Trapped in Yosemite by Dana Mentink

Trapped in Yosemite
by Dana Mentink

ISBN-13: 9781335009043
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Love Inspired Trade
Released: February 27, 2024

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
K-9 handler Von Sharpe sees an SUV viciously forced off the road in the Yosemite National Park with his ex-fiancée at the wheel. When he pulls Stella Rivers out of the vehicle, the very ground under their feet cracks and breaks with the onslaught of a terrifying earthquake.

When her meeting with a mysterious client is ambushed, Stella witnesses the man being gunned down by a sniper and becomes a target herself. With the threat of aftershocks triggering landslides and floods, the new mom has no choice but to run to save her baby girl—even if it means teaming up with the man who has no idea he fathered her child.

Trapped in a dangerously unstable wilderness with a killer closing in, Von and Stella are running out of time.


My Review:
Trapped in Yosemite is a Christian romantic suspense. The suspense mainly came from a major earthquake hitting the area right as an assassin tried to take out poor Stella. Much of the story was about rescuing people, trying to survive a bad snowstorm and earthquake damage, and getting back in contact with outside help. Stella ended up on a wilderness camp where her ex-fiancée happened to work. He had dumped her and never tried to look her up.

While I appreciate when an author has the character grow throughout the story, Von was hard to take for the first half of the story. The only emotion Von was comfortable with was anger, so he's angry at everything Stella did. Even though he broke their engagement, he's very jealous and didn't want anyone showing any interest in her. She asked someone else to help her get to her aunt and baby, and he's determined to go after her, despite the danger he warned her about and even though others assured him that she had a good reason for taking that risk. His intent? To yell at her, tell her how foolish she was to take such a risk, how she should have done what he said, and to basically make her feel like she can't handle anything without him.

Apparently his anger problem built up after his brother died, so finally facing his loss and grief and eventually feeling like he could let go of the guilt allowed him to deal with Stella more fairly. I could see why he liked the more mature woman of faith that Stella had become, but I still felt like she got back with him mainly because he's the father of their child. I didn't worry about him abusing her, though, as he did change a lot.

Some suspense came from attempts to kill various people (mainly Stella) at the camp. While the killer was identified and stopped, that thread was just dropped. We never found out if a certain camper survived to manipulate his children as he intended (which would affect a main character).

Stella had learned to trust God even in her grief, and Von saw this and started connecting with God again. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting suspense novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.