Gold River

by Suellen Ocean

Natasha sees a chance to start over when she meets Casey and moves with him to Gold River, a quirky little village in the Sierras where Casey grew up. When her troubled younger sister, Michelle, follows her there and becomes involved with Casey's handsome and mysterious Native-American friend, Hank, Natasha hopes for the best. But it doesn't take long for Michelle to return to her manipulative ways with men. Casey is coming home late and behaving suspiciously. A strange man is stalking Natasha's family. The local college has been robbed of priceless Native American artifacts. Is Natasha's dream about to turn into a nightmare?

358 pages, Paperback

First published April 29, 2011

About the author

With a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sonoma State University, Suellen Ocean does her writing from the hills of Northern California. She began writing professionally for print and radio broadcasting in the late 1980's. Her first self-published book led to her becoming "officially" published, when in 1998 she was asked to participate in the anthology, "The Simple Life" through Berkley Books, New York. She is the author of sixteen books on diverse subjects.

Reviews

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won this book in one of the giveaways and I'm so thankful I didn't have to pay for it. Let's just ignore all the typos of the novel and just get down to what was wrong with the book.
The main character of Casey is supposed to be this guy that people trust the moment they see him, but I was more creeped out by the guy than anything else. I never felt like he was a good guy even when he was doing good things. I think Natasha, his lover, is crazy for getting with him as fast as she does especially because she seemed like a pretty smart girl.
Another thing that bothered me was that the dialogue was a little awkward and unauthentic in many parts. It just didn't feel real. The translations were too quick and there was focus on characters that didn't need to be focused on. The end of the novel was abrupt and too fast for all that happened.
I read the novel pretty quickly because I was waiting for something exciting to happen, but it never did. Everything that happened I saw coming from a mile away except for the abrupt ending of one of the characters.
The moral and lesson of the story is great. It's all about preserving history an respecting each other, but I wish that there was some more details about the Native Americans. I don't even think it is mentioned what type of Native Americans they are. There is hardly anything about their history or culture, yet the story is about being educated and respectful of a different way of life.
Overall, this book just was not my cup of tea. I think it needed to be more focused and detailed with the characters and cultures.

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!!