Chasing the Horizon

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

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book. These are my honest thoughts.

Other than some chunks of telling in the baddie’s POV (NetGalley copy, so hopefully that got fixed before publication), this was a spectacular book.

Ever since Little House on the Prairie (book series and TV series) and the Oregon Trail computer game, I’ve had a soft spot for wagon train stories. This one was wonderful. I loved that it also featured asylum escapees.

The loyalty and protectiveness Beth felt toward her mother was excellent. Jake was a fantastic character—just the sort of cowboy I like to root for. He handled a lot as a wagon train scout, but romancing Miss Beth became tricky with her secrets.

It was really fun to see a diverse mix of transportation in this book: on foot, horses, carts, covered wagons, carriages, and trains. That combination provided lots of interesting atmosphere.

Once again, Connealy proved herself a master at writing settings. They always come alive under her hand. Hidden Canyon and the river fiasco were both especially vivid standouts.