I still really love this book but as I listened to the audiobook, it became so apparent that every Christian was portrayed as a jerk/brat/overall-just-a-bad-person. ( )

This one is probably a hit-or-miss for most.
The problem many are probably having is that the entire book just follows the MC on an arduous journey to California following the gold rush. There is no real plot of any kind beyond this.
So if you are neither grabbed by the wild-west setting nor manage to build a strong connection to the cast you are not going to have a good time with this story.
Luckily the characters, as well as the book in general, are very well written so it is pretty easy to find something to connect to.
But I can see disagreement with the actions of the MC or inaccuracies in the settings breaking the immersion quickly for some.

My biggest problem was that the MC never even seemed to consider any kind of revenge. She had plenty of opportunities and options available to her.
Yes, she is young but she is clearly not pampered and familiar with the hard realities of life, so her conveniently selective nativity never really sat right with me. It was just too convenient and even necessary for the inciting incident to work which is the weakest part of the story in my opinion.
(Spoiler for the opening of the story) She always treats the antagonist more like his worst deed was stealing their savings, not like he literally murdered her parents.

Considering that the story at its core is only a basic "travel from a to b" story the pacing is well done but there is only so much tension you can squeeze out of this kind of story so the pacing feels rather ponderous in some sections and might be considered boring by some.

I wasn't precisely disappointed by the completely open end of this book but I am a bit doubtful that I will enjoy a more complex setting as it was set up for the next book.
It seems like this first book has set itself up to be followed by all the worst clichées.
I am not really a fan of this shallow version of the cheesy "found a new family" trope and there are many other clichées of the same shallow ilk just begging to be fulfilled by the setup so far.
All in all, despite not regretting reading this I feel a bit exhausted and have little motivation to pick up the second one not only for the reasons I mentioned but I struggle to put the others into words. ( )

A deliberately paced story free of angst if not grief, of Leah whose secret ability to douse gold is not as secret as it needed to be. When her parents are abruptly murdered just as news of the gold strike in California reaches her town in Georgia, she decides to head west on her own rather than stay under her uncle's dubious protection. It is no easy trip. It is a girl with something special story, but her special ability is not really what's most important about her. ( )

Carson has out done herself, again. While I cannot say I did not miss her more castles and magic fantasy feel, I cannot say I was not charmed by the very real, very authentic grit and western feel of this new series she's started for us and Lee here.

I love how, knowing Carson's books, you can see the setup to a handful of important mysteries in the first third of the novel that never get mentioned again, but upon which you know big things will happen later in the second or third novels. This is not an insult to Carson's writing, but in fact a compliment. That we get to spend so much realistic time on "The [Almost Oregon] Trail" to California, watching who Lee becomes and how she handles everything thrown her way. Falling in love with the people around her through their best and worst moments.

I definitely got a little verklempt during the last big important scene. It was only three paragraphs, but it felt good.

I, also, really liked that this novel closed entirely, without any cliffhangers (even though we are promised reunions and future clashes). But you close it very much feeling like it's just the end of another one of the hundred nights you've been reading close on these people. There's nothing big undone at that point and satisfying. I can't wait to see where she goes with this new world.

( )