By Gabrielle Meyer

As a kid, I loved reading books about the frontier and the fur trade. Sadly, there’s not a ton of good adult historical fiction on the subject, so I was eager to read this new release by Gabrielle Meyer.

Lady Charlotte is on the run. An orphan, she is controlled by her tyrannical guardian until she turns 21 – at which point, he plans to force her to marry him. But when an old friend, Stephen, learns of her plight, he offers to marry her, thereby freeing her from her guardian and securing her family’s property. But there’s a problem: Stephen is a fur trader contracted to stay in the American frontier for the next few years – and no white women are allowed in the interior. 

Enter Reid McCoy, a friend of Stephen’s, who offers to take Charlotte into the interior, provided she disguises herself as a man and works as a clerk. With Charlotte’s guardian hot on their heels, they head into the dangerous wilderness, not realizing that their growing attraction for each other might be more deadly than anything nature can throw at them.

Cons: I really struggled with the whole disguised-as-a-man premise. It works in some instances, but for a genteel English lady to suddenly disguise herself as a man and head out into the wilderness with a crew of voyagers – the concept was hard to swallow on so many different levels. 

Also, if Minnesota had mountains like the one on the cover, I’d be going there a lot more often on vacation. (And, to be fair, the cover probably was the publisher’s decision, not the authors.)

Pros: Those two things aside, I really liked the book. Gabrielle Meyer tells an excellent story with plenty of twists and turns. It’s impossible not to be invested in the characters and it’s hard to put the book down. Both Charlotte and Reid were complex, multi-layered characters and the author did a great job putting them through a refining fire. The other thing I appreciate is the author’s level of research. I am pretty much a die-hard when it comes to historical authenticity, and aside from the “disguised as a man” bit, I really couldn’t complain. I was super excited to read about Grand Portage and Lake Superior, having been there on vacation before. After reading the Author’s Note, I think I may have found a few more historical sites to visit.

Bottom Line: A lovely romance set against a backdrop of the early American fur trade.