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.