I Escaped The Donner Party: Pioneers on the Oregon Trail, 1846 by Ellie Crowe and Scott Peters

Zeke is 17 and headed out West to California, the promised land that anyone can stake a claim and live a good life.  He's part of a wagon train and is supposed to be taking care of the cow herds.This is all new territory to the people in the wagons and they don't know the danger they are heading into.

Library Thing and the author shared this book with me for review (thank you).  It has been published and you can buy a copy now.

Zeke has visions of the future but he tries not to tell anyone about it.  They think he's crazy if he does.  But this trip gives him an opportunity to use those visions a lot.  

There are Indian guides, parents and children of all ages in the group.  When they come to a spot in the road where they can cut their trip down, they decide to take it.  It becomes the Donner party then. 

As they struggle to climb the Sierra Nevada's mountain range, they lose stock, find themselves running out of food, and then it starts to snow...

This story is sad because not many survive.  When the food is gone and the cattle are gone, one of the men turns into a cannibal.  That's when Zeke decides to leave.

This written for intermediate readers and is based on a true story.  You'll feel like it's you shivering in the snow...

It's educational and a good read with a section at the back giving you facts about the survivors. 

Never After: The Thirteenth Fairy by Melissa de la Cruz

Filo has some bullies at school but she can't turn them in or the hazing will get worse.  So she suffers through it.  Her parents are very protective so she's surprised when they let her go to the bookstore by herself.  The worst part is that the last book in the series isn't there.  It turns out it never got written because the author died.

Roaring Book Press and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published on December 1st.

On the way home she is being followed by someone.  When she decides to confront him, she's amazed to see he's Jack, a character in the book series.  He says he's real and she needs to go with him to his world to help them get rid of a queen who is wicked.

She goes with him and they use a portal to go to the world the book talks about.  It's a land of ogres and trolls.  The queen keeps attacking other kingdoms and taking them over.  And Filo and her new friends must stop them.

This is a fun fantasy read with a few surprises added in.  You aren't sure if the good or the bad guys are going to win.  And Filo, who was adopted, finally learns who her mother was.

It was a good read.

The Outcast Girls by Alys Clare

Lily owns her own private detective agency but things have been so slow she can barely keep her male employee busy.  So when a school teacher come with a case of missing school girls, she takes it on. 

Severn House Publishers and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published on December 1st.

Lily finds they need to hire a new nurse for the school.  She has been a nurse in the past, so she applies for the job and gets chosen.

This is a school that takes in any unwanted female child.  They may be a bit slow mentally, have a handicap, or be too far down the line for the parents to come up with a dowry for her.  This school takes them all.

They have an organization of men who pay for the school costs.  They are all rich.  They can't blacken their names without repercussions.  So she must snoop carefully and quietly.

 While she finds out what she can at the school, Felix is researching the board members and looking for the missing girls. He finds a dead girl and a dead teacher.  There are more girls missing.

It's dreadful when you find out why they died and who killed them.  Lily almost loses her life in the process.

It's an interesting plot with lots of twists and turns.  It will keep you reading.

Heather and Homicide : The Highland Bookshop Mystery Series: Book 4 by Molly MacRae

Heather Kilbride says she's true crime writer and she's in town to gather facts to write her book.  She's researching a recent murder but she asks questions about a lawyer in town and he has nothing to do with that murder...

Pegasus Books and Edelweiss let me read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published December 1st.

Janet has gone for a walk when she sees what looks like a body right where she found the other one.  She's shocked and scared but goes down to see if there's any life left.  That's when she finds it is a dummy.  Heather put it there.

This story has a lot of questions being asked by the bookstore owner and her friends.  There don't seem to be any answers.  Then Heather turns up really dead and the person taking over the case is not a friend of Janet's.  He thinks they are meddling old ladies.

This was interesting read.  Lots of misdirection and some lies appear to be the norm.  But the women are the ones that finally narrow it down to the killer.

It's a good cosy read.

A Shot of Murder by Brenda Gayle

Charley is a newspaper reporter and she enjoys it.  Then her boss invites her in and tells her he's giving her position to a male reporter back from the war.  He wants her to take over the women's page.  She doesn't want to and tells him so.  She says she'll think it over...

This is a Goddess Fish Blog Tour and they and the author shared the book with me (thank you).  It has been published and you can get a copy now.

Charley's brother was in the service and got held in a prison camp.  Now he is drinking too much.  He goes missing and she goes looking for him.  She finally gets a lead on him from one of the taverns and goes to the house of the lady he left with.  What she finds is murder, the woman is dead.  She knows Freddy didn't do it, so who did and where is Freddy?

She finds no trace of him.  But she meets a Toronto cop who starts looking with her.  It starts getting complicated here.  He's AWOL from the police force, her boyfriend gets mad at her, no one knows the dead woman's real name. and Freddy is still lost.

As they try to make sense out of what they see and hear, it's a long road to Freddy.

Brenda Gayle will be awarding a $30 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.  You can enter HERE.

Encourage your readers to follow the tour and comment; the more they comment, the better their chances of winning. The tour dates can be found HERE.

Happy reading and good luck.

Shed No Tears by Caz Frear

There had been a serial killer in the area in the years past.  He strangled his women.  He was dead now.  But they found some bones in a ditch partially covered.  It turns out this one was shot in the head.  Is there another killer on the loose?

Harper and Edelweiss allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published on December 1st.

This is a long drawn out investigation.  There are a lot of people to interview.  The victim had been a foster child.  She wasn't old when she died but she had a bad habit of blackmailing people to get money.  She also blackmailed some of thee bigwigs in the gangster world.  There is no end to the list of suspects.

Cat soon discovers that there could be police involved.  Not everyone is clean in the cop shop.  The more questions she asks, the muddier it gets.  She has no idea who killed the girl.  When she finally narrows it down, the killer is a real shock... 

It takes a while to read but it's a good mystery.

Iditarod Nights by Cindy Hiday

Dillon moved to Nome to get away from what he'd become at home.  He has a bar that serves food and his own team of dogs.  He plans to race in the Iditarod sled races.  He's looking for someone that can get him to the starting point.  He luckily runs into Claire who has found out the fellow she was going to take is in the hospital.  She invites him to ride with her.

Library Thing and the author shared this book with me for a review (thank you).  It has been published and you can get a copy now.

Her friend that she was staying with thinks Claire should be looking for a husband.  So her matchmaking skills jump into play.  It's a good thing they are leaving soon.

The Iditarod Trail is dangerous enough that the dogs and the humans must train diligently to manage to finish it.  This story points out the dangers and just how tough you have to be to make it.  Dillon runs into an encounter with a moose.  Carole finds herself hallucinating, seeing dangers that aren't there.

The two main characters have secrets from the past they don't want to share.  But before they finally conquer the trail, they do. 

This is a real body breaking trail but they manage to fall in love despite that.   Together they will face the things that bother them.

Reading about the conditions on the trail make me very glad I live where I do.  Alaska is too cold and severe for me.