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A review by dinipandareads
Forrest for the Trees by Kilby Blades
3.0
I honestly ended up feeling a little underwhelmed by this. I thought the writing was pretty solid but there wasn't anything that particularly wowed me and if I'm being honest, I felt a little bored while I was reading (which is why it took me so long to get through).
I loved the parks aspect of the story. I don't know much about nature reserves or protected areas in the US because I don't live there, but it was a great setting and I learned a lot. I also loved that Sierra and Forrest were both very passionate about their job working in the park. Their love of all things nature was infectious and although I'm not particularly big on hiking or trekking or nature, reading the descriptions made me want to go out there and experience it myself! Honestly, it made me wish I was surrounded by more nature and that I was more active, lol.
I appreciated how the author highlighted the injustices, prejudice and inequalities that Sierra faced in the workplace as a minority and BIPOC in the middle of the south. Some of the assholes she worked with were really infuriating and although they do get their comeuppance, the justice of it didn't fully satisfy me. What I appreciated about Forrest was how he stood up against the bullies and naysayers and made them eat their words. Even though he stood up for Sierra, he didn't make her feel incapable of taking care of herself and he was a great person to have in her corner! That said, the romance was just okay for me. I think what stopped me from liking it more was that I didn't feel particularly strongly towards either Sierra or Forrest. They were both decent characters with decent arcs but they're not ones I'm going to really remember down the line. I wished that we got a bit more of their backstory and their interactions with other characters outside of the people they worked with, such as friend/family interactions especially since these two are meant to be close to their families. Although their romance is definitely a slow burn, I also felt that the change in their relationship was a little too sudden and that somehow made it feel very insta-love-ish. This could possibly be because I also didn't feel very strongly about their chemistry, so for me, it was more like "it's great that they got together but I don't feel any type of way about it."
The mystery/crime aspect was also interesting but I felt that after a certain point it got a little overshadowed by the romance aspects. I had a feeling about the culprits very early on but the way it was connected in the story felt a bit flimsy. I do think that the author wrote most of the mystery/crime elements well though, and I enjoyed these bits more than I did the romance if I'm being honest.
I loved the parks aspect of the story. I don't know much about nature reserves or protected areas in the US because I don't live there, but it was a great setting and I learned a lot. I also loved that Sierra and Forrest were both very passionate about their job working in the park. Their love of all things nature was infectious and although I'm not particularly big on hiking or trekking or nature, reading the descriptions made me want to go out there and experience it myself! Honestly, it made me wish I was surrounded by more nature and that I was more active, lol.
I appreciated how the author highlighted the injustices, prejudice and inequalities that Sierra faced in the workplace as a minority and BIPOC in the middle of the south. Some of the assholes she worked with were really infuriating and although they do get their comeuppance, the justice of it didn't fully satisfy me. What I appreciated about Forrest was how he stood up against the bullies and naysayers and made them eat their words. Even though he stood up for Sierra, he didn't make her feel incapable of taking care of herself and he was a great person to have in her corner! That said, the romance was just okay for me. I think what stopped me from liking it more was that I didn't feel particularly strongly towards either Sierra or Forrest. They were both decent characters with decent arcs but they're not ones I'm going to really remember down the line. I wished that we got a bit more of their backstory and their interactions with other characters outside of the people they worked with, such as friend/family interactions especially since these two are meant to be close to their families. Although their romance is definitely a slow burn, I also felt that the change in their relationship was a little too sudden and that somehow made it feel very insta-love-ish. This could possibly be because I also didn't feel very strongly about their chemistry, so for me, it was more like "it's great that they got together but I don't feel any type of way about it."
The mystery/crime aspect was also interesting but I felt that after a certain point it got a little overshadowed by the romance aspects. I had a feeling about the culprits very early on but the way it was connected in the story felt a bit flimsy. I do think that the author wrote most of the mystery/crime elements well though, and I enjoyed these bits more than I did the romance if I'm being honest.