Backwards to Oregon

Publisher's Summary

“Luke” Hamilton has always been sure she’d never marry. She accepted that she would spend her life alone when she chose to live her life disguised as a man.

After working in a brothel for three years, Nora Macauley has lost all illusions about love. She no longer hopes for a man who will sweep her off her feet and take her away to begin a new, respectable life.

But now, they find themselves married and on the way to Oregon in a covered wagon, with 2,000 miles ahead of them.

©2017 Jae (P)2019 Ylva Publishing

Excellent!

WOW! I loved the audio edition of Backwards to Oregon. I had already read the book. The audio is a great compliment to the book and really adds to the story. Hayden Bishop does an excellent job with the narration.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Backwards to Oregon

This is one of my favorite books I love a story told in the past for the LGBT community it's hard to find books that would take you into the past Sarah Waters does a good job of it but her books are not of the United States so it was nice to hear a story about the migration that my ancestors took and what it might have been like if someone like me was to have traveling that lonely road back then thank you for writing this book Jae you are a Great author. ps. Hayden Bishop was the perfect voice for this book ☺

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Fantastic

I loved this one. The story was great. The characters were funny and engaging. I never experienced many dull moments throughout this book, I was pretty much sucked in the whole time. You're just waiting for the secrets to come out! I loved Luke. Such a great character. I would totally read a series like this, each with their own "cowboy" twist lol.

Anyways, I would recommend. The narrator was good. The voices were different and consistent. The kids voices were great lol.
I think even if you're not into "historical" type romances, this one is still a great read. So try it!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great book!

Loved it! I Loved the story and the characters. It was longer than I'm used to, but it kept me interested and waiting for what's going to happen from the beginning. The narrator did an amazing job.

P.S. I think the narrator's voice is kind of amazing.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Couldn't stop

From the first word spoken to the last I could not stop listening, I was hooked. I felt all of Luke's insecurities and her determination to do the honorable thing. Nora's determination to give her daughter the best life she could, doing whatever she had to do. The slow way the two of them move from acquaintances to married, friends to lovers. Learning about each other along the way. How much love there is between Luke and Amy, how much concern Luke has for the baby on the way. How the love grows between Luke and Nora. You just know that Luke loves this family that she has made for herself, and she is willing to do anything to protect her family. I really hope I don't have to wait forever for the sequel to this great book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

FAVORITE LOVE STORY OF ALL TIME

These characters truly resonated with me so much that their love story will always be a part of who I am.

What A Story!

I've always enjoyed historical fiction and this is one of the best I've ever read. I won't give away any of the plot, it's too good to spoil. Kudos and thanks to the author for a wonderful book. Now on to the sequel.

Good read

The story was pretty good, got a little tedious at time but moved along. The narrator did a great job but when she did the voice of children found that a little annoying. The author seems to enjoy using some words a little too often at times but that's easy to get over.

Worth every penny!

I've enjoyed every second of this book. Through Luke, I learned how it must have felt like to be in the closet, afraid to be found out for daring to live their lives the way they wanted it back in the 1800s. Today, while the Western world has opened up immensely, the east still beat, bully, stigmatize, and worst, kill one who's only following their true self to act, dress or be how they feel inside. I hope one day, there will be a true and complete acceptance of people and love in all their shape and form.

Clunky, clumsy, and conflated

I really wanted to like this book as it has so many promising elements - historical romance, the old west, gender politics, to name a few. But I was disappointed on nearly every front. While it is clear the author did some research for the route, wagon trains, old medicine etc, many aspects were anachronistic and incongruous. The dialogue was stilted and stiff, the two leads had very little chemistry (something I didn't think possible in a novel), and the story grew incredibly repetitive. At times I wondered if English wasnt this author's first language - and I was right. This book could have been shortened by about a 1/3 if the author could trust her reader to infer the characters thoughts and motivations, rather than saying them explicitly and repetitively. Finally the handling of gender was distractingly inconsistent in ways that felt inexcusable even for 2007 when this was initially published. Not worth 14 hours.