Sunday 3 April 2016

Book ~ "Chasing River" (2015) K.A. Tucker

From Goodreads ~ Armed with two years' worth of savings and the need to experience life outside the bubble of her Oregon small town, twenty-five-year old Amber Welles is prepared for anything. Except dying in Dublin. Had it not been for the bravery of a stranger, she might have. But he takes off before she has the chance to offer her gratitude.

Twenty-four-year-old River Delaney is rattled. No one was supposed to get hurt. But then that American tourist showed up. He couldn't let her die but he also couldn't risk being identified at the scene - so, he ran. Back to his everyday life of running his family’s pub. Only, everyday life is getting more and more complicated, thanks to his brother, Aengus, and his criminal associations. When the American girl tracks River down, he quickly realizes how much he likes her, how wrong she is for him. And how dangerous it is to have her around. Chasing her off would be the smart move.

Maybe it's because he saved her life or maybe it's because he's completely different from everything she's left behind, but Amber finds herself chasing after River Delaney. Amber isn’t the kind of girl to chase after anyone.

And River isn't the kind of guy she'd want to catch. 

Amber is a nurse in rural Oregon and has been saving to travel the world.  She starts off exploring Canada and then heads to Ireland to start her European tour.   She is only in Dublin a day when a bomb goes off in a park she's in and she would have been killed had a stranger not pushed her out of the way.  He takes off before she could thank him.

River and his brother, Rowan, run the family's pub in Dublin.  Their older brother, Aengus, is the black sheep of the family and is a member of the IRA.  It's Aengus who had left the bomb in the park as a statement.   River had been following him that day to see what he was up to and felt compelled to save Amber once he was realizing what was happening.

Amber tracks River down and there is an instant attraction, though they both know it can't work.  She lives in America and has a quiet rural life.  River lives in Dublin and has a troublemaker for a brother.  But they can't resist each other and become involved.  Being with River puts Amber in danger, plus she considers cancelling her dream vacation to be with River.

This is the third in the Burying Water series and I liked it.  I found it to be a bit too political, though, as there was a lot of time devoted to the history and happenings of the IRA in Ireland.  We were introduced to Amber in the first one, Burying Waterand some of the characters from that book appear in this one.  Though it is part of a series, it works as a stand alone as there is enough background information provided.

I liked the writing style.  It's written in first person perspective in Amber's and River's voices (the chapters are labeled so it's obvious).  As a head's up, there is swearing and adult activity.

No comments: