DNF at 50%. Where is the plot? Is there a plot?What a disappointment. This book suffers from something that has plagued every single Rae Carson book I've ever read, however good they ended up being: it's slow as molasses. It started off so well, with a strong character and a rare setting in young adult literature. I have a strange life; I know it well. We have a big homestead and not enough working hands, so I’m the girl who hunts and farms and pans for gold because her daddy never had sons. I...

4.5 stars. A fascinating account of a bunch of disparate people in one wagon train and their determination to get to California in 1849 at the beginning of the Gold Rush. The main character is an orphaned girl who brings the group together through her courage and kindness of spirit.As well as an excellent work of historical fiction, this novel is intended to have a light touch of fantasy to it. I think if you were anticipating this book based on that alone, it is possible you would be disappoint...

(Source: I received a digital copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to HarperCollins and Edelweiss.) “The gold sense sparks in the back of my throat, sharp and hard. It creeps down my throat and into my chest, where it diffuses into a steady buzz, like dancing locusts.” This was a YA fantasy story, about a girl who could detect gold.I felt quite sorry for Leah, the things she went through with her parents and her uncle was awful, and what she was then forced to do was al...

After surprise attack that shuttered Leah’s family, Leah has no other choice but dress as a boy and set up on dangerous journey to California - a place where she can put her secret gift of sensing gold to use during American Gold Rush era and start a new life for herself. And so it began, the adventurous tale that I grew to love so dearly. "Trust someone, Mama said. Her dying words, burned into my heart. But she was wrong. When there’s gold to be had, you can’t trust anyone. Not a single soul....

WHAT IS THIS I MUST HAVE IT.

*4.5 stars*

What started as a 4-star read gradually devolved into a 2-star.I quite liked the beginning. Evidently, I enjoy historical fiction with hard working young girls without families making it in the world all by themselves (see my highly rated "Hattie Big Sky" and "The Hired Girl.")What I don't like in books like this, I guess, are dull and dour narrators with no sense of humor and lacking in optimism, long, boring treks and the stories unnecessarily stretched out into series.Gold Rush was an interes...

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads4.5 starsThis book . . . GAH.I was already a HUGE fan of Rae Carson from reading her Fire and Thorns books, so I was dying in the interim between series, scavenging for any bit of information I could find about what she was working on next.And the more I learned, the more excited I became: a girl on the run with the ability to sense gold like a dowsing rod . . . during the California Gold Rush . . .Pretty cool, right? I'm not a huge fan of American history, but even I...

Long story short: this book got me out of a dreadful book slump.One of a bookworm’s worst nightmares? That feeling when you just can’t get into any book. I’ve started feeling this way recently, having started at least five novels in the last five days and not finishing a single one. I just couldn’t feel anything towards them. Is it me or is it the book? Either way, I was a wreck with the guilt, considering the backlog of books, ARCs and otherwise, that have been on my shelves for months.Leave it...

Review also on This is the stage for Rae Carson's Walk on Earth A Stranger. Leah "Lee" Westfall is a very special girl, she can witch up gold. She can sense the presence of gold and the bigger the piece, the stronger the sensation she feels. Needless to say that a girl with her abilities is a prime asset in their gold rush town, but I imagine it will be useless in our time and age. Lee and her family kept this special ability a secret. Instead of striking out and making it big panning or mini...

After having read and loved Rae Carson’s The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, Walk on Earth a Stranger quickly became one of my most anticipated releases of the year. And in many ways this book didn’t disappoint – it contained many of the things I loved about Rae Carson the first time around – however, I just didn’t love it as much. I’m clearly in the minority here since it seems that many readers actually preferred this book to The Girl of Fire and Thorns, but for me, the latter was just more c...

5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum http://bibliosanctum.com/2015/10/11/y...From the very start, I had a feeling that Walk on Earth a Stranger would be just the book for me. I have a huge weakness for fantasy western settings and themes exploring wild frontiers, so a story set in Gold Rush-era America about a young woman trying to make her way to California sounded exactly like something I would enjoy.Ahem. Then came several of my Goodreads friends’ reviews comparing it to The Oregon Trail.Okay, h...

Trust someone, Mama said. Her dying words, burned into my heart. But she was wrong. When there’s gold to be had, you can’t trust anyone. Not a single soul. 3 1/2 stars. Walk on Earth a Stranger is a very promising start to this historical/paranormal series set during the California Gold Rush of 1849.Westerns - a genre that has been fairly empty for many years (outside of Western Romance) - are making a comeback. I have read three this year and enjoyed them all - Under a Painted Sky, Vengeance

2.5 stars.Ever played the game Oregon Trail? Walk on Earth a Stranger is a teen hero story version of The Oregon Trail.I like the Gold Rush Era, it's a fascinating time in US history. But if I wanted to learn about what it might be like to travel west in the mid 1800s, I would have picked up a history book, maybe an old diary. I did not want a history lesson, I wanted a YA paranormal romance book in a historical setting. Unfortunately I got the former and not the latter.Lee has this amazing powe...

Hey guys, this book is $1.99 on kindle today 9-17-2016 and I also saw it yesterday on Bookoulet for really cheap for the hardcover. I don't know if it will still be there as you all know how they sell out really quickly on Bookoutlet!3.5 STARSI really loved the character Lee. She's so strong and goes through some terrible things that I just can't imagine. I felt sorry for what happens to her and all because of greed. But, she figures out what she needs to do to make sure she survives. As we all

*2.5/5 stars*I'm really sad that this book didn't work out for me. I love Carson's Fire and Thorns trilogy so I expected to fall in love with this book as well, sadly it didn't happen. Walk on Earth a Stranger is not a bad book by any stretch of the word, but it wouldn't be for everyone either. Objectively, yes, it's quite great book, but I felt so very disconnected from everything. The characters - while I found the MC admirable, I couldn't really connect to her, neither any other characters (a...

An Electronic Advanced Reader Copy was provided by the publisher via Edelweiss for review.I didn't know what this book would entail but I had no idea it would be about women and their roles back in the days where everything was unequal. It super sad sad our main character Lee had to be dressed as a boy to get anything done. There are moments where other side female characters had to defer to their husbands in every way. Like they were property and not a human being. The men and women roles in th...

4.5*I really enjoyed this!!! Video review possibly to come

Not even gonna lie, i bought this just to make my bookshelf prettier.This cover is gorgeous!

3.5 stars Enjoyed a great deal of this, though I wish the characters and writing were a bit more complex. But I do so love that the author uses the word "boughten" at one point, because it makes me think fondly of Little House. <3Review to come.