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.

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!