It seems that Kit had been left on Sean MacKlenna’s doorstep, wrapped in a bloody shawl pinned with a ruby brooch. The brooch contained an inscription that when he read it aloud, magically transported Sean back to Independence, Missouri in the year of 1852. It took him some time living in the past before he was able to figure out how to return to his own time. When he returned home, it was with a woman named Mary that he had fallen in love with and married while living in 1852.
Sean and Mary raised Kit as their own, intending to explain everything they could about her origins to her when she was old enough, knowing that someday she would likely want to find her birth family. Kit grew up learning how to do everything that she would need to know in order to survive in the past. Being raised on a highly successful horse ranch was explanation enough for her to learn to ride, to shoot, to camp and cook on a campfire, and anything else that she would someday need to know if she chose to visit 1852 without having to explain to her why she was learning these things.
After doing her own research, Kit decides that she needs to go find out the truth for herself. She packs and loads a wagon with everything she thinks she will need, including a number of modern day medical supplies so that she will be prepared for any emergency she might find herself in (though she is careful to keep anything modern well hidden). As well as the medical supplies, she also hides a modern rifle with extra ammunition as she knows there will be dangers she will likely encounter that might require more than just the period pistol that she also carries.
I was very impressed with the amount of detail in this book. Clearly the author did her research on the time period that her main character visits. She included details such as a reference to the Donner party tragedy that took place around that time on the Oregon Trail. And while she is clearly a very talented writer who made certain that her book was as well edited as it was written, I did have one issue with this book that really disturbed me.
As a romance novel, I expected there to be sex scenes. (Yes there were, and yes, they were detailed enough to make the book inappropriate for younger readers.) I only had an issue with the scene where Kit loses her virginity. That scene was so problematic for me that I don’t even know how to explain my issues with it. I even handed the book to a friend and asked her to read that scene without telling her why. The expressions on her face told me that she found it as poorly done as I did. Oddly, this was the only sex scene that I had an issue with. The others were all very well done. (And yes, there were a good number of other sex scenes in the book. It was a romance novel, after all.)
Over all, I enjoyed this book for both the time travel and the romance aspects of the story. Would I be willing to read other books by this author? Yes, especially if they are as well researched and written as this one. (Although hopefully she does a better job describing any “first experiences” that her female characters may have in those books.)
If there are subjects or types of books that you would be interested in reading my reviews on, please feel free to leave a comment to let me know and I will try to include at least a few more of that type of book in future entries. Otherwise, you’re stuck reading about whatever I felt like reading that day. Regardless, I hope everyone is enjoying my reviews. Thank you for visiting my site and until next time!
Mom Kat
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