Journey's End

Journey's End
Gilded Promises, Book 1
Renee Ryann
(Waterfall Press)
ISBN: 978-1503950528
July, 2016/336 pages/$8.11
Having grown up on the mean streets of nineteenth-century London, Caroline St. James is used to fighting to survive.

So when her beloved mother—abandoned and ignored by her wealthy family—suddenly dies, the scrappy twenty-two-year-old devises a plan to right this terrible wrong. With nothing to lose, she sails to New York to find the man who turned a cold shoulder to her mother’s suffering: Caroline’s grandfather. To settle the family score, Caroline infiltrates her grandfather’s privileged world, hoping to sabotage his business from the inside. But as she sets her plot in motion, she meets Jackson Montgomery, a virtuous man who is struggling to recover from a family scandal of his own. As their friendship grows, and Caroline begins to piece together the motives that led her family to turn its back, she is forced to make a decision: Should she risk everything in the name of justice? Or can she look toward the future and let love and forgiveness guide her instead?


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Multi-published, award-winning author Renee Ryan sold her first book in 2001 by winning the inaugural Dorchester/Romantic Times New Historical Voice Contest. She sold her second book to Harlequin’s Love Inspired Historical line in February 2009 and has since sold seventeen, (soon to be eighteen) manuscripts to the historical and contemporary Love Inspired lines.

Renee grew up in a Florida beach town where she learned to surf very poorly. Armed with a degree in Economics and Religion from Florida State University, she explored various career opportunities, including stints at a Florida theme park, a modeling agency, and a cosmetic conglomerate. She also taught high school Economics, American Government and Latin while coaching award-winning cheerleading teams. She currently lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with her husband and a large, fluffy cat many have mistaken for a small bear. Learn more at her website.



MY THOUGHTS

I stumbled across this book during an Amazon promotion and was intrigued by the cover and premise, so I purchased it for my Kindle. What a treat! This story immediately grabbed my heart from the opening pages as Caroline arrives at Ellis Island determined to mete out justice for her grandfather's cold treatment of her mother. Renee Ryan creates wonderfully complex and engaging characters in Caroline and Jackson, as well as many of the other personalities who fill the pages of this charming tale. The Gilded Age comes to life with its extravagant balls, luxurious costumes, and strict societal expectations as Caroline navigates her new environment in her quest for answers. Multi-layered and fraught with tension, Journey's End is a compelling novel that kept me reading "just one more chapter." I will definitely be watching for more from this author. Grab your copy of this book today!