4 stars
This was a very good story. I liked Alex and Evelyn and enjoyed their story. This is the first story I’ve read y this author and I liked it well enough that I’s be willing to read more of her work in the future. That said, if I were you, I’d stop before reading the epilogue. The epilogue is just a short chapter about a different couple that is inconsequential to the story of Alex and Evelyn. It isn’t a happy chapter though…ending rather horribly and in a cliffy (so be warned).
Evelyn is a 19 year old that was raised in St. Charles, MO. Evelyn’s parent owned a farm and she lived there with her parents and her brother. Not long before this story begins, Evelyn’s parents are killed and she’s left with just her brother.
Alex grew up in St. Charles, MO, not far from Evelyn’s farm and he was best friends with her brother. His father was abusive and Alex often showed up at Evelyn’s farm beat up because he tried to protect his mother. When his mother died, Alex left to take a job with a fur trading company and would probably be gone for years.
Evelyn was 13 when Alex left and her brother, Henry, wanted to go with him but had to stay to help run the farm. They didn’t hear from Alex and then when their parents were killed a neighbor said that Alex was the one who’d killed them. Evelyn didn’t know what to think but couldn’t dispute it and had to accept it as truth. She used to be infatuated with Alex and now she had to hate him, even if it was hard sometimes. When Henry decides to do something drastic, Evelyn gets caught in the middle and ends up in danger.
Thankfully, Evelyn’s danger is ended by Alex rescuing her, even if she thinks she’s been rescued by the devil at first. Alex has to take Evelyn as his woman to safeguard her but he’s not willing to push himself on her and agrees to a temporary arrangement for her safety until he can take her back to St. Charles. With some time, Alex is able to convince her that he wasn’t responsible for her parent’s deaths and eventually, their arrangement becomes more. There’s a twist in the end and Evelyn is in danger that makes Alex go to great lengths to save her but he does and they’re able to start towards a HEA together.
This was a very enjoyable story (if you don’t count the epilogue). I liked Evelyn very much. She did act in a stupid manner a couple times but she wasn’t really given much choice in some respects and she wasn’t a TSTL heroine (I hate those). Alex was a good hero and had his own demons to deal with but thankfully, any issues they caused were dealt with. Overall, I liked the story and characters and fond the story to be very engaging. I’d recommend this story (but not the epilogue). 🙂
* note – The narrator did an alright job but he was rather slow and I had to hike up the playing speed a bit.