Charismatic and outgoing, Ben's personality and infectious laughter is a stark opposite to Alexei's quiet, reserved demeanor. But no matter how determined Alexei is to hike the trail alone, it seems he and Ben can't avoid being drawn to each other. Through snow crossings and close calls with coyotes, Alexei inches closer to letting Ben in. As Alexei learns of Ben’s loving family and supportive friends, he begins to get a taste of what found family and belonging could truly feel like. But just as Alexei starts to let down his defenses, a sudden change in plans reawakens his fears—and he must discover if he has the courage to face something even scarier than the trail less traveled: letting himself fall.
Comment: I saw some positive comments about this book and the setting seemed interesting, and voilá, onto the TBR.
In this story we meet Alexei, a young man doing the Pacific Crest Trail right after he had been laid off and, before he starts looking for a new job, he decides to try this challenge. He also wants to have this time focusing on a specific task as a way to process his feelings after he told his family he is gay and they disowned him.At the same time there's Ben, doing the Trail before he starts a job as a nurse, as a way to reward himself for his achievement since he had moments he couldn't do it. They meet when Alexei stops a distracted Ben from reaching a snake, and after a few casual encounters on the Trail, Ben decides Alexei is just too cute and interesting to ignore. But will their shared Trail experience be enough to sustain a budding relationship in a different scenario?
This was supposed to feel like one of those cozy reads which warm up one's heart; it's not a terribly dramatic story, nor a complexly plotted one, but had enough elements to make it look sweet and two main characters who, for the most part, communicated with one another. This means the strength of this story is on them, on their particular stories and in how they can be a steady couple but it turned out it wasn't as easy as it looked, and a lot less sunny than the cover suggested.
First of all, I was really curious about the setting. I had not heard of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) before and, as it often happens when something new seems intriguing, I entertained myself with some google searches about it. It seems as if it's a great experience people can do, whether they are interested in hiking/walking alone for health/endurance reasons, or personal ones, or if it can be a way to deal with something. It reminds me of those pilgrimage paths people sometimes do, not due to faith alone for some, but for personal needs perhaps (such as the St James' Path in Europe, as used in this book I've read).
Then, I was convinced this would be a predictable type of story, the guys meet, find out through a common experience they are compatible and they get together in the end. In fact, things weren't as simple as this and in part, that is because of Alexei. I think Alexei's journey in the book, and his physical one on the PCT, is motivated by a personal need and, I think, his personality. This was a great reason for me to have liked this book, actually, since I could so easily identify with his way of thinking, even though not all the elements of his life.
Alexei is a cautious person, and his life story unfair and sad, but he still wants to feel optimism and wants to do something worthy in his mind, to kind of validate his need to be seen as a good person, as a good hiker at least, if not a good son. He is reserved and unsure of how others will perceive him, but while I'm not exactly like this, I did identify myself with several of his mind processes. Closer to the end of the novel, during the so-called "third act conflict" often used to add drama or to reinforce the characters' feelings, Alexei starts to feel out of place. I think the author wrote this perfectly, and I can imagine many readers think this was forced, not necessary and such, but to me, in this situation, this made sense.
Sometimes people feel this way, as if they aren't truly in a place - I often felt I wasn't doing anything in a spot, or that no one was really interested in me or in my presence, or that I was one person too much. I don't think this can relate only to low self esteem or whatever particular condition or situation,or any other thing (such as later on suggested by the author regarding Alexei), but it does happen. I think this story was worth it to me so much more because of how these thoughts were put into a page,than for the HEA at the end.
Anyway... this aside, and the obvious expectations too (that a HEA would happen), the story was quite interesting, I feel the author took along time deciding which elements to use, as well as a lot of information about the Trail and the flora and fauna species seen there, the locations used for the story... This made the story and the setting come alive and it make reading more interesting.
On another hand, I should have found Ben more captivating, to be honest, especially since he has Portuguese roots. Although, perhaps, he was Brazilian-Portuguese and not European-Portuguese, considering geography and some of the graphic names used (if they are meant to be correctly written - for instance, Ben's surname got on my nerves, it is way more common for that word to be Carvalho and not Caravalho, but I suppose that might be possible if it's Brazilian-Portuguese). I kind of wish this had had more importance, but considering the plot's intention, it's understandable why Ben isn't speaking Portuguese all the time, of course. However, Ben was more fascinating due to his personality and not other aspects, but I didn't empathize as easily with him, probably because I had already done so with Alexei.
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