It’s time for another month of our Unlocking the Past Reading Challenge: Unlock an Adventure. I’m so excited to be joining you on an adventure this year with guest reviews from members of our reading challenge participants. If you have a review you’d like to submit for upcoming months, feel free to sign up for a month here and use the Google form to submit your review. As my time has become too limited to do a suggestions post each month, I encourage you to jump over to the Unlocking the Past Reading Challenge page and ask for suggestions from there or from any of a number of amazing reader groups like Avid Readers of Christian Fiction.
*The list of prizes available from my prize shelf can be found here.*
March’s Theme: Gold Rush
April’s Theme: Lawman Hero
Bridge of Gold
by Kimberley Woodhouse
Review by: Charity Henico – Check out her Instagram account at @charitys.book.escapes for lots of bookish fun!
REVIEW
This book was so good. I had no idea what to expect except that it’d be about the Gold Rush. But actually, this was more about a ship from the Gold Rush that was discovered later and then re-discovered even later. The whole thing was just fascinating.
AND! I had no idea that part of San Francisco was built ON TOP OF abandoned ships from the Gold Rush! Some of the streets were built on top of the ships-on top of a landfill! Mind-boggling.
The mystery and suspense in this book were top-notch, and I did NOT see that ending-the who-done-it coming. This is one of those books where you want to read it to see what happens, but then again, you have to take a break after each chapter because of the tension!
If you enjoy books on the Gold Rush and the Great Depression, and books that are filled with suspense, then you definitely want to read this one!
~ Charity Henico
Genre: Dual-Time
Plot Overview:
Underwater archaeologist Kayla Richardson is called to the Golden Gate Bridge where repairs to one of the towers uncovers two human remains from the late 1800s and the 1930s. The head of the bridge restoration is Steven Michaels, who dives with Kayla, and a friendship develops between them. But as the investigation heats up and gold is found that dates back to the gold rush, more complications come into play that threaten them both. Could clues leading to a Gold Rush era mystery that was first discovered during the building of the bridge still ignite an obsession worth killing for?
Purchase Links:
Amazon | Baker Bookhouse | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Christianbook.com
Giveaway
For your chance to win a print copy, comment with what book YOU read for this month and you will also be entered into the year-end Grand Prize Reader Basket. Use the Rafflecopter below for extra entries and to mark that you left a comment. Entries end on the 7th of each month at midnight EST, and the winner will be drawn sometime that week and notified by email. The winner will be announced don’t the Rafflecopter widget.
*Open to all residents of the contiguous USA, legally able to enter, and an e-book format or Amazon Gift Card will be awarded to those outside that range who are legally able to enter.
I also read Bridge of Gold by Kimberly Woodhouse. I really enjoyed it.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I read Bridge of Gold. Are you shocked? 😉
LOL Totally and utterly flabbergasted!
I read The Gold In These Hills by Joanne Bischof. It was really, really good.
She’s another author on my TBR pile. I’ve heard so many good things about her!
I also read Bridge of Gold. Great book
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
It’s looking like a bunch of us read Bridge of Gold by Kimberly Woodhouse, because that is also what I read! It was a great book!
LOL I think there were! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
For March I listened to Jim Hodges’s audio book of Captain Bayley’s Heir by G A Henty. This was always my favorite Henty novel. The protagonist is falsely accused of a crime, and flees to America. Eventually he goes to California in search of gold. While back in England a mystery begins to unfold. The plot can seem a bit slow to modern readers, but this was more plot driven than most of Henty’s other books. G A Henty was a Victorian era writer of boys adventure novels, though as a girl, I’ve always enjoyed them. Plots were usually contrived around a certain historical event, some are creative, while others seem a bit forced. The male characters were meant to be role models for young men, at times they seem too perfect, but never preachy. G A Henty must have had respect for women, because the female characters are usually strong and independent. But it was historical research that Henty excelled at. My high school history course was actually above average, but I learned far more from reading Henty. Henty died in 1902, after writing approximately 120 stories. There is also a radio drama adaptation of Captain Bayley’s Heir! They did abridge the story, but the casting was perfect. 10/10 recommend!
This new-to-me author sounds fascinating- thanks! 🙂
Kimberley is a really well-known author who writes lots of genres. If you like it, she probably has it.
THANK YOU!!!! I am ALWAYS looking for Victorian Era stories to read. I will have to check this one out and see if there are ways I can make reference to his writing! I am so excited. And I LOVE listening to old radio productions! Thank you! I’m really really excited to dive into this!
Awesome!
I read Beneath a Golden Veil by Melanie Dobson. It was very good and suspenseful. It was a hard one to put down!
OH! Good to know! I haven’t read from her books yet!
I read Bridge of Gold as well. It was my first by this author and I really enjoyed it. I’m planning to read more of the Doors To the Past series and more of Kimberley Woodhouse!! Starting with her new book 26 Below!
I’m definitely looking forward to reading her suspense. I’ve been on a suspense kick brought now.
I read The Gold in These Hills by Joanne Bischof. It’s a time slip novel set in California. It was good!
I’ve heard so many good things about her books!
I read Bridge of Gold, too. By KimberleyWoodhouse.
I loved it and liked the way she wove the eras together. I liked both perspectives.
Awesome!!!
I enjoyed reading Carolyn Miller’s novella in the book Across the Shores, about the Australian gold rush. It was interesting and had a sweet romance.
Yay! I’m looking forward to reading that one!
I read Red Rock Mysteries #1 : Haunted Waters by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry. Its about how characters get in a world of trouble right after visiting an exhibit about gold mining which features a real gold nugget. And real gold-fever inspired greed.
I wish there had been more historical or scientific info about gold mining given, but at least I learned what a vug is. It sounds beautiful- I’d be more interested in seeing that than the nugget!
Never thought I’d read a kids book that’s a thriller, but this one was! Lots of mysterious happenings, suspense, and danger requiring keeping ones wits, and making split-second decisions. In fact, there’s one scene that if this was a tv show, might be labeled ‘too intense for some viewers’.
But there’s also a good amount of humor, and likeable main characters navigating friendships, faith, bullying, and a blended family. I like how Sam is a good dad and stepdad, and how much his relationship with his stepkids develops over the story.
Overall a good book (3 & 1/2 *s) , but watch out for that cliffhanger ending! I’m so grateful I had book #2 handy.
That is really interesting! AND THANK YOU for the warning about a cliff hanger ending. I don’t do well with those kind of books.
I had questions about next month’s challenge. What counts as a ‘lawman’ ? Does it need to be a western story, or a man anywhere with a job in law enforcement?
For example, do your books count as having a lawman hero 😉 ? If so, I’ll probably read “Counterfeit Truth” for the challenge, since I recently downloaded that.
I also ask because if you still need someone and the book counts, I could send you a review for Vannetta Chapman’s 1st Amish B & B Mystery : Dead Wrong. I read it a while back, and one main character is a (heroic) retired Texan police detective.
Any of those work! All of my books count, as well as anything with a law enforcement hero of any type.
And that would be AWESOME if you could send your review in! That would save me in what is already a very crazy month! I have a book I can review as well, so since that one appears to be contemporary, I’ll include both if I have time to add my review. THANK YOU!