Carrie Mac

Teenaged best friends Annie and Pete go on a backpacking trip in the Pacific Northwest, with dangerous consequences.

Wildfire

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Wildfire

Author: Carrie Mac

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4/5

Diversity: Broken families and one Indian side character

Publication Date: January 28, 2020

Genre: YA Contemporary

Recommended Age: 16+ (gore, language, drugs, alcohol, death, grief, and sex mentions)

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers

Pages: 272

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Into the Wild meets The Serpent King in this story about Annie and Pete, two best friends on a dangerous and emotional trek through the woods.

Annie and Pete have been best friends since they were little. They know each other better than anyone, and they've been on more adventures than they can count--they even have a notebook filled with all the times they've almost died. But they always survive, because together, they're invincible.

And they've always been just friends. But lately, Annie has been thinking that maybe friendship is just the beginning, and she's been mentally replaying all the times they were almost something more.

Now they're heading out on their next great quest: a ten-day backpacking trip through the mountains of Washington State, ending at Fire Camp, where they'll learn to fight the area's growing wildfire problem. The woods spark with the promise of adventure, but a freak climbing accident interrupts their progress, and as the wildfires close in and smoke envelops them, Annie and Pete wander farther from the trail. Carrie Mac's gripping story of the power of unrequited love and the danger of the elements is harrowing, beautiful, and unforgettable.

Review: This book was a roller coaster of emotions. The book is a back and forth of Annie and Pete’s life together as the bestest friends of all who love to hike. The writing was amazing and the plot was very intriguing. I also love how the book wasn’t a normal contemporary tale.

However, I didn’t really like how the book began, it kinda began in an odd place and it took a bit to get into the rhythm of this book. The book also showed the two making really dumb/bad decisions, which is realistic and infuriating. I understand that every hiker makes mistakes, you can never full prepare for what will happen in the wild, but the mistakes they made were completely within their control and should have been accounted for. The most infuriating is that they didn’t tell their fathers where exactly they would be going. I understand that’s a teenager thing and it’s infuriating, but I did appreciate how the book showed how horrible it can be when your parents don’t know where exactly you are. My main concern is that, at one part of the book, Annie gets drunk and drives into a pole. Pete tells her to say she swerved to miss a dog so she wouldn’t get in trouble. I don’t think the book did a proper explanation of how dangerous and stupid that was of her to do… and honestly, because I work in the CJ field, the doctors would have run tests for the police to see if she was drunk or not. While you are transported to the ER first and formost when in an accident, you are detained and they can arrest you formally once released. The excuse of swerving for a dog will not work and you can kill someone when you drink and drive, if not yourself. It’s stupid to drive a two ton weight around like it’s a toy for any reason.

Verdict: Overall, I really loved this novel and it will stick with me for awhile.

Belle Ellrich

*I WAS PROVIDED A DIGITAL GALLEY VIA NETGALLEY IN RETURN FOR MY HONEST REVIEW. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT MY OPINION*

I'm currently listening to Take It All Away by Red because I'm still feeling so many emotions after reading this book and can't properly deal with them.

Carrie Mac is a fantastic writer. Her writing style was what initially drew me into this story, and it didn't let up throughout any of the book. She has a way of making the emotions of the story so realistic and true that you can't help but feel them yourself.

I will say now, that the characters were amazingly developed. I didn't see one character, main or side, slacking in any department. And that's really great, y'know? Because you don't see that too often. 

Wildfire is a book I can confidently say explores what it is to be a teenager in today's day and age. Now, I'm sure not all teenagers have permission to go camping and hiking on their own for a week, but in the circumstances that Annie and Pete were in, it was realistic and believable. Not to mention, everything that was brought about in this book was something I was able to understand or relate to.


After reading this book, I took a moment to explore the bad reviews on Goodreads to understand why people weren't liking this book. Something I commonly saw was that people were saying this book was written in a weird format and that the main character was supposed to represent a strong and abled woman. And to that, I have to say what is so bad about that? Isn't that what we want in YA books?

I wish I could be like Annie in that sense. She is someone who has lost and loved over and over and over. Yet she continues to go. She may not have done everything people expected of her, but can't we say that's exactly what it's like to be a teenager? You can't deal with everything all at once. You can't just go along with what everyone wants from you. You have to find and carve your own path, your own way, and that is exactly what I was able to gain from this book.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was that there were a few instances where Annie's jealousy for Preet extended into overbearing hate, but otherwise, it didn't get much past jealousy.

For that, I rate this book 4.75 stars. I loved this book, and I will be picking up the final copy as soon as I physically can. I look forward to reading more from Mac in the future and can't wait to see what beautiful tragedy she writes next.

Wildfire

Reviews