Leave No Trace

(Image from the author's website, copyrighted to the author)

4 stars

This is my review, and my opinions are very personal from my perspective and my life experience ( reading, watching, studying).

With Celtic lore inspiration, this contemporary "urban/fae" in the Rocky Mountains is one of those that is hard to fit on just one specific shelf or genre. It has magic realism elements, a fae world, but also incorporates some pop culture, including metal band references. The characters surprised us not only with their actions but also with their personalities, which is usually not what I have as a paradigm for some stereotypes. Not all are good people; some are morally grey, others are evil at the core. I understand how the father wished he could protect his daughter from the taint of society and city life, but he goes beyond healthy, becoming paranoid. A group arrived to hunt a bear, and the war is not just between fae and humans but within Lexi's beliefs. Hard choices, surprising revelations at the end. I haven't read the first book, but this one reads well on its own and probably will make readers curious about the first one. I didn't expect that revelation; it was cool. I loved the unseen concept. We all should cherish our unseen cores more (when they do good). It's an in-your-face, a lot happening sometimes gritty, with crude language, a story that brings some freshness to the fae genre.

From the Publisher:

"What happens if the bear chooses you?

At seventeen, Lexi has been living in a remote stretch of the forests of the Rocky Mountains since her father dragged her and her brother there as children after the rest of their family was afflicted by a magical sickness. Her paranoid father Samuel thinks they've escaped the magic curse, and as long as they hide in the woods they'll be safe.

That's why Lexi has never told him about her friend Gil, who sometimes pops up in a birch stand that travels with him – and who is definitely not human. She especially doesn't discuss the magic he's taught her she has inside, which allows her to open a path to wherever she needs to go. Besides, she's lived in the woods most of her life – she can find her way without magic.

But when pop star T.J. Furey arrives with his songwriter friend Steph and ex-Army manager Tony, everything changes. Spoiled, T.J. wants to bag a bear, and he's hired Samuel to be his guide, and suddenly Lexi's secrets are threatened. The bear he wants is under the protection of Gil, and if Lexi can't prevent it's death, she'll never see him again. She can't do that without risking Samuel's wrath – and when it turns out that T.J.'s manager bears a haunted grudge against all things magic, too, Lexi feels trapped. If she wants her own life, she's going to have to find a way to break everyone's expectations – and find her own clear way ahead.

Leave No Trace plays the clash of worlds – magic and technology, future and past, rural and urban – against the backdrop of a war between humans and fae … and a great big magical bear named Artio."

About the author

Randee Dawn is the bestselling author of the "funny as hell" pop culture fantasy novel Tune in Tomorrow. She has three novels out in 2025: Dark Celtic musical fantasies The Only Song Worth Singing and Leave No Trace (ArcManor/Caezik) and the next funny foray into the "Tune-iverse," We Interrupt This Program (Solaris Nova). Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies, including most recently Dark Spores: Stories We Tell After Midnight, Vol. 4. She is the co-author of The Law & Order: SVU Unofficial Companion, and hosts a course called How to Be Interviewed through Creative Coaching Partners. A veteran entertainment journalist for The LA Times, Variety and Today.com, Randee lives in Brooklyn.

@randeedawn; TT @randee.dawn; website https://randeedawn.com/ #BearChoosesYou #TheGreenPlace

Thank you bookinfluencer for connecting us.