Books You Should Read (for those who love adventure and nature) 📚

The Lord of the Rings (Trilogy) by J.R.R. Tolkien
My favourite books of all time. Follow along this epic adventure into Middle Earth. A hobbit named Frodo inherits the One Ring, which can destroy the entire world. With the recently reawakened evil, being Sauron, going after the Ring to cement his reign, Frodo joins with eight others to destroy the Ring and defeat Sauron. ☆☆☆☆☆

Powerless (Trilogy) by Lauren Roberts – The Powerless Trilogy by Lauren Roberts is a young adult fantasy series about a forbidden romance between a prince and an ordinary girl. The story takes place in the fictional kingdom of Ilya, where the Elites have supernatural powers and the Ordinaries do not. ☆☆☆☆☆

The Empyrean Series by Rebecca Yarros – Follow along Violet Sorrengail as she trains to become a dragon rider at Basgiath War College. A great series for anyone who appreciates dragons, magic, banter, and a great fanbase! ☆☆☆☆☆

The Crimson Moth Duology by Kristen Ciccarelli – One of my favourite duologies of all time. The Witch and the Witch Hunter. Action, adventure and love. Oh, and don’t forget blood spells. Kristen’s writing is really easy to read and these are such fast paced page turners! ☆☆☆☆☆

Six of Crows & Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo – Another great duology, but this one is about an epic heist! Leigh Bardugo is an excellent writer and you will devour this if you enjoy spy movies. ☆☆☆☆☆

Throne of Glass (Series) by Sarah J Maas – A lengthier series as it includes 8 books, but totally worth it in my opinion. I don’t even know how to summarize the series since so much happens, but there’s romance, love triangles, magic, adventure, war, grief, assassins. It will take you on a huge adventure! ☆☆☆☆☆

ACOTAR (Series) by Sarah J Maas – This series I recommend for anyone who has never read about Faeries before. It’s a great entry into the world of Fae and the species in general. It’s also just a great series overall, fair warning that it has quite a bit of smut especially the further into the series you get. ☆☆☆☆☆

Peaches & Honey by R. Raeta – This book has similarities to the popular book The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, so I would recommend either of these books as options. A shapeshifting god, an immortality granting peach, and a woman gifted with forever. It also has a second book to it now that I have yet to read! ☆☆☆☆

Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins – When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape. ☆☆☆

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware – Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for. ☆☆☆☆

The Hike by Lucy Clarke – Liz is desperate for an escape. More than that, she craves an adventure, a total reset. So, when she plans a vacation with her three best friends, she persuades them to spend four nights camping in the stunning mountains of Norway. But as they stride farther from civilization, it becomes clear that the women are not the only ones looking to lose themselves in the mountains. The wilderness hides secrets darker than they could ever have imagined, and if they’re not careful . . . not all of them will return.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins – Emily and Chess are both writers, but different kinds. Though they’ve been friends for decades, their relationship has always been somewhat fraught. But on the grounds of both getting some writing done and reconnecting, Emily agrees to go with Chess to an Italian villa… one with a complicated history involving either a tragic drug-induced accident or something far more sinister.

The Vacation by T.M. Logan – It was supposed to be the perfect getaway: Kate and her three best friends, spending a week with their families in a luxurious villa in the south of France. But soon after arriving, Kate discovers an incriminating text on her husband’s cell phone. Trapped in paradise with no one to trust, Kate is determined to find out who has put her marriage—and a lifelong friendship—in jeopardy. Everyone on the trip has secrets…and someone may be prepared to kill to keep theirs hidden.

Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton – Conor writes about his experience visiting all of the National Parks in the United States in one year.

My review: It was full of great facts, bits of humor, cute stories, nerve-wracking stories, and was overall very insightful. I’ll definitely be looking back on chapters as I plan to visit certain parks. ☆☆☆☆

Alone Against the North by Adam Shoalts – Adam documents his (many) attempts to portage in some of Canada’s least travelled locations.

My Review: Exciting read, loved that it took place near where I am from which made me connect with it more. I would never do this alone! ☆☆☆☆

Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery – One of my favourite true stories about Grandma Gatewood who became famous as the first solo female thru-hiker of the 2,168-mile Appalachian Trail in 1955 at the age of 67. ☆☆☆☆☆

The Year of Less by Cait Flanders – Cait recalls her experience of consuming less and making grand lifestyle changes (like cutting out alcohol and no more mindless shopping or keeping things she doesn’t use). ☆☆☆

Wild by Cheryl Strayed – An emotional story about how Cheryl, an inexperienced hiker, hiked the Pacific Crest Trail after her mother’s death and failed marriage.

My Review: I enjoyed this story and find it worth the read, however I wish there was more written about the actual adventure/hiking portion itself. ☆☆☆

Getting Lost and Finding Myself by Katie MacDonald – Hi! I wrote this one. This is my book that is a collection of poetry I have written that is entirely inspired by my time outdoors, and my life experiences. I hope you enjoy it.

Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer – In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. How Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer – Into Thin Air is the definitive account of the deadliest season in the history of Everest. On assignment for Outside Magazine to report on the growing commercialization of the mountain, Krakauer, an accomplished climber, went to the Himalayas as a client of Rob Hall, the most respected high-altitude guide in the world. A rangy, thirty-five-year-old New Zealander, Hall had summited Everest four times between 1990 and 1995 and had led thirty-nine climbers to the top. Ascending the mountain in close proximity to Hall’s team was a guided expedition led by Scott Fischer, a forty-year-old American with legendary strength and drive who had climbed the peak without supplemental oxygen in 1994. But neither Hall nor Fischer survived the rogue storm that struck in May 1996.

A Wild Idea by Jonathan Franklin – In A Wild Idea , award-winning journalist and bestselling author Jonathan Franklin tells the incredible true story of Douglas Tompkins, who became one of the primary founders of our modern conservation and land protection movement. Piloting his small plane, Tompkins explored the uninhabited lands of Patagonia and gaped at the singular active volcanoes, forests never logged, rivers never dammed—all so undisturbed, so exquisitely designed. Could he protect this wild beauty? For the ensuing quarter century, that dream— that obsession—became his life. Only in death did it become his legacy.

A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko – An epic adventure, action-packed survival tale, and a deep spiritual journey, A Walk in the Park gives us an unprecedented glimpse of the crown jewel of America’s National an iconic landscape framed by ancient rock whose contours are recognized by all, but whose secrets and treasures are known to almost no one, and whose topography encompasses some of the harshest, least explored, most awe-inspiring terrain in the world.