[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Shadow Mountain in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
It was luck of the draw that Indie ended up on the rafting trip. The senior journalism students were randomly assigned to an adventure opportunity for their “Summer Scoop” project. And at the end, they would write about one of the people they got to know on the trip.
It was the first time Indiana had left her grandfather since her mom died two years ago. On a rafting trip. On this very river. Indie would rather be at home, but it was a school assignment. And she cared about this journalism course and the instructor. And her grandfather and therapist thought the trip would do her good.
Indie knows the three other kids on the trip. Skye hasn’t been around for the last year. Indie hadn’t heard why, but the prosthetic leg is probably part of that story. Wyatt lives in a trailer near Indie’s grandfather. He’s an amazing artist – and a “prepper.” That could be a good thing on an outdoorsy trip, although from the start he seems to only care about antagonizing the others. Shelby is a social media influencer who’s unhappy to be cut off from her phone for five days.
This isn’t the trip Indie would have chosen for herself. But, as she’s learned in her grief, there’s no way out but through. She can get away from this group only by finishing this trip. So she takes her place on the river, braced for whatever will come.
Review
Readers who enjoy outdoor adventure/survival stories will enjoy this journey with Indie and the other teens. There’s tons of rafting, camping, fishing, and climbing details for fans to enjoy. That’s really not my style, though, when it comes to stories. I chose this one more for the interpersonal journey of the four students.
Indie tells the story, and there’s a lot of her internal processing in this book. I think I might have clicked with this more if each kid told part of the adventure. But the focus of this is less on the ensemble and more on Indie and her journey as well as her history with their guide. There’s a lot here about grief and forgiveness, so Indie had to be the one to tell the story. I found there to be too much inner processing for my preference. It felt out of balance with the action and the interactions in the book.
Some of the themes in the book are: identity, secrets, grief, truth, forgiveness. And there’s plenty here for readers to dig into as each of the other three teens reveals something to the group that others don’t know. They move from rumors and assumptions about each other to being seen and known. And those pieces kept me engaged through the story.