Finished 8-21-11, rating 3/5, romance, 378 pages, pub. 1993

It’s 1897 and Brett McCullum is looking for a newbie who needs to be led to the Alaskan gold towns.  Paulina Wintrop is poorly disguised as a boy so she could make the journey to find a family friend from her home in Utah.  Time is short and so are tempers.  Sparks fly between the two immediately and lots of sharp exchanges do little to disguise the interest.

This book is a bit of a hot mess. I was enjoying this above average, yet somewhat typical, historical romance when at a point fairly early on I realized this was not a typical romance at all.   There was a hidden city, a prince, and an island of jewels.  I was intrigued, but confused.  Then another turn and I was disappointed but still entertained.  So everything was fine until the end.  The end was such a letdown that I felt like I’d been cheated.  As you can see it’s hard to talk about without giving too much away.

I really enjoyed the dialogue and the two main characters so I might give Bourne another chance in the future, but it won’t be soon.  Isn’t that cover awful?

This book is from my personal library (although I have no idea how it came to be here!)