How long could you survive if you were lost in the Colorado wilderness during a blizzard?
When Amy Raye was a child, her grandfather taught her to hunt. The love of doing this has never left her; it has only grown. On a hunting expedition with two friends, Amy decides to go out on her own to get an elk. This may not be the smartest thing to do in the Colorado wilderness, but Amy Raye is an expert at hunting, and she has faith in her ability to get the elk and return safely. A brutal snowstorm changes everything.
The snowstorm surprises Amy Raye, but she succeeded in shooting her elk. Determined not to lose him, she starts the bagging the meat from her kill, not thinking about how long this will take. The darkening skies begin to worry her though. She finishes as quickly as she can and starts the journey back. She has tracked this elk farther than she thought she had. Because of the snow and ice that now covers everything, the marks she made to find her way back to her truck are covered, and she loses her way. A fall down a cliff injures her severely, and she is stuck.
Pru Hathaway is one of the rangers that searches for Amy Raye once she is reported missing. What Pru learns about Amy convinces her that this woman is not one who gives up easily. Though evidence of where Amy has been is hard to find, Pru is convinced that she is still alive, even when the search is called off and more snow has fallen.
The way Amy takes care of herself in the wilderness after she has been injured amazed me and showed what a strong woman she was. Was she rescued? I’m not going to tell that, but I will say that this book will keep you on the edge of your seat.
The deep look taken into each of the character’s lives—who they are, what drives them, their motivation for doing things—pulled me into the story. The characters became so much more than just make-believe people in a story. They became real, compelling me to keep reading to find out what happened, to discover if Amy Raye Latour survived, to see if Pru Hathaway and her dog succeeded in saving her.
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you would like to purchase your own copy, I have provided an Amazon link below.
Amazon Link: Breaking Wild
Favorite Sentences:
And the lines between death and life blurred, each second stretching out for what felt like eternity as she waited through the darkness for sunlight.
The taste of panic coated her tongue.
She’d relied on her adrenaline, had attacked these woods, trying to make good time, and now with each step, she knew just how lost she had become.
She had been like the alcoholic who promises herself she won’t take another drink, who wants to come clean, and then picks up cheap beer at the convenience store on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday afternoon.
New Words Learned:
arroyo – a steep-sided gully cut by running water in an arid or semiarid region
bugle – a loud sound resembling that of a bugle, as the mating call of a bull elk
carabinera – a coupling link with a safety closure, used by rock climbers
chert – a hard, dark, opaque rock composed of silica with an amorphous or microscopically fine-grained texture
crampon – a metal plate with spikes fixed to a boot for walking on ice or rock climbing
declination– the angular deviation of a compass needle from true north (because the magnetic north pole and the geographic north pole do not coincide).
fletching – the feathers of an arrow
midden – a dunghill or refuse heap
pinyon – a small pine tree with edible seeds, native to Mexico and the southwestern U.S.
potentilla– a plant of a genus that includes the cinquefoils, esp (in gardening) a small shrub with bright yellow, red, orange, or pink flowers
stratigraphic– having to do with the position of strata and their relationship to the geological time scale
About the Author:
Diane Les Becquets is a Professor of English and a faculty member at Southern New Hampshire University’s MFA Program in Fiction and Nonfiction. In addition to teaching creative writing, she has worked as a medical journalist; an archaeology assistant; a marketing consultant; a sand and gravel dispatcher; a copywriter; and a lifeguard, and is also an avid outdoorswoman. A native of Nashville, she spent almost fourteen years living in a small Colorado ranching town before moving to New Hampshire.
