Monday, September 21, 2015

Joan Donaldson - Yarmey's "Gold Fever"

Title: Do You Have Gold Fever
Gold Fever by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

Reviewed by K. Royce
7/28/15
9:00 p.m.

Boni is a city girl through and through. Her mother, Elsie, is quite the opposite. Elsie loves to be camping deep in the brush of Canada’s vast wilderness, while Boni enjoys catching a movie after hitting up the local Starbucks in Vancouver. When Boni reluctantly agrees to go on a camping trip with her mother, 55 years overdue, things certainly get interesting and fast. Elsie’s father, Ben, went to pan for gold one summer and he never returned. Now it is up to Elsie and Boni to try to find out what the police could not. As soon as they get there, their trouble starts, people panning for gold do not take kindly to campers and they certainly do not take kindly to women asking questions. It seems as though someone does not want them to find out the truth about Boni’s grandfather. The women develop romantic relationships with locals but their suspicions and feelings are so intertwined that deciphering their emotions could be the only thing that keeps them safe while camping alone in the deep woods.

Joan Donaldson-Yarmey brings the reader into two conflicting worlds. On one hand, you have the city folk who enjoy all of life’s luxuries and you have the rugged mountain people who use outhouses and hunt their meals. Her mystery plot follows a basic “who done it” archetype throwing in minimal plot twists along the way. While her novel does have a few romances in it, she does not turn to the graphic detail that so many authors utilize, keeping the reader interested in a very highbrow way.

The novel is a good read for anyone looking for something quick and not difficult. The author clearly did their research into the countryside, but lacked the description that pulled the reader into the novel. The characters, while interesting, were only surface level leaving much unanswered about their feelings, perhaps if the novel were longer or even became a series that would be better. Finally, while the author lacks in some descriptions she makes some unnecessarily descriptive. There are points when the novel reads wordy, and it is hard to focus on the plot when that happens.

While the ending is predictable, the adventure keeps the reader turning the page racing to solve the mystery with Boni and Elsie. 

I give Gold Rush 3 out of 5 Stars.

Enjoy!

K. Royce

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