A Blistered Kind of Love (Angela & Duffy Ballard)

I found this book quite by accident while scanning the shelves at the local library. I confess that the title made me pick it up; only when I did so did I see the subtitle: “One Couple’s Trial By Trail”. The basic idea: take two novice hikers and see if they still love each other after hiking from Mexico to Canada along the 2600+-mile Pacific Crest Trail. Will they survive? Will they still love each other? Will they make it to the end of the trail?
The two of them alternate chapters in the book, which is a nice change of pace. Duffy tends to be pretty hard-hearted, while Angela unfortunately comes across as a bit whiny and clingy at times. The descriptions of the trail itself are wonderful, and the narrative is entertaining; I just didn’t get the sense that either one of them would be great friend material. I confess that the book did make me interested in hiking the PCT, even though the ending (Hey! We made it to Canada! We got married! Book’s over!) was somewhat anticlimactic. On reflection, I guess that’s how they really felt after their huge accomplishment– after finishing the trail, they returned to their normal lives in Philadelphia. Not bad, but you might prefer it in paperback.