What an absolutely beautiful book! I cannot say enough what an incredible writer and storyteller Amy Harmon is. She writes with such vivid beauty and her stories are so unique. With that said, this novel takes us on a journey that was heartbreaking yet hopeful. The Oregon Trail.
I personally live in the Wind River Mountain range of Wyoming and I was beyond proud of Amy and her ability to write about this land with such accuracy and beauty for the land and the tribes that live here. The setting is a character in itself. She created such a beautiful landscape and we get to see inside the lives of the Shoshone tribes.
I could not even comprehend the idea of traveling such a distance and be confronted with what those families had to endure. We meet a man stuck in between two worlds traveling along side a young widow and her family trying to begin a new life in California. We watch the physical struggles along with the metal struggles the characters face; love and loss, sickness and death, and new beginnings. This is a wonderful historic novel written is such a meaningful way. What a beautiful book Mrs. Harmon, thank you for writing amazing stories!!

- 4.5 stars -

I probably mentioned it many times, but I am going to start this review by mentioning it again. Amy Harmon is one of the most versatile authors I know. There are only a few authors I know that have jumped into trying to write other genres and hitting it out of the park. Amy Harmon is most known for her contemporary romance novels, but since then she has written multiple historical fiction novels (set in very heartbreaking times), and even a couple of fantasy novels. The moment I heard she was writing Where the Lost Wander, a historical fiction/romance set on the Oregon Trail, I was dying of excitement because I am obsessed with romance books set in this time period.

Amy Harmon knows how to pull at the heart strings, she already had me crying in the prologue. The characters in this book were absolutely amazing. I fell in love with each and everyone of them. This book was multi-layered and it felt like I was on this trip together with the characters. Even though I have read many books set in this time period, I rarely experienced it like I did with Where the Lost Wander. It was more heartbreaking, raw, and brutal. It is a love story, but also a story about family and finding your place in the world. It is about overcoming hardships and surviving the best you can. I can't even imagine what the people in those times had to go through, but this book gave me a pretty good idea. It takes so much courage to leave everything you know behind and leave for an unknown land. The people had to be resilient because death was just around the corner. There is no time to properly grief while on the trail.

Amy did not disappoint with this heartbreaking story. It was slow-paced, but I think it fit this story perfectly, because things did move slowly in that time period. It took months before people arrived at their destination. The relationship between Naomi and John was beautiful and I fell in love with both of them. Naomi was pretty brave and persistent in her pursuit of John. He really stood no chance in keeping her away. I also loved the relationships John had with Naomi's mother and brothers. This book was very emotional, and I cried a couple of times. I fully connected to the characters, so it was very difficult to say goodbye to all of them. I didn't want the story to end and I wanted to stay with them a little longer. This is another book by Amy I can add to my favorites list.

Oh man this is a hard review to write. You must know 2 things about me before I let you know how I feel about this book. I love Amy Harmon. Her writing touches me deeply and I love to escape into good fiction not reality. My favorite books of hers are the ones where there is a magical element even if it is contemporary. This was very raw and real, the writing was beautiful and heart wrenching, but I almost put this book down I didn't want to read anymore. It just was too much. This review will have content spoilers because if you are like me you need a warning before going into a book like this and if this book had a rating it would be R. It felt like Dances with Wolves, very realistic and a show I would only watch once and almost regret watching. The love story was beautiful and raw. The trek west with these people was hard and awful and wonderful. The book goes down a dark hole for a while and it just was hard for me. I didn't cry, I was just mad. Amy even mentions in the end notes that she didn't like where the book went but it was real life. So my 3 stars are not for the writing they are for the way I feel (a little lost) and how I almost put it down and for not expecting this level of depravity from Amy, I was a little shocked she went where she did. I understand, but it was not for me. I have read all of her books and my least favorite is From Sand and Ash and this one.
Spoilers in the content warning:
Language: There is a couple light swear words. Some crude comments. Racial comments
Violence: Killing, people get beat up, animals die, Lots of death from sickness and natural elements. Knife fight, Scalping. slavery, Rape.
Sex: 1 sex scene. Nudity . Child molestation, Rape that is described. This had more sexual content then her other books.
Drugs: Some alcohol use