Title: Vengeance Road (Vengeance Road #1)
Author: Erin Bowman
Publication Date: September 1, 2015
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Pages: 327
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Revenge is worth its weight in gold.
When her father is murdered for a journal revealing the location of a hidden gold mine, eighteen-year-old Kate Thompson disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers—and justice. What she finds are untrustworthy strangers, endless dust and heat, and a surprising band of allies, among them a young Apache girl and a pair of stubborn brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate gets closer to the secrets about her family, a startling truth becomes clear: some men will stop at nothing to get their hands on gold, and Kate’s quest for revenge may prove fatal.
Kate Thompson’s father has been murdered. She doesn’t know why, but she knows she wants revenge against the man who killed him. When she learns that her father was targeted by the notorious Rose Riders, she realizes she is in much more trouble than she thought. After teaming up with the Colton brothers, who won’t seem to let her be, Kate travels across the West tracking down the Rose Riders and getting her revenge. As she comes to terms with everything that has changed in her life, she must learn what vengeance really does to a person…and if it leaves room for love in one’s heart.
Finally! This is the first book I’ve read that I really enjoyed in a loooooooong time. I wish I had read it sooner! This has been sitting on my shelf for over a year, and I’m kicking myself for not picking it up until now.
I wish I could say tons of eloquent things about the writing, the plot, or the character development, but the truth is…I honestly just got completely lost in this story. The audiobook for Vengeance Road is absolutely phenomenal. The narrator does a fantastic job of drawing you right in and making you feel like you are trekking across the Wild West with Kate and the Colton brothers.
While I liked the characters well enough and appreciated that romance wasn’t a main focus of the book, the world building was by far my favorite aspect of Vengeance Road. I wouldn’t say I am very interested in reading about the Gold Rush Era, but this book completely changed that. The world was painted so vividly that I found myself wanting to learn more about the Wild West. It was exciting to see how different groups of people lived based on the resources they had surrounding them; what people would do for a little bit of extra money for their family to survive; how different cultures managed to coexist (or not) and how their practices and beliefs affected each other.
I highly, highly recommend Vengeance Road if you like action-packed stories. Whether you are interested in the time period or not, you will enjoy this adventure. And if you feel like you have too many books and not enough time to read them, check out the audiobook. It is one of the best I have ever listened to. I can’t wait to dive right into Retribution Rails and see what more Erin Bowman has to offer.
