Breaking Wild by Diane Les Becquets

Amy is an independent female who knows how to take care of herself in the wilderness and loves hunting.  She heads out on her own with her compound bow.  The men she's with have already shot their elk.  Now she's going to get hers.

Berkley Publishing Group and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published February 9th.

Amy shoots her elk but doesn't hit him in a vital part.  She tracks him, shoots him, and dresses him.  He's too heavy for her to carry so she takes a piece of him and caches the rest.  Then she heads back.  It has started snowing again, so her tracks are covered.  She's sure she can find her back with no problem.  Not true.  Everything looks different in the snow.  When she falls and breaks her ankle, she knows that someone will have to find her now.

This is story of survival and self-analysis.  As Amy sits in her cave and eats what she can find, she looks back over her life.  The longer she sits and waits, the more she realizes she may never get out.

Pru is on the search and rescue team with her dog.  They find her hat, they find the rest of the elk, but they don't find her.  Pru keeps searching even after the official search is called off.  If she can't find her alive, she'd like to find the body to give the husband and the children closure.  

This book is scary to me because I fear being lost in the woods.  Amy doesn't give up but I'm not sure I'd be so resolute.  

The situations in this book are realistic and awful at the same time.  It's only because Amy has done these things with her father that she manages to do what she does.  The story makes you relate to the characters and it's a real nail biter to read.  Once you start, you won't stop.