Three-sentence Review: Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis

Three-sentence review of Be Not Far From Me by Mindy McGinnis. Published by Katherine Tegen Books

This three-sentence review needs only one sentence: Man vs. Nature, but with teenage girl! Given that I have two more sentences, I can suggest to you to clear your schedule before opening this book because you probably won’t do much until you finish reading. If your summer hiking adventure got canceled because of the pandemic, take an unplanned hike with Ashley in the Smokies and judge how you would have fared.

I’ve got 85 beta reading questions, here’s an answer to one of them:

Is the goal strong enough to sustain a 240-page story?

It sure is! What this book excels at is not only the goal (will Ashley get herself out of those woods?) but how well details of Ashley’s life before she ended up in the woods are woven into the narrative. It also explores how some decisions she makes while trying to save herself will have ramifications in her future if she does make it out.