Love Inspired Suspense – Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions

About the Book

Book: Hunted in the Wilderness

Author: Kellie VanHorn

Genre: Inspirational Romantic Suspense

Release date: June 28, 2022

Protecting the evidence
means facing down assassins and an unforgiving wilderness…

Framed for murder and corporate espionage, future aerotech company CEO Haley Whitcombe flees in her plane with a camera full of evidence that could clear her name—until she’s shot out of the sky. Now trapped in North Cascades National Park, her survival in the wilderness depends on park ranger Ezra Dalton. Yet escaping the wild will mean nothing if they can’t outrun their merciless hunters…

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My Impressions

Hunted in the Wilderness by Kellie VanHorn is a must-read for romantic suspense fans. From the first sentence that starts the tension to the last, you will be glued to your seat to find out what happens next. This story is a whirlwind of action set juxtaposing the corporate world vs. the beautiful, but unforgiving wilderness. Van Horn makes me want to visit the North Cascades National Park, with her compelling depiction of the beauty there. However, fleeing from one’s enemies as Hailey Whitcombe and Ezra Dalton find themselves doing, would be beyond terrifying!

I did guess one of the betrayers early on. It was just too obvious. But that didn’t make the novel any less interesting.

I did have a little difficulty figuring out who one character was. His full name is used twice on one page in passing, then he is referred to only by first name multiple times, even though he’s not yet a major player. Maybe I am the only one with this issue.

I had to laugh at the disagreements that Hailey and Ezra have. How true to life! Hailey hurts Ezra with a pointed barb. Couples often go for the jugular, and that sure felt like it. And Ezra’s comment? “I want you to stop pretending you’ve got it all together.” Vulnerability makes a person so much more appealing.

I felt like Hailey’s and Ezra’s struggles with trying to earn God’s favor, and an inability to trust God due to our past, are both very relatable. “Maybe she’d been thinking about it all wrong—maybe His grace wasn’t something she could earn, but something He freely bestowed, like this beautiful sunrise painted across the mountains.”

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I received a copy of the book from the author through Celebrate Lit. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.

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Notable Quotables:

You’ve brought a whole new level of chaos to my life.”

Maybe it was time for her to step aside and let Him be in charge. Had she ever even stopped to ask what His plan for her life was? Or had she always simply plowed ahead, following everyone else’s wishes and asking Him to bless her?

Strength and warmth wrapped around her heart. She wasn’t alone. God was with her, and no matter what happened, He wouldn’t abandon her. That was the solution to the equation, the answer to every one of life’s questions. Walking in relationship with Him.

My Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Great!! Non-stop action, gorgeous scenery!!

About the Author

Kellie VanHorn is an award-winning author of inspirational romantic suspense. She has college degrees in biology and nautical archaeology, but she’s always found her sense of adventure most satisfied by a great story. When not writing, Kellie can be found teaching her four children, camping, baking, and gardening. She lives with her family in west Michigan.

More from Kellie

One of my favorite things about being a writer is living out wild adventures in my imagination. I get to enjoy all the action and feels without any of the unpleasant real-life problems I’d face if I were actually being chased by bad guys with guns. The more exciting and far-off the setting, the better! My family loves to travel and to camp, so we’ve spent a lot of time visiting national parks around the U.S. Our favorites include Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Devil’s Tower, and Badlands. We pile our four kids into the car, fill it to the brim with gear, and tent our way from park to park for weeks at a time in the summer.

For Hunted in the Wilderness, I wanted to explore a park we haven’t had the chance to visit yet—North Cascades National Park in Washington state. In fact, my first glimpse of the story came to me when I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and saw a picture of a lake in the Cascades. Inspiration struck, and I knew the heroine of my next book had just crash-landed her Cessna airplane in those mountains, and she needed a handsome, single park ranger to come help her escape the bad guys.

What makes this park such a perfect setting for a romantic suspense is not only the gorgeous scenery, but also the fact it’s very remote. The region is easy enough to access via road from Seattle, but most of the protected land can only be reached on foot, horseback, or float plane. Because I hadn’t been there myself, I relied on a topographic map and lots of research to help me craft the setting and make it an indispensable part of the plot.

Of course, now that I’ve studied the trail systems so extensively, I’d love to visit the Cascades in person one day. One of my teenaged sons who loves hiking has all sorts of plans for us to take a long backpacking trip out there, even though neither of us has ever backpacked before. I might have to work up my courage a bit before I’ll be ready to hit the trail without our minivan full of gear. 😉