[Review] The Other Side of Lost - Jessi Kirby

Summary:Mari Turner’s life is perfect. That is, at least to her thousands of followers who have helped her become an internet starlet. But when she breaks down and posts a video confessing she’s been living a lie—that she isn’t the happy, in-love, inspirational online personality she’s been trying so hard to portray—it goes viral and she receives major backlash. To get away from it all, she makes an impulsive decision: to hike the entire John Muir trail. Mari and her late cousin, Bri, were supposed to do it together, to celebrate their shared eighteenth birthday. But that was before Mari got so wrapped up in her online world that she shut anyone out who questioned its worth—like Bri.

With Bri’s boots and trail diary, a heart full of regret, and a group of strangers that she meets along the way, Mari tries to navigate the difficult terrain of the hike. But the true challenge lies within, as she searches for the way back to the girl she fears may be too lost to find: herself. (Pub Date: Aug 07, 2018)

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

I confess I was looking forward to a story with more to do with social networks, but that is just a background for this one. This one focus on self discovery and nature, a little more to do with road trip stories

I'd give it 3.5, but rounded it up because it did make me feel good.

Mari has been a digital influencer with a big number of followers to her Instagram account, but at what cost had it all come? She's faking a relationship with another popular Instagram user, who won't even care to give her abirthday present, and she lost the friendship with her cousin, now forever gone. When her aunt sends her the things her cousin had prepared for a big hike, Mari decides it's time to abandon her old self and goes on an adventure.

It started very exciting, focusing on the pressures of being an internet celebrity and how that fake life has been overwhelming for Mari. But soon that part is over and she's in the middle of nowhere without internet of phone reception. So... it was disappointing.

To be honest from there until she finally joins a group, I thought it was very dull, and too much navel-gazing once the novelty of starting a hike was over. Even after that, there was still some parts dragging, that made me feel like skipping a couple of paragraphs. The problem is that it felt like a road-trip book, and I'm not into that trope.

That said, I still had my fun wondering how a hike would be, considering I'd never do anything close to what Mari did. There's also some romance for those who like it—I'm included—, but not a lot. It's really just there and doesn't make a difference. It's still cute, I liked Josh a lot. I loved the whole group, actually.

This was a good book about starting again. I would have loved to have seen a little more of Mari's family and to be honest I prefered it if the social medias had anythign to really do with the plot. Even so, on the self discovery aspect, it did the job very well and even gave me a tiny need to go out there and have an adventure of my own.

You will also enjoy the illustrations done by Annica Lydenberg, a nice combo with Mari's journey.

Rating: 4 out of 5.