After an unexpected encounter by a hidden pool, Tessa and Gavin fall in love, but their lives together in a rapidly developing California will not be easy.
Before this book I’d only read de Blasis’s Wild Swan trilogy, and it was glad to see that we see some of the same hallmarks here – strong, complex characters with an undeniable connection, no matter how many times they might fall away from each other for a time. In fact, I might argue that Tessa was a more interesting character, especially considering how righteous Alexandria can get.
California in this book is a rapidly changing place, and I enjoyed reading about how Tessa and Gavin grappled with and made their mark on the territory. The author had clearly done her research and incorporated the area’s history without letting it overwhelm the plot. The side characters are also vivid and I became attached to them and invested in their welfare. I also liked how the story did not just brush issues like slavery under the carpet, and that we got a sense of exactly how diverse San Francisco was both racially and socially.
However, I did think the last third of the book, when we start following the Ramsay children more, was not engaging as what come before, especially as the years began to speed up. I also sometimes became tired with the endless ups and downs of Tessa and Gavin’s relationship, particularly when they seemed to be driven apart by the same sort of things. Also, Jordan really deserved better!