Heartwood has a premise that caught my eye and it starts out well, but I'm not a fan of multiple POVs or timelines, and if I don't relate or feel connected somehow with a character in a book, I simply cannot care for what goes on. Sadly, that's what happened here.
I didn't dislike any of the main characters. I simply didn't clique with them so I couldn't care for all that was going on.
I thought it was interestingly atmospheric, but in general I couldn't care.
Amity Gaige's writing is decent and well done, but I'm starting to think that maybe I am not the right audience for this book. And that's fine. I'm sure this book will resonate better with other readers.
Thank you, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster, for providing me with a free eARC of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love stories that are told from alternating points of view, advancing the narrative while giving us insight into the characters, their backgrounds, and their motivations - unfolding like a trail of bread crumbs until they all converge, and you can finally see how all the (sometimes seemingly completely unrelated) pieces fit together. This story starts slowly, but it picks up the pace as it goes along - but I'd call it more of a mystery than a suspenseful thriller. The two main plotlines revolve around Valerie, a nurse who has gone missing from her hike on the Appalachian Trail, and Bev, the Maine Game warden who is leading the search for Valier. Alongside, there's Lena, a 76-year-old resident of a CT retirement home, who ends up getting unwittingly drawn into the search from afar. There is very rich character development, and some really wonderful commentary on family - the one we're born into, and the ones we choose - that rounds out the story, giving it a real level of depth that is sometimes lacking in a mystery. This is the first Amity Gaige I've read, and I will definitely be exploring her backlist now!

Heartwood is a beautifully written story told from the point of view of three women. Valerie is a 42 year old nurse who goes missing while hiking the Appalachian trail. Lt. Bev is the Maine game warden who is in charge of the search and rescue mission. The third narrator, Lena, is an elderly, disabled woman living in an assisted living facility who is closely following the search online. Intermingled in the story line is the mother-daughter relationships of these characters. The story and the characters grabbed me from the beginning and never let go. It was moving, suspenseful and left a lot for the reader to think about. This was a new author for me and I intend to seek out her previous and future books. I highly recommend this novel and thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for an ARC in exchange for my honest review..

I am not someone who adores hiking; I pretend to be asleep at the mention of a hike, particularly since my brother has moved to LA where everyone hikes. Oddly, like Lena in the story, I much prefer books. And even more oddly, I really love books about the wilderness. The writing of this novel is absolutely beautiful, the three intersecting tales, the post pandemic paralysis that so many of us face(d) and a need to heal in some way. It was engaging and poetic and I loved all the subtle characters and characterizations that brought this to life.

Heartwood is presented as a suspenseful book about the search and rescue of Valerie Gillis, a 42-year-old nurse hiking the Appalachian Trail, who has gone missing in the Maine wilderness. We have Valerie's point of view as she writes letters to her mother in journal while lost in the wilds, the point of view of Lt. Beverly, a Maine Game Warden leading the search for Valerie, and also Lena, a woman in her mid 60s in Connecticut who has a fascination with foraging and bird watching and somehow becomes pulled into the search as an armchair detective that just might crack the case.
This book is relatively short and felt a bit muddled and confusing to me. I definitely did not get any suspenseful thriller vibes from it at all, and it seemed heavy on the exploration of the mother-daughter relationship rather than focusing heavily on the actual search of Valerie. The threads connecting Valerie, Bev, and Lena in particular felt quite thin and as a result the plot of the novel didn't really hit the mark for me. Not to say that Amity Gaige isn't a talented author, I just was left feeling unsatisfied and slightly confused by this book. I did read it from start to finish and didn't hate the experience so I will round up from 2.5 stars to 3 overall. For me though, I don't see reading any future books by this author nor would I go out of my way to recommend this book to other readers.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

"Heartwood" wasn't my cup of tea, but I also don't think I was its intended target audience. I just could not get into this book, and felt annoyed by most of the characters. I realistically think other people with a different set of interests and identities would enjoy this book, but I am not one of them.

fantastic, well written thriller about the woods and drama and all that thats really well written! i loved the characters and the setup. 5 stars. tysm for te arc.

Valerie is a nruse who decides to hike the Appalachian Trail to recover from caring for patients during the pandemic.
When she misses a check in with her husband, Beverly, a Maine state Game Warden, oversees the search and
rescue operation. Interviews with AT hikers and family members provide more information about Valerie while
her journal to her mother details what happened. Bev deals with the lack of progress made while pushung
aside dealing with her mother's situation. Lena, a resident at a nursing home, may have information that will help
locate Valerie. Multiple POVs add to the story.
#Heartwood #Simon&Schuster #NetGalley

I loved this book! Beautiful prose, humor, unique characters- excellent! Wonderful commentary
on mother-daughter relationships without being sappy or cliche. I would strongly recommend
this book and look forward to more work novels from Amity Gaige.

I really enjoyed this book. I will not rehash the storyline as that can be found in many other places.

The characters are so well developed, somewhat quirky and quite memorable. The author did a great job of integrating the elements of the wilderness with the wildly contradictory personalities. There is a bit of suspense as well as the themes of redemption and finding your way in the world.

Put it on your TBR list for April 2025.

Thank you to Nagalli and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this ahead of publication.

A story told by three women. One is a hiker who gets lost on the Appalachian Trail. One is the head of the search team scouring hundreds of acres to find her. And one is an elderly woman who lives in an assisted living facility. The story alternates from character to character and we find out how their lives intersect. A realistic feel to being lost in a huge forest and having to depend on your smarts to keep going while people are out there looking for you.

Thanks for the ARC Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley!! I'm a big hiker and was immediately sucked into the world of this book. I couldn't put it down. I've often dreamed of having the time to hike the PCT or Appalachian, and despite the events of this book, it still sounds amazing to me. I have a friend who grew up and was a forest ranger in the parts of Maine where this takes place and was talking with him about it, and it really seems like Amity Gaige did the research on this. Great story, and a fun suspenseful read!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A woman hiking the Appalachian Trail goes missing, and the community searches for her. The main storylines are the missing hiker and the lead warden,also a woman. The terrain in Maine is harsh and the conditions are brutal.

Heartwood is an interesting but also somewhat odd book, especially the Reddit conspiracy threads discussion. The overarching story is the search for a missing Appalachian Trail hiker, Valerie Gillis, in the woods of Maine, a search which proves frustratingly difficult. However, it is also a story about mothers and daughters, as the main characters— Valerie, Bev (the Maine game warden leading the search), and Lena (a retiree whose connection to the search is a strange one) — think about their mothers and/or daughters and their relationships. They also think about their place in the world, as none of the women really “fit in” in a conventional sense.

I enjoyed the discussion of hiking the Appalachian Trail and the discussion of foraging, especially how much nature has to offer if we care to look closely enough. Some of the best parts of the book are the interviews with Santo, a fellow Appalachian Trail hiker who is definitely not the stereotypical hiker, and who formed a bond with Valerie (Sparrow) during the time they hiked together.

4.5 ⭐️ Literary, atmospheric, and beautiful! This is a slow burn character driven mystery told from three different perspectives. Valerie is a 42 year old nurse who goes missing while hiking the Appalachian trail. She tells her part of the story through poetic journal entries to her mother. The second perspective is the search and rescue mission as told by Lt Bev, the Maine game warden. Intermingled with these story lines is Lena, a 76 year old woman in a retirement home who is following the search mission as she grapples with her own fraught relationship with her daughter. I loved the writing, which is poetic but also very accessible, the setting, and the exploration of the mother- daughter relationships. While the underlying focus involves finding the missing hiker, this is not a thriller but a literary mystery and a reflection on the characters connections with others and their place in the world. The story is still very propulsive and hard to put down. Overall I highly recommend this for those who enjoy more character driven, literary mysteries.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Absolutely loved it! This story evoked a multitude of emotions for me – wonder, appreciation, respect, admiration, despair, anxiety, exhaustion, hope. I was riveted to the plot, couldn’t wait to discover the outcome and raced through the pages. Then I’d stop and reread passages where the flora and fauna were so vivid I could smell them. I felt as if I was in that forest. In an earlier life I did my share of hiking and mountain climbing. I’ve never considered any sort of trek or race, certainly not anything like the Appalachian Trail as Valerie does. Now she’s hopelessly lost in the Woods of Maine. An entire team led by Beverly of the State Game Warden and many volunteers are going to spend exhausting days to find Valerie. I know we’re all tired of Covid stories. Don’t let that deter you from reading this. I appreciated a realistic viewpoint from Valerie as a nurse. It was relevant to the story as were her letters to her mother. I also truly enjoyed Lena’s character and how she was woven into the plot. Her life and acquaintances at her assisted living center were touching to read about. The plot has several focal points including complicated mother/daughter relationships. This was a tense and suspense filled, edge of your seat, impactful story. One of my favorites this year. This was beautifully written novel from an author new to me. Thanks so much to Simon & Schuster (via NetGalley) and the author, Amity Gaige, for providing an Advance Reader Copy of “Heartwood”. Publication expected 04/01/2025. These are my honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily without compensation.

3.5 rounded up. I was expecting more of a hiking adventure story. That said, the book held my interest and I could not put it down.

This book surprised me. It had deep, original, interesting characters, even the minor ones came to life. It was a story of a search for a missing woman but it was also a search for meaning, for love, for relationships between mothers and daughters. Moving, insightful, it brought me to tears a few times and full of truth. I loved it.

3.5⭐️ I like wilderness survival/thrillers and enjoyed most of this book except one character/plot element that I don’t want to give away. I very much liked Lt Bev and the aspects of the story that focused more on the search/hike.

“A riveting wilderness suspense novel—a gripping journey—a search and rescue team race against time when an experienced hiker mysteriously disappears on the Appalachian Trail in Maine”.

Imagine….
“Like a lot of people, you’d always wanted to hike the legendary Appalachian Trail. Since taking the plunge, you have hiked through mud, water, pain, and heat. Maine is even harder than you heard it would be. One difference is the density of the woods. Walls of vegetation hem you in on both sides.
In the past, when the trail got hilly and punishing, you stared at your boots, willing yourself forward one step at a time. But now, you raise your head. You pause. Somehow, for some reason, you step off the path”.

Valerie Gillis is forty-two years old. She has vanished two hundred miles from her final destination. She’s alone in the wilderness, Valerie pours her thoughts into fractured, poetic letters to her mother as she battles the elements and struggles to keep hoping.

At the heart of the investigation is Beverly, the experienced-determined Maine State Game Warden.
She is tasked with finding Valerie (*Sparrow* is Valerie’s hiking nickname).
Beverly will eventually concede that finding Valerie/Sparrow ….. is a different beast — a whole new ball game in finding a missing person.

Lena Kucharski is a seventy-two year old birdwatcher. She lives in a Connecticut retirement community. She becomes an unexpected armchair, detective.

We will be introduced to many other supporting characters that round out the investigation of the story.

“Here’s what we know. On the morning of Monday, July 25, Valerie Gillis awoke early at Poplar Ridge shelter, said her goodbye to two female southbound hikers with whom she bonded the night before, and continued her journey north. She had a cell phone and appropriate gear and supplies, and was in a fine mood. There’s no cell service on that stretch of the
trail, but her husband was set to pick her up for resupply at a trailhead the following day.
She was almost done with the northern portion of her hike. She smiled for a snapshot just as she turned to leave. Then she vanished”.

Valerie/Sparrow …. writing in her journal:
“I never really minded being a small person. Of course, my statue greatly influenced my life. I was teased a lot, mostly affectionately. Treated as a toy. Shrimpy, Low Pockets, Tinker Bell. I used to cry about it. But every kid was teased for one thing or another.
“Small women have to be nice. Not just because we need the occasional assistance and reaching things, but also because we sense the inherent dangers of being easily lifted—well, seized”.
“But now. Now, I would do anything to be visible. To be large”.
“I WANT TO BE SEEN”.

There is still a lot more. We don’t know as we turn the pages.
The storytelling is told from several points of view. I found it all very and grossing.

I’ve been hiking most of my adult life. Sometimes hiking more than 50 miles a week. I’m slowing down now at age 72 and sometimes have to manage injuries that come and go. But the first time I ever got lost on a trail was ‘this’ year.
I tell ya — it was scary! It was uncomfortable!

This book is beautiful. It’s not only a missing person story -it’s not only suspense - the writing highlights literary and atmospheric brilliance.
I felt the discomforts - the fears - varying emotions.
And…. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.