Such a beautiful and explorative story of grief, friendships, marriage and Annapurna. I've not read many books based in the mountains and it's such a rich place for a novel I loved it. I admire the wonderful people that work on the mountains and protect those who chose to climb - leaving their beautiful families alone to protect yours. I found myself disliking Mo, I thought she was selfish and quite cruel. I liked the way this novel also explored what grief can do to marriage.

most are aware of my love for climbing, so the second i saw the title "annapurna" picking this up was a no-brainer.

this is about a character named livy who, twenty years prior, lost her best friend mo on a base camp trek up to annapurna. when receiving her ashes, livy decides it - mo's ashes will need to be scattered on the same mountain where she was lost. but maybe it's also about getting away from her estranged husband who just dropped a bomb on her about moving far away. or maybe it's also about teasing open old wounds of the past and trying to heal from the things that hurt her.

through a trip filled with all kinds of dangers, livy has to grapple with who livy meant to her, what they experienced together, and ultimately a secret that she's been hiding for years about mo's disappearance.

and listen, i do love a good ol' adventure story to parallel a character going off to find themself. this story focused a reasonable amount on the climbing AND the past between characters however i did find myself less interested in personal history and more interested in reading about the actual climb (i told you, i love a climbing story). also, i'm not going to lie, for some reason there was another character on this trek that the prose became INCREDIBLY fatphobic to and it was to the point of excess, which dropped this book from a 3 to a 2 for me.

“Suddenly the weight of all I was carrying seemed unendurable. Unbearable. And there was nothing much in my pack, but there was everything, too.”

I look through my highlighted passages with a reverence to this debut author’s storytelling. Ms. Servino navigates the pacing of her thrilling new novel with the suspense building of a seasoned writer, and kept me on the edge of my seat until the very last page.

Annapurna, the 10th highest mountain in the world is the backdrop for a tale of adventure, regret and acceptance. Twenty years ago Livy set off with college roommate Mo on an adventure, hiking the mountain in Nepal, with a group of climbers, porters and guides. Present day Livy, now leaves behind her son and her broken marriage, returning to the base camp to scatter the ashes of her fallen friend Mo. Through a series of present day conversations, flashbacks and diary entries we discover what tragedy occurred and how it affected those connected to the journey.

All the players will grapple with haunting ramifications of past decisions: how they choose to acknowledge their roles and the how they may avoid repeating the same mistakes. Livy in particular will question how to make peace with the past and how she might finally make her way home.

If you were a fan of last year’s hit Dixon Descending by Karen Outen, this might be just the right title for you!

Thank you Regalo Press and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Unfortunately, this book wasn’t for me despite the blurb being quite intriguing. I did not finish this so I would normally not give this a star rating. I’ve opted for three stars as it’s not bad

3.5 stars

I love books about mountains and climbing so I was quick to pick this one up. I loved the setting and atmosphere. This has a slow start but by the time the characters were up in the snowy mountainside, I was hooked and sped through the story.

My main issue with this work was that I did not care for any of the characters. They all fell flat and I was left not caring about any of their fates. I’m still glad to have read this, however, and have been transported back to that snowy landscape.

Thank you to NetGalley and Post Hill Press for access to this work. All opinions are my own.

I experience an intangible pull towards mountainous, desolate, snowy settings in novels. Whether it’s a chilling thriller, creepy horror, or a survival story there’s just something about it that stands out to me. Maybe it’s the extra quiet insulated feeling that accompanies a snowfall. Or how something lovely can turn deadly if circumstances deem it so. Whatever the reason I am fascinated by these stories of survival and I’ll probably always reach for another be it fiction or nonfiction.

20 years ago Livy’s best friend Mo died on a trail in Nepal. Upon receiving her friend’s ashes and her journal all these years later she decides to get their former team together and head to Annapurna’s base camp to find the perfect final resting place for Mo. The team finds the mountains more harrowing this time around the threats of avalanches, blinding snow, and injuries are pushing each one to their limit.

There are two stories here one of coming to terms with drama that was left to fester, the other is trekking through beautiful areas and the danger when nature turns deadly. Livy was in need of a wake up call. Sometimes characters cut from that cloth become a nuisance to me. However, in her case I wanted to see her learn to prioritize and start being honest especially with herself.

I was glued to this story of life threatening situations and the treacherous landscape.

Thank you to NetGalley and Regalo Press for providing an ARC. All opinions are my own.

Well I’ll start by saying that I saw a book about hiking and finding yourself in the mountains and thought great, I didn’t however read the blurb enough to see that it was a novel rather than a memoir, so I read it thinking that it was a true story, and while it was really enjoyable at points and really took me back took my time trekking the Annapurna circuit there were just a few things that annoyed me about the story and the way that she speaks about some of her fellow trekkers, anyway I did enjoy reading it for the most part but also wanted a bit more of an ending about how Livys life turned out once she returned.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

This is perfect for my friends who like books about mountains, mountain climbing and cold and unfriendly locales!

After college Livy’s best friend Mo’s grandmother finances the girls’ travel to Kathmandu, so they can hike to the base camp at Annapurna in the Himalayas. Mo doesn’t come home.

Twenty years later Livy is married but separated and has a young son when she receives Mo’s ashes from her brother. She plans a reunion trip to Annapurna with the three men who accompanied Mo and her on the original journey, this time to scatter Mo’s ashes, and, for Livy, to hopefully lay a number of demons to rest.

This book won’t be for everyone and it has its flaws (the largest one being that Livy is too smart not to have realized that she needed a good therapist at some point.) but I really enjoyed it. First, there’s my love for mountain tales in adverse weather (they hiked in the summer the first time, but now they are there in the winter.), but I don’t know, I also enjoyed Livy’s life. There are some great characters here. Again, some may not love it; there’s a lot of introspection about Livy’s past and what she might want from the future, but, also, action. It’s a recommendation from me.

Annapurna by Meg Serino involves a main character who needs to revisit her past in order to understand herself and to move on from an experience that shaped her. The unusual setting adds another dimension.