The Jewel of the Isle by Kerry Rea
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Emily Edwards, grieving the loss of her beloved father, vows to complete his National Park bucket list, beginning with Isle Royale, a rugged and isolated island cluster set in Lake Superior; home to predators and shipwrecks.
The problem is, Emily is not an outdoors girlie. She was always too anxious to join her Dad when he wanted to do this kind of thing, so if she is going to make the Isle Royale trip a success, she’s gonna need to hire a guide.
There’s also one other problem. Emily sort of waited until the last minute to procure said guide and at such a late date, pretty much everyone is booked.
She ends up contacting Fleet Outdoor Adventures. She knows nothing about this company, like the fact that they’ve been pretty much dormant since the co-owner, and expert outdoorsman, Caleb Fleet, tragically passed away.
His brother, Ryder, tried to keep the company afloat, but it has sort of petered out. Nevertheless, he’s desperate for cash to make an important purchase, so when Emily’s inquiry comes in, unprepared as he is, he accepts.
They’re both fish out of water from the start, and also end up clashing like oil and vinegar, but determined to stick it out for varying personal reasons, they soon find themselves doing the thing; deep in the wilderness.
They aren’t the only ones on Isle Royale though, and they end up being witnesses to a vicious crime, and soon find themselves on the run from a group of rogue archaeologists searching for a precious jewel.
The dangerous and stress-filled circumstances end up pushing the two closer-and-closer together, until it is less oil and vinegar and more peanut butter and jelly.
While this analogy may seem silly, I think you get the point. There are sparks in more than just the campfire…
This story was a great fit for my tastes. I enjoyed both of these characters so much, and the dual narration of the audiobook was so well done. Their comedic timing had me laughing out loud, especially Ryder’s perspective.
Honestly, this was what I was hoping Raiders of the Lost Heart would be ((and wasn’t)). I can’t wait to read more from Kerry Rea if this is the level of humor, heart and plot we’re going to get every time.
There wasn’t a lot of steam, but honestly, I liked that and thought it fit very well given the set of circumstances our characters find themselves in. Eventually, there is some though and it was worth the wait.
There is a ton of great character development though, as well as a fun and exciting plot. It was, naturally, giving me Romancing the Stone vibes in such a fresh, modern way.
I appreciated the exploration of grief and felt the author did a great job presenting those very serious topics, while also managing to keep the overall narrative light and engaging.
Overall, I would recommend this to Readers who enjoy adventurous Adult Contemporary stories with forced proximity, pining and thorough character development.
I would also highly recommend the audio format, if you have it available to you. The dual narration and narrator’s voices/delivery were perfection. It absolutely brought it to life.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I am definitely excited to read more from this author!
