Hannah G

4.5 stars
Delightful fast-paced story that kept me flipping pages easily. But now I have to wait for the rest of the story? Ugh! I want to know the rest now!

I've always had a bit of a morbid fascination for how easy it once was to shove an inconvenient relative into an insane asylum and basically give them a prison without any trial. This is an epic escape story as Eugenia and her daughter flee along the Oregon trail to the homestead a former servant has located for them.

The romance is understated, which I quite liked, with the thrill of the run being the main driver of the story. It's a well balanced narrative of some of the things encountered along the trail in its later days after the rail route went in, some of which are sad, but most of which are interesting/informative.

Quite the twist at the end with Yvette

I've always enjoyed a good amnesia story, but some things didn't quite add up on this one. The bad guy kills a number of people but stops just short of killing some others and I couldn't figure out the “miss” other than author sympathy; it ended up making the bad guy less believable. Otherwise, a good thriller with romance.

4.75 stars

I really enjoyed this fast-paced thriller. Varland makes a logical case to figure out, with a good balance of surprise twists and things I could logically figure to expect.

The book is a stand-alone, but has cross-over characters from other books set in the town of Treasure Point.

Definitely recommended.

Okay, emotional rating here! This atmospheric story checked so many boxes for me that I really wanted to jump right into the second book without delay. The romance is so sweet and feels so genuine, and I loved how Kit's inner conflict unfolds bit by bit over the story. Masterful drawing of the emotional issues in that! I was also impressed of how both Kit and Graham act like adults with each of the issues that come up and I loved how they are able to both spark each other to draw closer to God...so sweet. The stories of the children Kit is looking out for really caught my heart early on and Hunter did a great job of portraying each one clearly even with limited page time.

I was grateful for having read the prequel about Margaretta and Nash first because it made it easier to figure out what was going on at Haven Manor and move forward with the story.

Thanks to the publisher for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required. However, I listened to the finished copy as an audio from my library and the narrator also receives five stars for her narration.

Another of the Civil-War-craze books. I first read this when I was about ten, and despite being a careful reader, I think I nearly read the cover clear off of it. I used to play-act being Annie. This was, of course, in the days before I realized that I have a nasty habit of fainting at the sight of blood!