ARC Review: Unicorn Tracks by Julia Ember

Unicorn Tracks by Julia Ember

Genre: YA Fantasy, Romance, LGBTQ

Publication: April 21st 2016 by Harmony Ink Press

Series: n/a

Length: 180 pages

Format: eARC from author (thank you, Julia!!)

Goodreads

After a savage attack drives her from her home, sixteen-year-old Mnemba finds a place in her cousin Tumelo’s successful safari business, where she quickly excels as a guide. Surrounding herself with nature and the mystical animals inhabiting the savannah not only allows Mnemba’s tracking skills to shine, it helps her to hide from the terrible memories that haunt her.

Mnemba is employed to guide Mr. Harving and his daughter, Kara, through the wilderness as they study unicorns. The young women are drawn to each other, despite that fact that Kara is betrothed. During their research, they discover a conspiracy by a group of poachers to capture the Unicorns and exploit their supernatural strength to build a railway. Together, they must find a way to protect the creatures Kara adores while resisting the love they know they can never indulge.

Thank you to the author for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

UNICORN TRACKS was enjoyable. I had a few problems with it, but I generally liked it. This novel follows the story of Mnemba, a safari guide, and Kara, a girl studying unicorns as they have to figure out why unicorns are being killed in their region and how to save them.

The plot was intriguing, but I wasn’t a fan. I’m personally not that interested in books that tell of animal hunting, and a majority of the book contains visual descriptions of animals deaths, so I was a bit iffy. Despite that, the scenes were quite visual and descriptive, which made for an easier time picturing what was going on.

The characters were also good, but not great. First, there were quite a few. Although each of the secondary definitely played a part in the novel, I felt as if they weren’t developed enough that I could understand them or feel a connection to them; the only characters I actually sort of cared about were Mnemba and Kara. In turn, when unfortunate things happened to Kara’s father or Mnemba’s friends, I really didn’t care. Honestly, I just wanted to see how the romance would go.

I really enjoyed the romance. This book contains one of the first f/f romances I’ve read, and it’s done very well. Kara and Mnemba don’t have an insta-romance, despite the fact that the the book was quite short. Their relationship develops through mutual attraction and learning to work together and trust each other. It was sweet and I’m glad that the LGBTQ+ community is represented so well in this novel.

Overall, this book was quite enjoyable. It contains some fantastical elements, which made for an interesting plot, and two well-written characters who have an adorable romance. If you’re interested in conspiracy/romance books, pick this one up!

Have you read this book? Are you planning to? Let me know in the comments below!