Uncharted

This was a book I was really nervous to read as I had such high expectations for it after “Whiteout” dominated as my favorite read of 2020, and I was not disappointed. I’m in awe of Adriana Anders and her ability to weave words into these beautiful stories that will stick with me long after I’ve finished them. “Uncharted” for me was amazing in its own way to where I found I wasn’t even comparing it to “Whiteout” as I was reading it as it was so different. Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty! What I loved: -Adriana Anders knows my type so well that I wonder if she has gotten a look in my head. If big, burly, stoic mountain/wild men who are competent and feral for the women they love is your thing, then this series is for you. Not to mention he has a beard!!! There’s never enough beards in romances for me. -The fact that Leo and Elias meet how they meet and don’t really even know each other’s names for a while after meeting due to their natural distrust of others was so satisfying to watch. It made their love that much more real and special to me! -So often in books I find that my hero and heroine are never “beat up” enough for me to truly be worried about their well-being. That is not the case with this one. If anything, Leo especially, was so beat up so consistently that I wondered how she was going to make it through. -The way the conflict is able to seamlessly carry on from one book to the next without feeling dragged on is amazing. -I really enjoyed the perspectives we got from Ash, the man who is tracking them throughout their journey in the Alaskan wilderness. (and also kind of really want a book for him. Like I need it.) -Amka is the best. She stole the show and every time she was on the page I fell i love with her all over again and her intense focus on getting back to Daisy to make sure she was safe. (Also loved her interaction with Jack and again, just like with Ash, I want his story.) -The scene towards the beginning of the book in the cave when Leo has a knife to Elias’ throat is my lifeblood. -This was a book that didn’t feel like the love was rushed or out of place despite the entirety of it occurring over only 5 (maybe 6?) days. -This was the best kind of slow burn for me. It’s what made them finally clashing together so much better than what I could hope for. It also helped with the timeline, as it wouldn’t have been very believable for me if it had happened faster than it did considering they were strangers to each other at the start. -One last thing so this review doesn’t become a book of its own, I loved the way both Leo and Elias preferred to be alone and in solitude without someone else but both decided that they were worth it and that being alone couldn’t compare to what it was like being together. They decided to jump into the unknown together and to trust despite their fears. What I didn’t love: -Nothing. I can’t think of a single bone to pick with this book other than I wanted it sooner because I’m greedy and now that it’s over, I’m going to go out of my mind waiting for the next book. -Ok, well maybe one thing, but it wasn’t something I didn’t love, it was more just funny to me which is how often the word “scuffled” and variants of it are used. It was one of those words that I noticed and then couldn’t stop seeing because it was such a bizarre word to me (I’ve never seen this word used in this context). Again, not bad, just weird to me. (I searched the book and it’s only used 8 times from what I can see so I’m not sure why this stood out to me which is just making it funnier to me that I’m so fixated on the word.) If you were thinking about picking up, don’t think, just do. This series is phenomenal and everything I want out of a suspense. I highly recommend both “Uncharted” and “Whiteout” and will be shoving these books into peoples hands for as long as I’m alive. I already want to re-read the book and I just finished it. *I received this ARC through NetGalley and voluntarily read this book. my thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for giving me the chance to read an advanced copy!*

Leo Eddowes has been left alone by her team as they try to find out more about the virus that was stolen from Chronos labs by Campbell Turner. When it looks like she might have a chance to find him herself, she gets a woman named Old Amka to loan her a small plane she calls Delores to go out and find Campbell. Amka is anxious to help, but she is hiding her own reasons for loaning Leo her plane. As Chronos starts closing in, Leo thinks she's found Campbell, but instead finds infamous Elias Thorne, mass murderer who was thought to be dead, but Elias isn't what everyone thinks he is and Leo understands that she must trust him if they are to survive in the wilderness. Uncharted is the companion/sequel to Whiteout, and follows the story of the pilot, Leo, from the first book. There are many good things about this book, including the description of the wilderness and the struggle Leo and Elias go through to survive. However, there are several weaknesses to this story as well. As with many romantic survival stories, Leo and Elias find time in their harried escape to have a physical relationship and enjoy other romantic moments together. Also, some of the situations described seem unrealistic. In addition, we don't get much information about the characters, so when some of them "jump ship" in the middle of the story, it doesn't really make sense. Overall, though, Uncharted is a fairly good romantic suspense story with lots of action and adventure.

Content notes: (view spoiler)[Violence (including gun violence), plane crash (on-page, MC is injured), death of parents (by suicide and murder), grief, torture, animal in danger (but is safe) (hide spoiler)] Whiteout was one of my favorite reads of 2020, so of course I was excited to see what crazy wilderness shenanigans would happen this time. While different in several ways, this book still scratches that same itch for me. It’s some kind of luck for Leo to get a tip about the scientist her team has been searching for the same day she’s out sick with a stomach bug – and even worse luck that a hostile corporate extraction team is right behind her. And then she’s shot down shortly before she reaches his location. Luckily, she’s rescued by Elias, a man who’s spent the past decade living in the Alaskan wilderness and knows the area like the back of his hand. Leo’s not sure why the bad guys are after him or why he rescued her, but they form an unlikely team fleeing through the wilderness to reach the nearest town. Injured and pursued, Leo has nothing to show for it, because Elias isn’t the man she’s looking for. Or is he? “Never, can’t, won’t. I don’t believe in those words.[…] Even metal melts if you get it hot enough.” Leo’s the type of person to be constantly on the move, ready to tackle whatever comes her way. And as a Black female elite pilot, it’s a trait that’s served her well. While she’s not military any longer, she feels a strong kinship with her fellow team and is similarly driven to find the virus that the Chronos Corporation desperately wants for nefarious purposes. Elias is a wrench in those plans, much in the same way she is for him. Elias has spent years living mostly by himself, with only his dog Bo for company. There’s a good reason for him to be hiding in the woods, and he’s wary of how Leo is tangled up in it. Like Leo, he’s extremely good at what he does, and that’s keeping himself alive in the wilderness. Both characters are just incredibly competent, and I loved seeing that. “There wasn’t time for this now—thinking about how this person who’d been sent to him—who’d literally fallen from the sky—made him strong in a way he’d never felt. Together, he thought, letting his mind take an uncharacteristically fanciful spin, they were more than the sum of their parts.” While I liked the individual characters, I think the romance didn’t work as well. In the first book, while the main characters weren’t close, they at least knew each other. In this one, the characters meet for the first time when the heroine’s concussed after a plane crash (oh, and suffering from some sort of stomach virus). They’re on the run almost immediately from that point onwards, so the whole “getting to know you” bit is secondary to the “running for our lives” plot. The individual character development was fine – after all, we get to see inside each character’s head – but it takes a while for them to even start trusting each other, let alone falling in love. What I really liked about the romance, though, is how it’s built on respect. Leo’s impressed by how prepared Elias is for nearly every eventuality, and how good he is at navigating and surviving in the wilderness. Elias is impressed by Leo’s flying (what little of it he sees before she crashes) and her spirit; she’s not one to give up, even against insurmountable odds. The POV alternates mostly between Leo and Elias’s third-person, but also occasionally switches to one of the bad guys hunting them down. Usually I don’t care for the villain POV and quickly rush through those bits, but I actually liked the character in this case. As for other secondary characters, well, they’re escaping through the Alaskan wilderness, so there’s not really a ton of other people in the book! But without being too spoilery, I will say that I want to be Amka when I grow up! The suspense portion of the plot was excellent, if a bit on the unbelievable side – they get injured a lot and yet somehow keep on going. It was gripping, though, and I gulped down large chunks of the book at a time because I simply had to know what was going to happen next. Overall, this was another extremely enjoyable romantic suspense, even if the romantic relationship took longer to get in place. There’s several options for who the next book might be about and I can’t wait to see what’s next in this series! I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I absolutely adored Whiteout, but for me this rom-suspense tipped over that narrow edge into being a bit too much on the survivalist/suspense side versus the romance. The action is super intense and stressful, and the two love interests having a meet disaster in Alaska as she has a stomach bug and maybe a concussion, and he thinks he's getting ambushed, made it a bit more difficult to see how these two would fall in love. I did enjoy their love story, I was just a little stressed out getting to the payoff. Payoff it does, and Anders absolutely delivers on the emotion and heat, so that made me really happy. I was also worried about the dog a lot (it all ends up fine), and I think if I could have read the book in one sitting I'd have had a less stressful and more enjoyable time reading. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.