Mundie Moms

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Book Review: Untraceable by S.R. Johannes


Published by: Coleman & Stott
Released on: November 23rd, 2011
Source: book from author to review
4 stars: I Really Enjoyed It
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

16-year-old Grace has lived in the Smokies all her life, patrolling with her forest ranger father who taught her about wildlife, tracking, and wilderness survival.

When her dad goes missing on a routine patrol, Grace refuses to believe he’s dead and fights the town authorities, tribal officials, and nature to find him.

One day, while out tracking clues, Grace is rescued from danger by Mo, a hot guy with an intoxicating accent and a secret. As her feelings between him and her ex-boyfriend get muddled, Grace travels deep into the wilderness to escape and find her father.

Along the way, Grace learns terrible secrets that sever relationships and lives. Soon she’s enmeshed in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder. And it’s going to take a lot more than a compass and a motorcycle (named Lucifer) for this kick-butting heroine to save everything she loves

A thrilling murder mystery set deep in the heart of North Carolina's Smoky Mountain's, Untraceable is a suspenseful page turner loaded with plot twists, action, and a swoon worthy romance. Not everything is as it seems in this story, and that element of wanting to uncover the mystery kept me hooked the entire time I sat reading Grace's story. It's a story about survival, corruption, love, the outdoors and so much more. I completely fell in love with this story's beautiful setting. The outdoors/woods of the Smoky Mountains plays such a huge part in the book that it felt like it was a character in itself. It really set the tone for a lot of the action scenes and some of the sigh worthy moments between Grace and Mo that take place there.

Grace is a strong willed, courageous teenager who will stop at nothing to uncover the mystery behind her father's supposed death and the corruption that's happening in her own back yard. Her independence and quest for the truth is the driving factor in her uncovering what's really going on in her town's woods, and what happened to her father on her own. Her quest for the truth is something I really admired about her. When everyone else has all but given up on him, she's his only hope and WOW does she uncover one heck of a complicated conspiracy that's going on. Growing up with a forest ranger father they often roamed the back woods, and her father taught Grace all she knows about the survival skills she relies on through out her story. On a side note I really liked each chapter of the book is titled with some form of survival skill, which also clues readers into what they can except to happen each chapter. I loved Mo and Grace together. These two have a fabulous chemistry together. They have those sweet sigh worthy moments, and other moments they had me laughing out loud with the things they say or do to each other.

S.R. Johannes's writing is engaging. She does such a great job at throwing readers into what's going on, and she definitely pulls out all the stops through the story. The end is full of one twist after the other and I was totally shocked at some of the revelations. I didn't see those ones coming. That ending makes me want to go take my own notes to try and solve the big mystery, because just as I thought I had it figured out who was behind all that happens, S.R. threw in another twist. While I thought she did a great job wrapping up this story, I need more answers! I can't wait for the sequel to be released. This is one thrilling read that I highly recommend picking up. There's plenty of heart bounding action, swoon worthy romance, and plenty of twists that will keep readers glued to the pages. There is very mild language, and a some realistic action scenes that may not be suitable to younger readers. I'd definitely recommend this to fans of YA.

14 comments:

  1. Ooh awesome. I've seen this book before but didn't know it was a murder mystery. I love those! I'm also curious to see if the author would surprise me with the twists which is very rare haha. Greta review!!

    Giselle
    Xpresso Reads

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  2. Giselle- It's really good. I liked the different elements that S.R. involves in the story, and I liked that it wasn't paranormal, which I for some reason thought it was. I think you'll enjoy it!

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  3. I'm dying to read this one! The sneak peak I had at the first chapter sucked me in and made me wish I had the novel in hand at the time. It's on my list, and thanks to your review, I'll have to move it up!

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    1. You're so welcome Heather!! I hope you enjoy it :)

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  4. Great review! I also really enjoyed the race to the end of this book. I couldn't put it down. :)

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    1. Thank you! Wasn't that race fabulous?! I'm so glad you enjoyed it as well.

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  5. You're review makes me want to read it all the more. Thanks!

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  6. Oh this sounds so interesting. This is definitely going on my wishlist. Great review!

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    1. Thank you JJ!! I definitely recommend picking it up.

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  7. Great review. I also found that I didn't guess some of the plot points. Toward the end I couldn't put it down. Thanks for reviewing this.

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    1. Thank you Natalie! I agree, towards the end I couldn't put it down. I loved those plot twists.

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  8. Thank you so much Katie! I am so glad you liked it! :)

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    1. You're so welcome Shelli! Thank you for sharing your story w/ me :)

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  9. Wow, I thought I wanted to read this before I checked out your review, now I really want to read it. I love plot twists and mysteries, especially if I can't figure them out and they shock me.

    Thanks for the great review!

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