Review of EVERYTHING SHE FEARED by Rick Mofina

On By vickleaIn Book Review2 Comments

About the Book:

Author: Rick Mofina

Publication Date: April 11, 2023

ISBN: ‎ 978-0778333401

Paperback Original 

Publisher: MIRA

Synopsis:


Every mother worries about their child. But Sara Harmon fears hers…

When a teen falls while taking a selfie at the edge of a cliff, the last thing she sees before plummeting to her death is Katie Harmon, the nine-year-old girl she was babysitting, looking down at her.

Investigators gather at the scene, and Katie’s mother, Sara, rushes to comfort her daughter. Yet there’s a small, secret ping of alarm in Sara’s heart that she cannot share—though rookie detective Kim Pierce senses it.

For years, others have tried to unravel this secret. From true-crime podcasters to a haunted journalist searching for a killer who vanished after being released from prison several years ago. And now, with detectives tightening the focus of their investigation, Sara is consumed by her darkest fear—that the babysitter’s death was not an accident.

My thoughts on the book:

My mind is blown away at the talent of this author whom I had never read before now! (How did I miss this one?!?) The plot is so intricately woven, the suspense so intense and the message so powerful that I literally had difficulty putting this book down. Sara Harmon has a secret past, one that terrifies her and keeps her awake at night. Her one goal in life is to protect her young daughter Katie from the truth about the past and how it could affect her future. Unfortunately, when Katie’s babysitter Anna dies in a freak fall at a local park, the protection starts to unravel as does Sara and her hiding from the truth. There are so many facets to this multi-layered story, but I think my favorite was the one about Ryan Gardner, an investigative reported determined to find out what happened to his older sister Carrie. His queries take him into a dark world of serial killers, secrets, lies and manipulation and is totally intriguing. I enjoyed meeting the characters and felt as though I were reading a true crime novel, so detailed were the descriptions of the police procedures and the settings. This book is part thriller, part suspense, part police procedural and all entertainment rolled up into one propulsive story that has depth and head-spinning twists. I cannot recommend this book highly enough for those who really enjoy thrills that are edgy and somewhat gritty. I know that this is an author that I can count on for crackling tension and a brilliantly woven plot.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

A definite rating of M for mature readers due to the subject matter being a serial killer and the victims.
Rick Mofina is a former crime reporter and the award-winning author of several acclaimed thrillers. He’s interviewed murderers face-to-face on death row; patrolled with the LAPD and the RCMP. His true crime articles have appeared in The New York Times, Marie Claire, Reader’s Digest and Penthouse. He’s reported from the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, Qatar and Kuwait’s border with Iraq. This is his 31st book. For more information please visit www.rickmofina.com
Social Links:
Author Website: https://www.rickmofina.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RickMofina
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rick.mofina.1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rickmofina/
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/93666.Rick_Mofina

Excerpt:

Near North Bend, Washington

SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD ANNA SHAW didn’t want to die.

Adrenaline surged through every nerve ending, her fingers digging into the tree branch jutting from the cliffside.

This was a nightmare. It couldn’t be real.

But it is real.

Anna had been atop the cliff, taking in the breathtaking panoramic view of the river, forests and mountains. Then in a heartbeat she was falling, falling some twenty feet, crashing into the big twisting branch sticking from the cliff face, catching herself, seizing it, struggling to hang on as it bent, now threatening to give way.

Gasping, she looked in horror a hundred feet straight down to the rocks at the banks of the rushing river below.

Wind gusted up, nudging her dangling legs. As she hung on for life, the branch cracked, her body jolted.

“Oh God!”

Anna glanced up at nine-year-old Katie Harmon looking down at her from the clifftop.

“Katie! Get help!”

Transfixed, Katie stared in wide-eyed silence.

Anna strained to move along the weakening branch closer to the cliff face to find a hold on the craggy rocks.

But pulling herself caused the branch to bob and shake, crackling more under her weight. Her hands landed on short branch spikes, like protruding nails piercing her palms with electrifying pain.

Suddenly the branch split and Anna jounced a few feet lower, clawing, clinging on to the fibrous remains.

“Katie!” she shrieked. “Oh God!”

Anna looked up.

Katie was gone.

The branch cracked again.

Run!

Every part of Katie’s brain screamed at her to run.

She flew along the trail, twisting, turning through the dense woods, hoping to catch up to the others who had continued moving ahead.

Anna’s fall had happened in a terrible instant.

So real and so frightening.

And no one else knows! No one was with us to see!

Katie willed herself to run fast, faster than she’d ever run in her life.

She felt like she was moving in slow motion but she blazed along the trail, coming to the clearing where her group from the Sunny Days Youth Center was setting up.

Katie glimpsed the joyful calm, nearly thirty kids and a sprinkling of adults supervising the day trip from the city, oblivious to the horror now on the cliff they’d all just passed. The boys were moving picnic tables together, others tossed a Frisbee. The girls were opening backpacks,

tearing into snacks and drinks while others took pictures. 

It all stopped when Katie screeched: “Help!”

Heads turned, smiles melted, the Frisbee crashed.

“What’s up, Katie?” said Jackson, one of the supervisors.

“Anna fell!” Katie’s chest heaved; she was gasping for air. “Taking a selfie. Fell off the cliff! Hanging on to a tree!”

It took a moment for Jackson and the others to absorb the alarm and snap to attention.

“We’ll need ropes,” he said, glancing at the other supervisors, Adam and Connie, who’d grabbed a canvas bag, unzipped it and yanked out tent ropes. They turned to Katie, who’d already fled back on the trail, her sobbing echoing in her wake.

“Everyone stay here!” Connie said, starting to run with the two men as she called to another adult with the group: “Dakota, keep everyone here!”

The supervisors struggled to keep up with Katie, all of them racing back on the trail to the area of the cliff. Two backpacks on the ground marked the point where it happened. Katie stood there horrified when she looked down.

Only spear-like remnants of the branch reached from the cliffside.

Katie stepped back while Jackson, Adam and Connie, breathing hard, looked down, their eyes ballooning in disbelief.

“Oh God!” said Connie, her voice breaking.

“No! No! No!” Adam yelled.

Anna’s body was splayed on the rocks of the riverbank.

Ribbons of blood were webbing to the water.

******

IN THE TIME that followed, events unfolded like a tragic opera.

Connie’s 911 call went to the King County Communications Center. Panting with panic, she struggled to report the emergency.

“A girl fell off a cliff! We need—please, we need—”

“Take a breath,” said the operator, calm, professional, taking control. “Tell me exactly where you are and what happened.”

Connie collected herself, answering questions and following instructions, enabling the operator to dispatch paramedics and deputies from the King County Sheriff’s Office North Precinct. The deputies then made a callout for Search and Rescue, setting the response in motion.

“I can’t look anymore.” Katie covered her face with her hands. Sobbing and trembling, she lowered her hands and asked: “Is Anna dead?”

“We don’t know.” Connie put her arm around her. “Help is coming.”

For their part, Jackson and Adam had found a safe route to hurry down from the cliff. Moving as fast as they could along the rugged riverbank, they came to Anna’s motionless body.

Her arms and legs were bent and twisted like a rag doll. She was lying faceup with her eyes open, staring skyward, blood dripping from the back of her neck. Jackson and Adam knelt next to her.

“Anna!” Adam said, knowing the worst but saying her name again.

Her stillness terrified them. They heard nothing but the river’s rush while Jackson felt her neck, warm but no pulse.

He began CPR.

Adam saw her palms, bleeding from branch fragments projecting like quills in testament to her fight to hang on. Gently holding her hand, Adam surveyed Anna, almost glowing on the rocks in her bright yellow T-shirt. He didn’t know that her mother had had it custom-made for her last birthday with the embroidered motto crowned over her heart: All We Have Is Today.

A small tattoo on her inner right wrist said Fearless, and on her inner left wrist was a small heart. Her jeans were faded, stylishly torn at the knees. One of her pink sneakers had been ripped away by the impact.

Anna’s head nodded in time with Jackson’s rhythmic pumping. But both men knew that the effort to save her was in vain.

Still Jackson refused to quit.

Adam’s phone rang—it was the emergency operator. She’d gotten his number from Connie.

“Yes… A lot of blood… No pulse… We both have CPR and First Aid… He’s doing CPR… Unconscious… Not responding… Tell them to hurry.”

Staying on the line to provide directions to the scene, Adam held Anna’s still-warm hand while watching Jackson’s unrelenting CPR. Blinking back tears. His gaze went from Anna to the rock face, his stomach lifting at the magnitude of the drop, his focus traveling up beyond the broken branch to the cliff, seeing Connie looking down at him.

Adam shook his head slowly.

Connie’s hand flew to her mouth. She turned, nearly doubling over before somehow getting enough control to pull Katie closer, comforting her. Slowly they started back to be with the others at their day camp.

Connie’s mind swirled as they returned to the clearing; twenty-four kids, aged nine to fourteen, were in the Sunny Days excursion, along with four adult supervisors and three older teen assistants—now, only two.

Moments ago they were all starting a blissful outing, only to see it turn into a day of horrible heartbreak, a day they would remember for the rest of their lives, Connie thought. Everything at their day camp came to a halt when Connie and Katie emerged.

“Is Anna okay?” asked Dakota, one of the supervisors.

Connie searched the group, meeting anxious, expectant faces, feeling Katie’s sobs against her. Holding her tight, Connie brushed at her own tears.

“Anna fell,” Connie said. “She’s hurt bad, really bad.”

“Did Anna die?” one of the girls asked.

Connie stared at her.

“I want to see!” said Dylan Frick, a boy who was also in Katie’s class at school.

“No!” Connie said loudly, then softened her voice. “We don’t know anything yet. We just have to wait.”

Some of the kids got on their phones, texting and calling their families, while a few of the girls rushed to Katie and Connie, encircling them in a group hug, their sobbing soon mingling with the tragic operatic chorus of distant sirens echoing over the treetops.

Excerpted from Everything She Feared. Copyright © 2023 by Rick Mofina. Published by MIRA Books.

This is a new release and is available now. Purchase Links:

HarperCollins: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/everything-she-feared-rick-mofina?variant=40616325480482 

BookShop.org https://bookshop.org/p/books/everything-she-feared-a-suspense-novel-original-rick-mofina/19780672?ean=9780778333401 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/everything-she-feared-rick-mofina/1141722031

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Everything-She-Feared-Suspense-Novel/dp/077833340X/

I sincerely appreciate HTP Books inviting me to participate in the Winter 2023 Mystery and Thriller Blog Tour.

Changes

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

Changes in life are inevitable. Children grow up and move away. The temperature outside changes. Our bodies grow older and don’t respond as quickly or in the ways we would like. Change happens and we have to adjust to it.

I am so thankful that the one steady constant in my life is God. He never changes and He is always dependable. The standards of the world change, but God doesn’t. Mankind’s sins seem to get worse daily, but God’s love for us never wavers and never fails. I am so happy that in a world where things are constantly moving, changing and always in a flux of hurry, God doesn’t change. He steadfastly loves, steadfastly gives and steadfastly reminds us to turn to Him, the only constant in a world of change.

Have a blessed day as you ponder how constant and unchanging God is.

Review of THE SEASIDE LIBRARY by Brenda Novak

On By vickleaIn Book Review1 Comment

About the Book:

Format

400 pages, PaperbackExpected publication

April 11, 2023 by MIRAISBN

9780778333517 (ISBN10: 0778333515)Language

English

Synopsis:

There are secrets that bring friends together, and others that drive them apart…

Mariners Island is barely ten miles long, but when Ivy, Ariana and Cam were teenagers, it was their whole world. Beyond the pristine beaches and iconic lighthouse lies the beautiful old library that belongs to Ivy’s family. While that bound Ivy to the island as an adult, Ariana could not leave Mariners behind fast enough. The town holds too many… memories . Not only her unrequited feelings for Cam, but the tragedy that left a scar on the community.

When a young girl went missing, a teenage Cam was unthinkably the prime suspect. Ariana and Ivy knew he couldn’t have hurt anyone, and they promised to protect him—even if it meant lying on his behalf.

Now, twenty years later, Ariana returns to Mariners just as new evidence emerges on the case, calling into question everything the three friends thought they knew—and everyone they thought they could trust. What really happened that night? Over the course of one eventful summer, Ariana, Ivy and Cam will learn the truth—about their pasts, their futures and the ties that still bind them as closely as the pages of a book…

My Review:

This is the story of friendship, secrets, lies, loyalty and murder on a small island. Mariners Island seems like the ideal place to vacation but Ivy, Ariana and Cam grew up there. Ariana left for a while to work in the big city but has returned when the body of a young tween who was killed when the trio were teens was discovered after almost twenty years have passed. Ariana, Cam and Ivy have a connection to young Emily and they are hiding a secret that they are desperate to keep hidden. The characters in the book are vividly portrayed with complicated personalities as well as relationships. They have believable flaws and are dynamic and well-rounded. The plot moves along at a quick and satisfying pace, capturing me from the beginning with the underlying mystery and drawing me further into the story with the brilliantly written character studies. The plot is just complex enough to have kept me engaged from beginning to end and also to keep me guessing about who young Emily’s killer was and the motive behind her death. There were absolutely no unlikable characters, no small feat when there are so many involved in the storyline, all contributing to the central focus on one way or another. The intrigue was captivating and the setting was picturesque, described so well that I could easily place myself into the book. Filled with suspense, a touch of romance and with a satisfying conclusion, this book is proof that the author is a masterful storyteller who has crafted a compelling story that is readable, engrossing and intricately woven.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

I would rate this book a PG-13 due to more mature content.

About the Author:

It was a shocking experience that jump-started Brenda Novak’s bestselling author career.

“I caught my day-care provider drugging my children with cough syrup and Tylenol to get them to sleep while I was away,” Brenda says. “It was then that I decided that I needed to do something from home.”

However, writing was the last profession she expected to undertake. In fact, Brenda swears she didn’t have a creative bone in her body. In school, math and science were her best subjects, and when it came time to pick a major in college, she chose business.

Abandoning her academic scholarship to Brigham Young University at the age of 20 in order to get married and start a family, Brenda dabbled in commercial real estate, then became a loan officer.

“When I first got the idea to become a novelist, it took me five years to teach myself the craft and finish my first book,” Brenda admits. “I learned how to write by reading what others have written. The best advice for any would-be author: read, read, read….”

Brenda sold her first book, and the rest is history. Now a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, she continues to publish two or three novels a year, in a variety of genres.

Brenda and her husband, Ted, live in Sacramento and are the proud parents of five children—three girls and two boys. Now that they are empty-nesters, she spends her free time babysitting her two grandchildren.

When she’s not with her family or writing, Brenda is usually raising money for diabetes research. To date, she’s raised almost $2.6 million. Her youngest son, Thad, has diabetes, and Brenda is determined to help him and others like him. She also enjoys traveling, watching sporting events and biking–she rides an amazing 20 miles every day!

Releases on 4-11-23. Purchase Links:

Harlequin

Amazon

Apple Books

Barnes and Noble

Books-a-Million

Bookshop

Walmart

Target

Powells

https://fb.watch/jPMNN1KALZ/ (See a video of Brenda’s amazing RV, “The Bookstream”, in which she is traveling 8000 miles in two months to meet her fans!)

Meet Brenda Novak in person as she tours the country in her RV! Go here for more information and to register to attend:

https://brendanovak.com/events/the-seaside-library-book-tour-2023/

From the publisher:

Holy Saturday: A Day of Rest

On By vickleaIn Quotation and Citations, Scripture2 Comments

I had to research why today is special. After all, it is the day after the crucifixion of our Lord and the day before He arose. So, why is Saturday special? I used to spend the Saturday before Easter at Easter egg hunts with my children or gathering the clothes together for everyone to get them ready for Easter Sunday. However, this article opened my eyes to the truth of the Scripture. Today is a day of rest. I will let the words from the article I found speak for themselves. It is enlightening for me to know that even in the death of the Lord, God continued His plan that He established in the beginning.

Article from: https://www.christianpost.com/news/why-saturday-before-easter-matters.html (Authors: John Stonestreet and G. Shane Morris)

And so, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Jesus reminded them—and us—how to rest.

The gospels describe this time period in several ways: Jesus was “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” All four gospels report that His resurrection took place on “the first day of the week,” which for Jews was Sunday.

There’s some dispute on this, but the majority of scholars agree that Jesus died on a Friday—”the Day of Preparation.” This means that He was not in the tomb for 72 hours, no matter how you slice it. The only full day He spent behind the stone was Saturday—the Sabbath—the day on which God commanded the people of Israel to rest, just as He had rested after His work in Genesis 2.

Here’s where it can help to take off our Western glasses and think more like the authors of the New Testament. They didn’t divide days at midnight like we do, but at sundown. And in the first century Jewish mind, part of a day counted as a whole day. So, because Jesus was buried on Friday evening and rose on Sunday morning, He was in the tomb “three days and three nights” by Jewish reckoning. By modern reckoning He was in the tomb only one full day: Saturday, the Sabbath.

Here’s that worldview gem I promised: After God incarnate had declared His work on our behalf “finished,” He honored the Sabbath once more, just as He had at the beginning of creation. In the tomb, God rested.

G. K. Chesterton writes in “The Everlasting Man” that this Sabbath Jesus spent in the earth was the last Sabbath of the old creation, which was marred by Adam’s sin.

“What [the disciples] were looking at” on Sunday morning, writes Chesterton, “was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but the dawn.”

When we rest on the Sabbath, we do so not in the old creation, but in the new—not in the world marred by Adam, but in the world being renewed in Christ. We trust not in politics or princes or earthly decrees, but in Him who became, Himself, our Sabbath rest.

Image from https://vicklea.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/d665f-remember-the-sabbath-day3.jpg

Sunday Is Coming!

On By vickleaIn Scripture, SongLeave a comment

Today is Good Friday and we will see crosses everywhere today to commemorate the death of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But the cross is not a symbol of death; rather, it is a symbol of new life and hope for each of us who has accepted Jesus into our lives as the Son of God.

If the Roman soldiers who mocked, flogged and spat upon Him can then recognize His deity, how can we deny it?

Jesus left His heavenly home and became a man so that He could die for our sins and destroy the power of Satan once and for all. Satan’s last stronghold is death and Jesus took that away from him. Jesus holds the power over death and the grave and by accepting Him and His power, the chokehold of fear that death has in our lives is vanquished. The last enemy of mankind was destroyed on the cross!

Jesus not only paid for each of our transgressions, purifying us once and for all before the Father, but He also was beaten, wounded horribly, so that we can be healed: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We are made whole because of His sacrifice!

No one made Jesus go to the cross. As he said, He could have called legions of angels to save Him. But He chose to go to Calvary, to die on that wooden stake of torture so that we could be saved. Jesus was obedient to His Father, even unto death. He trusted that God would do just as He said and He would be raised from the dead. Death is coming for each of us…it’s an inevitable fact of life. It is our choice to die knowing that we will live again with Jesus or to face eternity separated from our Creator. Jesus obeyed the Father because He knew and trusted Him. Can we do any less?

Sunday Is Coming-Phil Wickham

Review of WINDSWEPT WAY by Irene Hannon

On By vickleaIn Book ReviewLeave a comment

About the Book:

Windswept Way  (Book 9 —Hope Harbor)
Revell, ©2023, ISBN 978-0800741914 

Buying a haunted house was never in Ashley Scott’s plans, but when an intriguing opportunity drops into her lap after a major life setback, she finds herself trekking cross-country to Hope Harbor on the Oregon coast to launch a new life. Wounded warrior Jonathan Gray isn’t sure what to make of the attractive woman on his reclusive older neighbor’s isolated property, but her presence is none of his business—until she enlists his help with an ambitious project. When Jonathan finds his interest in the new arrival becoming more personal than professional, however, his defenses go up. There’s no room in his life—or his heart—for romance. Yet as these two hurting souls join forces to restore life, laughter, and love to a historic estate, might they also find healing, hope, and happiness themselves?

My thoughts:

Ashley, Rose and Jonathan are three people going though life in survival mode, all of them injured by their pasts and each of them struggling in different ways to forge a new and hopeful future for themselves. When they meet in Hope Harbor, their lives are irrevocably changed and leave a lesson behind for each reader. The characters were lovable as well as relatable. I especially liked the elderly Rose, a recluse who needs encouragement to come out of her shell. The plot is original and thought-provoking, dealing with love and loss as well as with acceptance of one’s injuries and the ability to move past them. The story captured my heart and mind as I was enraptured by the developing romance between two injured souls who hardly dared to hope for a future. All of my favorite characters from previous books in the series made an appearance, and I was especially glad to see Charlie and his taco truck dispensing his wisdom in a timely manner as always. And the seagulls were there, too, playing on the beach near the historic estate that Ashley and Rose are renovating as an event venue. I loved everything about this book, from beginning to end, but nothing more than the tale of being storm tossed but not destroyed. With a well-crafted story and a good pace, this is a book to savor the fruits of its lessons and to share with others, whether it be in a book group or with friends.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell via Netgalley as part of the Revell Reads Blogger Program. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

A clean read with lots of good feelings and plenty of emotion!

About the Author:

Irene Hannon is a bestselling, award-winning author who took the publishing world by storm at the tender age of 10 with a sparkling piece of fiction that received national attention.
Okay…maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. But she was one of the honorees in a complete-the-story contest conducted by a national children’s magazine. And she likes to think of that as her “official” fiction-writing debut!
Since then, she has written more than 60 romantic suspense and contemporary romance novels. She is a seven-time finalist for and three-time winner of the RITA award—the “Oscar” of romance fiction—and a member of the Romance Writers of America elite Hall of Fame. She has also received a Career Achievement award from RT Book Reviews for her entire body of work. Her many other awards include Daphne du Maurier, Carol, HOLT Medallion, National Readers’ Choice, Retailers Choice, Booksellers’ Best, and Reviewers’ Choice from RT Book Reviews. She is also a two-time Christy award finalist.
Irene, who holds a B.A. in psychology and an M.A. in journalism, juggled two careers for many years until she gave up her executive corporate communications position with a Fortune 500 company to write full time. She is happy to say she has no regrets!
In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, gardening and singing. A trained vocalist, she has sung the leading role in numerous musicals, including “South Pacific,” “Brigadoon,” “Oklahoma” “The King and I” and “Anything Goes.” She is also a soloist at her church.
When not otherwise occupied, Irene and her husband enjoy traveling, Saturday mornings at their favorite coffee shop and spending time with family. They make their home in Missouri. Information is from the author’s website at http://www.irenehannon.com

Available Now! Purchase Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Christian Book

Books-A-Million

Target

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Baker Book House

I am blessed to get the opportunity to read some of the best books out there! Thank you, Revell!

Faith

On By vickleaIn Scripture, Song3 Comments

I haven’t moved any physical mountains lately, but I have seen mountains in my life fall. They are the mountains that keep me wondering what life is all about and why all the pain and suffering and all of the medical tests with no answers. They are the mountains that help me to know that God is alive and working in my life because He is actively involved in all the circumstances. He didn’t put the mountains in my life, but He will help me move them. Faith moves mountains…Jesus said it and I believe it!

“God Who Moves the Mountains”-Corey Voss