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toofondofbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This review was originally posted on my blog: https://rathertoofondofbooks.com/
I was beyond excited to be offered a chance to read and review Leave No Trace as Mindy Mejia’s previous novel The Last Act of Hattie Hoffman became one of my favourite books when I read it (you can read my review here if you’d like to).
Leave No Trace follows the story of Maya, a former patient of a psychiatric hospital, who is now a trained speech therapist working in the same hospital. One day a new patient is admitted and as he seems unable or unwilling to communicate Maya is assigned to him. The patient is Lucas who as a young boy went missing with his father and is now back as a young adult and everyone wants to know where he’s been and what’s happened to his father.
Maya is a fascinating character and I was intrigued by her from the start. She’s had a tough time of it as her mother disappeared when she was ten and ever since then Maya has been trying to understand why her mum left and what might have caused her to leave. I think it’s this sense of loss and not knowing that made Maya become so involved in Lucas’ case, she can see something in him that might lead her to understand how people can just up and leave. I’m always drawn to books about loss, I find it cathartic to read about characters that are searching for a lost loved one or dealing with grief so I was really drawn to Maya. I can’t imagine how it must feel to have a mum walk out and for a child to not know where she’s gone but I could really identify with the pain and the sense of loss. Mindy Mejia really does get to the heart of her character and explores what makes people who they are.
Mindy Mejia has such a beautiful writing style and, as with The Last Act of Hattie Hoffman, I found myself utterly absorbed in it. It’s a slow burn and yet at the same time a fast read – I didn’t want to put it down once I picked it up and it flows so well. I was desperate to know if they’d get Luke well or find his dad, or if we’d ever know what happened to Maya’s mum but at the same time I was very much enjoying the writing and finding out more about these characters. It’s not about the twists and turns but the way the novel ended was still a huge shock to me!
Leave No Trace is ultimately a novel about friendship, about love and loss and about trying to find redemption and healing. I loved it and feel like it will be a novel that will stay with me. It’s compelling, atmospheric and near impossible to put down!
I was beyond excited to be offered a chance to read and review Leave No Trace as Mindy Mejia’s previous novel The Last Act of Hattie Hoffman became one of my favourite books when I read it (you can read my review here if you’d like to).
Leave No Trace follows the story of Maya, a former patient of a psychiatric hospital, who is now a trained speech therapist working in the same hospital. One day a new patient is admitted and as he seems unable or unwilling to communicate Maya is assigned to him. The patient is Lucas who as a young boy went missing with his father and is now back as a young adult and everyone wants to know where he’s been and what’s happened to his father.
Maya is a fascinating character and I was intrigued by her from the start. She’s had a tough time of it as her mother disappeared when she was ten and ever since then Maya has been trying to understand why her mum left and what might have caused her to leave. I think it’s this sense of loss and not knowing that made Maya become so involved in Lucas’ case, she can see something in him that might lead her to understand how people can just up and leave. I’m always drawn to books about loss, I find it cathartic to read about characters that are searching for a lost loved one or dealing with grief so I was really drawn to Maya. I can’t imagine how it must feel to have a mum walk out and for a child to not know where she’s gone but I could really identify with the pain and the sense of loss. Mindy Mejia really does get to the heart of her character and explores what makes people who they are.
Mindy Mejia has such a beautiful writing style and, as with The Last Act of Hattie Hoffman, I found myself utterly absorbed in it. It’s a slow burn and yet at the same time a fast read – I didn’t want to put it down once I picked it up and it flows so well. I was desperate to know if they’d get Luke well or find his dad, or if we’d ever know what happened to Maya’s mum but at the same time I was very much enjoying the writing and finding out more about these characters. It’s not about the twists and turns but the way the novel ended was still a huge shock to me!
Leave No Trace is ultimately a novel about friendship, about love and loss and about trying to find redemption and healing. I loved it and feel like it will be a novel that will stay with me. It’s compelling, atmospheric and near impossible to put down!
clues_and_courtship's review against another edition
2.0
What I’m starting with might make me sound biased but I actually don’t think I am and I’ll explain why. My initial criticism isn’t actually about the writing or the plot. I just want to say that I went through this book mostly audio and some reading. I REALLY didn’t like the audio book narrator, Patricia Rodriguez. So many reasons. But despite not liking her I still listened mostly to audio book because I liked the writing and the story. See? Not so biased am I? But I still gave the story 2 stars and it had nothing to do with Patricia. Here were my issues. Lucas was predictable but character development ironically didn’t happen much. More of his personality was revealed as he talked but still he didn’t change and I didn’t feel that we got a good grasp on him fully. Contrarily, Maya had a lot of change. Almost an inconsistency about her because there were times that I had to literally put the book down because of secondhand shame from what Maya was doing. Or there were times when I was like um is she stupid? I hate having to ask those questions when reading. Especially because I liked her so much to start. And then I’m like why would she basically decide she loves him one minute and the next try to kill his dad? That’s not a rational jump. And even though Maya has gone through a lot of trauma she had a lot of help and therapy and she’d been rational thus far. But that’s just one example.
I thoroughly enjoyed the plot twists about both Jane and Josiah. Love plot twists.
Here are some questions I’m left wondering:
1. Will Lucas and Maya stay together?
2. Do Lucas and Maya have a healthy relationship? She who has issues forming attachments and he who grew up with only the socialization of his father
3. Are Butch and Maya’s dad together? This one I’m just curious about
Well done, Ms Meija. I would love a follow up. An epilogue in the future would be wonderful!
I thoroughly enjoyed the plot twists about both Jane and Josiah. Love plot twists.
Here are some questions I’m left wondering:
1. Will Lucas and Maya stay together?
2. Do Lucas and Maya have a healthy relationship? She who has issues forming attachments and he who grew up with only the socialization of his father
3. Are Butch and Maya’s dad together? This one I’m just curious about
Well done, Ms Meija. I would love a follow up. An epilogue in the future would be wonderful!
sheeshaleesh's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
lmurray43's review against another edition
5.0
This was my first time reading Mindy Mejia and I love how she wrote this story.
Mia is a young woman who works at Cogdon Psychiatric Facility as a speech therapist. She has been there for about 7 years and in comes Lucas Blackthorn. He is known as the boy who returned from the dead. He went into the woods known as the Boundary Waters with his father ten years ago and no one had seen or heard from them since.
Mia is a young woman who works at Cogdon Psychiatric Facility as a speech therapist. She has been there for about 7 years and in comes Lucas Blackthorn. He is known as the boy who returned from the dead. He went into the woods known as the Boundary Waters with his father ten years ago and no one had seen or heard from them since.
tiarakessell's review against another edition
3.0
Without giving anything away, this book should have a suicide trigger warning. Considered giving it less stars for glorifying suicide.
mandm02's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
19-23 year olds. Chemistry was a lot. Lots of action. Very protective mmc. Sad ending but still good. Would read again. A man who was isolated in the woods with his father and a language psychiatrist who is a little mentally ill herself.
uhhlexiconic's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Leave No Trace is an engrossing thriller about the legacies our parents leave on our psyche and navigating the world when you're mentally ill. Both the main characters are let down by their environments, too close to adequately give or receive the help they both need.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Grief, Mental illness, and Police brutality
caitlinlarew's review against another edition
2.0
Only reason this got 2 stars instead of 1 is because the story pulled me in enough I felt like I had to find out what happened. So much of this was unrealistic. She’s 23 and somehow has completed grad school and everything? There’s so much wrong with her therapist being her boss, her developing a relationship with her patient etc. I found her insufferable.
veganheathen's review against another edition
3.0
This book started out amazing. I couldn't put it down and wanted to keep reading well past my bedtime. About 2/3 of the way through, some weird things started to come up with the characters and their backstory and some of their choices. I still enjoyed reading it, but found myself liking the main characters less as the book went on.