Into the Jungle by Erica Ferencik | Expected publication: April 30th 2019 by Gallery/Scout Press | 320 Pages | Goodreads
✅ PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION
“Lily Bushwold thought she’d found the antidote to endless foster care and group homes: a teaching job in Cochabamba, Bolivia. As soon as she could steal enough cash for the plane, she was on it.
When the gig falls through and Lily stays in Bolivia, she finds bonding with other broke, rudderless girls at the local hostel isn’t the life she wants either. Tired of hustling and already world-weary, crazy love finds her in the form she least expected: Omar, a savvy, handsome local man who’d abandoned his life as a hunter in Ayachero—a remote jungle village—to try his hand at city life.
When Omar learns that a jaguar has killed his four-year-old nephew in Ayachero, he gives Lily a choice: Stay alone in the unforgiving city, or travel to the last in a string of ever-more-isolated river towns in the jungles of Bolivia. Thirty-foot anaconda? Puppy-sized spiders? Vengeful shamans with unspeakable powers? Love-struck Lily is oblivious. She follows Omar to this ruthless new world of lawless poachers, bullheaded missionaries, and desperate indigenous tribes driven to the brink of extinction. To survive, Lily must navigate the jungle–its wonders as well as its terrors—using only her wits and resilience.
Primal, gripping, and terrifying, Into the Jungle features Erica Ferencik’s signature “visceral, white-knuckle” (Entertainment Weekly) prose that will sink its fangs into you and not let go.”
✅ REVIEW
A unique tale where the chills are provided by the dangerous South American rainforest, the jungle where lives can easily be lost to nature.
Growing up in South America, we would often spend holidays or vacations on the cold and beautiful Andes mountains or the pristine beaches of the Caribbean, a few driving hours would get you out of the city and into these marvelous places. However, the jungle was never an option, it was out of the question, forbidden. To this day, I have never visited it or gone nearby, its reputation would prevent us from going.
That is why when I learned about this book, I was eager to read it. It is the fictional story of a young, American woman living in the Bolivian jungle. Its dangers, the people, the mysticism around it. It is what I expected and more.
Overall, I enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
Received ARC from the publisher via Netgalley
✅ BOOK SOURCE AND FORMAT
ARC, ebook