christian, but it is clear where her faith lies.

Yes, I know this is a review for The Nature of Disappearing so I’ll move on…. But seriously read These Silent Woods.

This newest release, I unfortunately didn’t love as much as the previous, but it was still really enjoyable. It kept me wanting to turn the pages, which is key in any suspense novel. I was stressing out once things really started to pick up! The wilderness setting is also incredibly vivid. Kimi is an expert at painting a picture and placing her readers right where she wants them. I really did like Emlyn, our heroine, and all the flashback chapters that gave us an insight into her heart. But the best part was definitely the encouraging message that your wilderness is only temporary, and it’s working for your good.

A few things I didn’t care for:

Some of the decisions our heros made towards the end were… shall we say….. unwise. But SPOILER, it all worked out so I guess it’s fine.

It’s a huge pet peeve of mine when believer characters pursue a romantic relationship with a non-believer. I can understand having feelings for that person, but acting on those feelings is a no no. I was rooting so hard for terrible name guy and Emlyn, but I wanted to be assured of her faith first and that just didn’t happen.

I really do wish Kimi would just fully come over to the Christian fiction side. There are always faith elements in her stories, and she’s always just on the cusp of the gospel and the main character being transformed, but it’s always no cigar.

I will leave you with this quote:

”The thing you can’t forget is that the wilderness isn’t the destination. It’s not the final chapter. It might feel that way, it might seem like you’re so deep in it, you’ll never get out. But your story—it goes on.

Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press for providing a e-copy for an honest review ^_^ All thoughts are my own.

This was such an immersive and atmospheric read.

Emlyn is a wilderness guide who has to team up with the man who ruined her life years ago when her estranged best friend goes missing.

I loved Emlyn's character and how it developed over time. We got a picture of her earlier on and how she grew to be a much stronger person while still maintaining her introverted personality.

This book has some mystery aspects, but you can't go in expecting a popcorn thriller. It was more about the unfolding of the story, revealing of the past, healing, forgiveness and moving on.

The author does a fantastic job portraying the significant other of someone who is suffering with a substance abuse problem. It was done tastefully, yet fairly accurately which I appreciated.

Overall, I thought this book was fantastic and highly recommend it.

A moment for the cover…the cover truly captures the beauty that is described in this book. Right from the start, you are immediately put into the most vivid and beautiful setting. I knew going in that it was going to be atmospheric but boy…it exceeded all my expectations. This book was an escape. Yes, it was a slow burn, but I enjoyed the suspense, the nature, the setting, the journey, the uphill battles that come with the territory of the great outdoors. I could feel all the challenges the main character faced while trying to uncover the truth. The twist was predictable in my opinion, leaving the ending somewhat anticlimactic but I also thought it didn’t take away from the story.

Overall, a great read! THESE SILENT WOODS still holds first place but I do recommend picking this one up! Especially if you want to immerse yourself in a wilderness suspense novel!

Do some people inspire loyalty and devotion, while others are easy to forget and leave?.

Emlyn works as a fishing guide in Heart, a small community (year round resident population: 78) near the Obsidians in Idaho, and firmly believes that philosophy to be true. Sadly, she counts herself in the latter category…she has been left behind by her father when she was in middle school, several years ago her best friend Janessa cut off ties and moved away, and finally the man she loved (a childhood friend of Janessa’s named Tyler) left her in a remote area where she came close to dying. She was rescued then by Varden, a Forest Service ranger, who brought her back to his cabin in Heart and with the help of the community’s healer and spiritual guide Rev provided Emlyn with a place to recover from her wounds and the betrayal which left her unsure if she wanted to go on. Now she enjoys making her living immersed in the beauty of her surroundings, inhabiting alone an Airstream trailer in whatever pocket of wilderness she can claim for a time. She has walled off her emotions to protect herself from future damage, with the exception of her friendships with Rev and Varden (the latter, she suspects, could lead to more, but she doesn’t think she is worthy of his love). Then she sees a brief news story on CNN….Janessa has gone missing in a remote are in Wisconsin, where she had travelled with her partner Bush to document their adventures on her #vanlife social media accounts. Emlyn and Janessa had only recently started to reestablish contact and discover if their friendship could be resuscitated, and in fact Janessa had called her a week earlier and said that she had something to tell Emlyn, but the call dropped before she could say what that something was. At the time, Emlyn thought nothing of it, but in the light of her apparent disappearance she fears that she has let down the one friend who time and again had saved Emlyn from dangerous situations. When Tyler appears out of the blue, convinced that Janessa is in real trouble and begging Emlyn to use her knowledge of tracking and survival to help him find her, Emlyn is torn between wanting to keep as far away from Tyler as possible and at the same time fearing that if she refuses to help Janessa will be the one to suffer. She turns to Rev for advice, who suggests that Emlyn may need to look into the matter for her own sake, to settle once and for all the unresolved anger, guilt, and pain which are holding her back from a full life. Has Emlyn grown strong enough to resist the pull of the bond she and Tyler still share? And will she regret heading back into the remote wilderness with only this man at her side, when once before he had put his own needs ahead of her survival?
This is my first time reading author Kimi Cunningham Grant, and I must say that I was more than impressed. There is a twisty thriller at the base of this book, but it is also an impassioned tribute to the wilderness which serves as the backdrop to the story as well as the quest of a young woman,left damaged and insecure by what she has endured at the hands of those who claimed to love her, to heal and reclaim her life. The characters, both major and minor, are wonderfully developed; I particularly enjoyed Emlyn’s passion for finding just the right single word to describe each person in her life….plucky, alluring, decent, captivating, radiant, even condescending. I have never been to Idaho, and while I do not think I will add it to my bucket list (I’m not much of a get-back-to-nature sort) I do feel that I have a better appreciation for the wonders it holds thanks to the world that was portrayed in the novel. As the story spools out, the reader learns more about Emlyn, her life before and after the confident, beautiful and wealthy Janessa entered it, and what caused a friendship that was near sisterhood to explode, as well as the ultimately destructive relationship between Emlyn and Tyler. Love guilt, the imbalances within relationships and the pull of the past are some of the threads that continue to bind these characters together, and it was a darkly beautiful tale to absorb. Readers of C. J. Box, Ana Reyes and Stacy Willingham should definitely grab a copy of The Nature of Disappearing Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for allowing me early access to this unexpectedly captivating thriller.

I enjoyed the uniqueness of this story, but had a hard time remaining fully interested in it. Right when it pulled me back in, it was over. Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy to review!

The Nature of Disappearing by Kimi Cunningham Grant is an emotional thriller that has more to do with trust than it does with guns or saving the world. Sometimes understanding the good and the bad, trusting the right people and learning to trust yourself is saving enough. In this case, Emlyn admits early on that she has abandonment issues. Who wouldn’t with her past.

I liked this fishing and hunting guide who has made a group of great friends after she had nearly died. I found the suspense in this story connected some to her missing friend, Janessa but mostly to finding out how she had arrived in this place of her life. The author reveals this slowly as the story unfolds.

A well written story that kept my interest, finding Emlyn, Janessa and the Rev to be unforgettable and like the way Emlyn learned finally to trust herself and the future.

The Title is a bit deceptive it seems to me. Characters were really well developed, and the atmosphere of strange was interspersed in the story enough to leave you questioning everything as you went with them on this journey. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to all mystery lovers, and I think other genres would like this book also. I also would like to read more by this author.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books and author Kimi Cunningham Grant for advanced copy for honest review.

Happy Pub Day!

I was really captivated from beginning to end. The descriptive detail of nature and the knowledge of tracking within this book kept me engaged. We start with the quiet Emlyn who ends up befriending the out going Janessa. They hit it off and become inseparable even after college. Back at Janessa's home we meet the neighbor Travis who is all about the Van Life and camping and just living in the great outdoors. Well with old habits dying hard they all go their separate ways. Travis who Emlyn wants desperately to forget comes back into her life after several years, looking for their friend Janessa. She was went off the grid and with her being an Instagrammer, this is completely not like her. They head out to the remote and I mean remote wilderness looking for Janessa and partner Bush. Without giving spoilers... they need to find Janessa and they need to find her fast, Bush is not to be trusted, actually no one is to be trusted. Not everyone is who they seem. 5 stars, great twists, recommend!

"The Nature of Disappearing" by Kimi Cunningham Grant captivates with its richly drawn characters and intricate plotlines.

While living a simple and solitary life in the Idaho wilderness, our protagonist Emlyn embodies resilience and vulnerability in equal measure as she navigates the complexities of her relationships and the mystery of her friend Jenessa's disappearance. The novel skillfully delves into Emlyn's tumultuous love story with Tyler, whose betrayal casts a shadow over the narrative, while exploring themes of friendship and the intricacies of dysfunctional relationships.

Grant's narrative technique, weaving between past and present timelines, adds depth and suspense to the story, although some readers might find the transitions slightly abrupt. Despite this, the novel excels in its vivid portrayal of wilderness survival and its emotional resonance. The final revelations, while not earth-shattering, maintain a compelling momentum that keeps the reader engaged. Grant's descriptive prose vividly captures both the beauty and harshness of the wilderness setting, enhancing the novel's atmospheric quality.

Overall, "The Nature of Disappearing" is a well-crafted exploration of loss, love, and strength, showcasing Grant's talent for creating authentic characters and evocative settings. This novel immerses readers in its world, leaving them reflecting on its themes long after the final page.

I've not read this author before but the description intrigued me. I enjoyed the book and really liked the lead character, Emlyn. The characters were complex and interesting. The story unfolds with a mix of present day and past. There was a good level of suspense. I wasn't sure who to trust. The book moved at a good pace. Emlyn was such a kickass heroine even though she has no idea that she is! I liked the author's style. The descriptions were clear and allowed me to picture where they were. I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

I loved this book. The writing style of short, staccato sentences, some composed of only one word. The deep dive into Emlyn’s emotions, present and past. And the play between past and present, as the mysteries of what happened, and what will happen, on many different levels, is revealed.

Emlyn is a wilderness guide and the main character in our book. She doesn’t use social media, so she didn’t see her old friend, Janessa, has been missing for a week until she sees a clip on the news. Apparently Janessa is now a #vanlife influencer, and she and her boyfriend Bush are documenting their outdoor adventures - but they haven’t posted in a week, and nobody can get ahold of them.

Emlyn went off-grid after Tyler, Janessa’s childhood friend and business partner, and Emlyn’s ex-boyfriend, left her on side of the road in the snow five years ago. She almost died until Varden, a Forest Service ranger, found her. Emlyn decided to stay there with Varden and “Rev”, an elderly woman who needs help running the wilderness company, and become a guide. She thought nobody knew where she was until Tyler called, asking her to help him find Janessa. The book follows them on their journey, and also dives into the past, and the toxic relationships Emlyn has had with the two.

When I started reading this, I was thinking about how many #vanlife, Gabby Petito-type books I’ve read this year, and I was hoping this one would be a little different. I wasn’t disappointed; this isn’t totally about the glamping influencer or her Instagram account, this more is about friendship, trust and the opioid epidemic. Beautifully written and very atmospheric, this is not only a page-turning, suspenseful thriller, it’s a deep look into more than just a social media influencer getting lost. This author rarely disappoints…4.5 stars!

(Thank you to Minotaur Books, Kimi Cunningham Grant and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on June 18, 2024.)

Kimi Cunningham Grant is becoming one of my favorite authors! She has a unique ability to write thrillers with depth and she can make you feel EVERYTHING.

I feel ask though this is a book better read without knowing the synopsis so you can truly enjoy the twists and turns. I ADORED this book and I think everyone should read it!

Format: Kindle (ARC)
⭐⭐⭐ 3.5 Enjoyed, would recommend


I’m really in my thriller era at the moment. The Nature of Disappearing by Kimi Cunningham Grant is an ideal thriller for the summer. Imagine being a rich and atmospheric setting of the wilderness and how creepy that would be. The narrative centers on Emlyn, a wilderness guide who must join forces with her ex, Tyler, to locate their missing friend. The hauntingly desolate ambiance of the deep woods is gripping, delivering a suspenseful adventure brimming with tension and mystery.

“The eyes flicker. No body, no movement, no noise. Just a set of eyes that move right. Then they disappear for a moment. Now left. It is pacing, watching. Deciding.”

I am one of the many who loved These Silent Woods so I was highly anticipating this book. I’ve seen some mixed reviews but I really enjoyed this one. It is very different from These Silent Woods and I think many people were looking for a similar reading experience. They are nothing alike, save for the great nature writing that Kimi Cunningham Grant is so good at. Because of those early reviews I went in just letting the story speak to me and I think that’s what allowed me to thoroughly enjoy this.

The characters did read a bit younger than their actual ages, but that’s really the only negative for me this one, and it’s really a slight negative. I was fully immersed in the setting and along the trail with the characters through the book.

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:

Anne of green Gables references
Flashbacks
Nature writing
Hiking

Thank you Minotaur for the digital copy through NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an ALC.