The Trail of Lost Hearts by Tracey Garvis Graves

Standalone Women’s Fiction/Romance, Release Date: March 26, 2024

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy for review purposes. Ana’s Attic accepts no compensation for reviews, and all reviews contain my honest opinion. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

“Anger is just sadness coming out sideways, Wren.”

The Trail of Lost Hearts by Tracey Garvis Graves is a crossover between women’s fiction and romance. It’s the story of Wren, a remote social media marketer in her thirties who has just lost her fiance and had even more devastating news delivered with that blow. After mourning her life for too long, she discovers geocaching as a way to get out and hike with a fun goal in mind.

Needing more time to heal, she flies to the Pacific Northwest to go on a solo geocaching trip where not only will she find the caches, but also hopefully find herself. There is one particular cache she really wants to be the first to find, so when she meets a nice fellow geocacher on the trail who asks to team up, she turns him down. A few hours later he rescues her from a very dangerous situation, sadly proving that it’s just not safe for a pretty woman alone.

Her rescuer is Marshall, a psychologist on his own healing journey. Though her trust in men is nil, Marshall rescued her once, and given his career he is easy to talk to, so they team up to find more caches, traveling around the Pacific Northwest together.

The best part of this story is Wren’s growth in figuring out her own self-worth. This wasn’t just a love story with another person, but one with herself as well. She started so down on herself and by the end, she was brave and confident. I loved that for her.

“The heart wants what it wants, and hope is one hell of a drug.”

The first half of the book was unputdownable and had great pacing and detail that kept me riveted. The second half had a twist that just changed the pacing so much it was jarring. The focus shifted from her and Marshall to the twist and then the whole thing was more generalized and then just resolved quickly.

“Rob showed me what a selfish man looks like. I’m grateful that Marshall constantly reminds me what a selfless man looks like. What a shame it would have been not to have the opportunity to see the difference.”

Likes:

Truly wonderful writing.
Mature couple who have had life experiences.
The amazing character growth.
The geocaching scenes and scenic descriptions of the PNW.
Heartbreaking at times while still being hopeful and heartwarming.

Dislikes:

The second half twist changed the whole pacing of the story.
She kept a HUGE secret for months.
I never really loved Wren.
Wrapped up too quickly.

The Down & Dirty:

The Trail of Lost Hearts by Tracey Garvis Graves was a 5-star read for the first half, but the second half had a twist and I didn’t love how it changed the tone of the book, then a rushed resolution. Still, it was emotional and heartwarming, beautifully written, and had wonderful character development.