Well-researched historical fiction involving the Oregon Trail and Donner Party through the eyes of 19 year old Ada Weeks.

This story of the Donner party’s harrowing experience in the mid-1800’s was well conceived and executed. It was told through the eyes of Ada Weeks, a strong willed 19 year old woman, who is accompanying the party whose objective is to get to California. Midway through their journey, they make the decision to take a short cut through the mountains, which ends with disastrous results. Ada’s observations and emotions were accurately portrayed and I loved her grit and strength. The story itself was atmospheric and adventurous. I felt trapped along with the characters.

I recently read another book (a nonfiction that detailed a factual account) about the Donner party so was already familiar with what happened. I thought this story complimented my previous knowledge gained as it was exciting to witness the tragedy in real time from a character’s perspective.

The audiobook performance was engaging. It felt like I was watching a movie. I found myself absorbed in the story, often forgetting it was audio, as I had such a clear visual in my mind of what was going on. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an adventurous historical fiction or is interested in learning more about the Donner party.

Thank you to OrangeSky Audio and Netgalley for an advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

I picked this book up because I wanted to try something new. I did not know much about the history of the travels and trials of the 'settlers' who moved to the west coast through the breadth of the continent of the now United States.
The blurb is very accurate in painting this as an in-depth work. The book follows the Donner party, a group of people with their families and caravans who fall in together to form an alliance in order to more safely traverse the thousands of miles between the two coasts.
There is an interesting examination of what individuals deem important when things start to look bad and how with deepening crises, even those lines start to shift.
Our narrator is Ada Weeks, a girl who finds herself orphaned at the very beginning of the journey. This, it turns out, is not the first time she has found herself in this situation, but that comes later during the narrative. It is an excruciating journey, and we are given a graphic description of every indignity, heartache and physical trauma that they all face as a unit and as individuals during the almost failed trek. I have driven by car for approximately that same distance in the US and was caught in a flash flood in a desert area which was momentarily stunning(and equally scary). I can therefore imagine (at least sort of) how harsh travel would have been for the European settlers (and newbie Americans).
That said, this was a slow listen for me. I could not hear it play continuously because of the details and the general gloom of the situation. There is a lull in the middle that takes off again towards the ending, making me like the overall book. Parts of the lingo, in the beginning, seemed anachronistic and had me googling certain words, which, to my surprise, turned out to be older than I thought. The narrator also took some time to get used to, she did a brilliant job voicing the frustration of the mostly stable Ada Weeks, but it took me a while before I 'took' to it.
I think it would appeal to people who like more detail to their stories and are fans of historical fiction in general.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

When a book says it's about the Donner Party's voyage, I'm pretty much in. This was a fascinating story. About Ada and her voyage. She is <i>not</i> one of the Donner's but is an outsider that is traveling with another party but with the Donners for part of it. Her stories of hardship and their day to day activities sounded grueling and tough.

I enjoyed this as an audio and every day I tried to find a reason to listen. I was drawn to Ada and wanted to hear more. I kept wondering what on earth could happen next and how would they ever get out of this. This story adds a layer of compassion and understanding to the group that traveled and I appreciated that it didn't stop on that snowy pass but took us farther in Ada's travels, all the way to Answer Creek. I loved the last few chapters as it wrapped it all up for us. What a great story, I loved it!

<i>A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.</i>

Oh man, this was truly heartbreaking! I did enjoy it, though. It was beautifully read. Many called the book inspirational, but I wasn't inspired, I was just thankful!

Ada is a woman of courage and strength.
I admire her for everything she portrayed , I loved that at the weakest of weak moments she fought.. she fought with everything that was thrown her way, she never gave up.
Wow such a beauty of strength and determination

This historical fiction was set in west mountains, indian treck.. American pioneers and sojourners suffered under the odds thrown at them unexpectedly some and purposely some.
Seeing this was based on true events I was moved

It made me realise what a blessed blessed life I have.

A story with depth , I do recommend this book to readers with keen interest in history, locations and people .
Drawn to depths and feelings

Ada will not disappoint you. 😊

The narrator's voice was wonderful, I did add certain charm to the book.
I'm not saying she's the best I've heard, but I don't want to compare .
She's done beautifully for the book she's given
The voice was justified to the book, only at certain points did I feel a lil heavy and unreal

I listened to the audiobook and it was hard to get through it. The narration was the problem for me as well as most of the book being very slow. The narrator sounded to young and optimistic for my liking. The book is about the hardships on life on the road and I didn't get that feeling while listening to the book.

This story has it all, historical fiction meets the Oregon Trail, with a splash of Donner party in it. What I love the most is the relentlessness the immigrants Displayed as they crossed the Oregon Trail and faced many challenges along the way. The author does a fantastic job of Drawing you in to the storyline, feeling as well as seeing the hardships in the battles that it took for these men and women to leave everything behind in search of prosperity in the west. The descriptive Ness of the landscape, and the suffering of these people was poetically genius in the use of language.

I love historical fiction, and I feel like US historical fiction is often lost amongst World War II, and European perspectives.
This is a must read at the summer and for anyone who’s ever played the old-school game the Oregon Trail.

𝘗𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨!

I always found stories about the Oregon-California Trail fascinating and when I saw that this book was based on the story of The Donner Party I knew I had to read it.
What a brutal, inspiring and amazing story, I loved Ada’s strong character and the vivid and detailed way it’s told!

Thank you BookSparks, OrangeSky Audio by Findaway, Netgalley and Ashleysweeneyauthor for having me on this #SummerPopUp audiobook tour.

𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦: 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

I have not read a lot on the Donner Party. I have heard the basics of what it was, how horrific it was, and though terrible people survived and lived on. I enjoyed this story of Ada Weeks and her travels West, walking those many miles, the strength she must have had to endure those hardships. But also the strength to survive and persevere and prove that she was strong.

I enjoyed the narrator; however, she does need to do a little research on pronunciation beforehand. Being from Iowa and used to the pronunciations Keokuk (key-a-kuk) and Prairie du Chien (Prairie do sheen) really stuck out to me. I also noticed they talked about the Iowa river in Wisconsin, it is actually a small river in south central Iowa, not in Wisconsin at all (even the Upper Iowa River does not cross into Wisconsin - close as it is in the NE part of the state). Just a few things that stuck out to me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of this audio. I will give this book 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC audiobook to review!
Rating (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being excellent)
Quality of writing: 4
Pace: 4
Plot development: 4
Characters: 5
Enjoyability: 4
Ease of Reading: 4
Narrator: 4

Overall rating: 4 out of 5

The Donner Party is one of the ugliest chapters in American history, everyone knows the story of the stranded wagon train and the survivors who resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. Readers will hear the story from 19 year old Ada Weeks a young woman who envisioned a new life in California and now must make an impossible choice in order to survive. Morgan delivers a heart rending performance

Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of Answer Creek by Ashley Sweeney. This book follows Ada through her adventures of navigating the Oregon-California trail. If you are a historical fiction lover, pick this up. It's really good.

Thank you to OrangeSky Audio and NetGalley for an advanced audiobook of this novel.

This is the story of a fictional character, nineteen year old Ada Weeks, who joins the Donner Party on their voyage to California in 1846. Although what happens to the Donner Party is well known, I found the story of Ada and the trials of the journey to be totally fascinating. She was such a strong well developed character that I had to keep reminding myself that she was not real. It was interesting to follow the day to day life of someone on this journey west and all that they went through. I found the part of the story after they were rescued to actually be my favorite part of the story and wished that it had gone into more detail about this part of the fictional Ada's life. I found the ending to be very abrupt and that is the only reason that I gave it four stars instead of five. I was just really getting into this part of the story when it then skips to the epilogue where we learn through Ada's future ancestors what happened to her. I found this to be sort of a let down. The narrator was excellent. Laci Morgan totally captured the essence of Ada and really brought her to life for me. I also wish that there had been an afterword or author's note to tell more about the characters in the story who were real and what happened to them. I looked up and found some information on some of them but was still left wondering in some cases which characters were real or fictional

I used to love historical fiction. I love history so being able to go back in time through someone else’s eyes is fascinating to me. I was gifted an audiobook from NetGalley (Thank you!) and was excited because I remember learned about the Donner party in school and how they travelled not to far from me, here in Illinois. The writing was beautiful, the author transports you back in time and you can easily depict the landscape that the novel travels through. She doesn’t get to gory or brutal on some of the heavier topics. The narrator did an amazing job as well but I think I’m going to be the one reviewer who didn’t enjoy the book. The audiobook lasted 11 hours and there were times when I wanted to DNF it because it was just boring. -And I understand that life on a wagon train would have been (mostly) boring with all the routine things you had to do, but even while we were at the height of the story (i.e Donner Pass) it was still tedious to get through. Only when they were being rescued, did it get interesting and the book ended abruptly. I give this a 3.5 ⭐️ because of the writing and it was a good story but I just couldn’t get there….

Thanks to NetGalley and OrangeSky Audio for an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

4*

Answer Creek is the story of Ada Weeks, a 19 year old woman in 1846 following her adoptive family heading to California form the Midwest. Ada’s group joins the Donner Party trying to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Ada is a great character. She’s had a very hard life but remains optimistic. You root for her successes. It was very interesting to learn all the details of what day to day life would be like on a 2,200 mile journey 175 years ago without modern technology.

Laci Morgan did an excellent job narrating Answer Creek.

3.5 stars.

Honestly, this was almost a DNF for me. The 3rd person/present tense ... I admit, I'm not a fan of the present tense, but with first person, at least it feels a tad more natural. This just felt a little like a script for a screen play or something. Ada walks along the trail. Ada's feet are tired. Ada looks up and smiles. In my head, I converted things to past tense and that felt SO much better, especially with this being a historical setting, in the past. There was one small section where Ada remembers the past (which was told in past tense) and I could have accepted the tense throughout if that was going to be happening often (to help differentiate timelines) but it was just that once.

Okay - push past the tense, even though it feels awkward throughout the book. The first couple chapters introduce us to Ada and the people she is traveling with across the U.S., to California. Then in chapter 3 ... "The man swings his arms above his head and brings down the axe with a forceful thud". We are introduced to "the man" and these "man" chapters (we don't learn his name until MUCH later) that are sprinkled in-between Ada's traveling. There is the assumption that eventually the two storylines will cross (otherwise, why are we learning of "him"?)

There were some odd things the author seemed to focus on ... like when Ada needs to go to the bathroom, it is described time after time. "a hiss and a puddle forms on the ground" ... I was just never sure exactly why I needed to know these details of Ada peeing? We learn of "the man's" sexual appetites, that he likes to lose himself in the folds of flesh of the woman in town, that he lusts after his neighbor's wife, that he has lowered himself and lain with Indian women ... again, not at all sure what that had to do with the story, and as it turns out he's a character we are supposed to like ... it didn't make him more likeable.

I listened to the audiobook (received from NetGalley for review). The narrator was good. Young sounding, which matches the voice one would imagine for Ada. I wasn't sold on some of the accents (Irish Breen family, quoting of the Vic's in heavy Norwegian). There was mention of "the raaaaa of rattles" (rattlesnake) and some sound that sounded NOTHING like a rattle was given (I don't know how it was written). I live in Utah, under the Wasatch Mountains, and the narrator's pronunciation of "Wasatch" had my toes curling (with the emphasis on the last half instead of the first half).

So, in spite of the less than auspicious beginning where I regretted requesting the book for review, and thus feeling obligated to finish ... I did get sucked into the story and felt like I learned a little of the history. Whenever I read a historical fiction, I'll sometimes look up some of the facts to verify what is indeed historically accurate. I do appreciate the research author's put in!

I liked the little tie in of the man's name, and Answer Creek, and I liked the final, epilogue ending. KindleUnlimited totally spoiled me, giving me the kindle copy in addition to audio ... I wished I had the text, to make some notes and double check a few things (harder to remember thoughts when listening to audio). I did grab the sample from Amazon. Looks like there is a map, and a "list of characters" in the text copy, that wasn't (can't be, in the case of the map) translated to audio. Nothing necessary, but it was kind of nice to have.

This audiobook narrated by Laci Morgan was poignant retelling of the Donner party. This was not a LDS retelling. Contrary to what some believe, they were not all Mormons. The narrator did a great job with Ada’s character and age. It truly was a miracle that any of them made it. The carnage was kept light and it was handled gently.
I enjoyed the story and was glad it was told from Ada’s POV. I recommend it if you want to learn more about the Donner party in the winter of 1846.
Thanks OrangeSky Audio via Netgalley.

Answer Creek by Ashley E. Sweeney, is a masterfully woven piece of sensory brilliance! It’s heart moving, gut wrenching, tender, and tough, being capable of hitting the full range of mental emotions. Vivid descriptions, character depth, the enduring human spirit and a teenage young woman’s will to survive, while taking care of others

Long after the end of the story, I’m still thinking about it. Yep that’s when you know it’s made an indelible depression of your heart. High praise also is deserved for Laci Morgan for her outstanding narration.

HUGE 5 STARS ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My thanks to NetGalley, OrangeSky Audio, and Ashley Sweeney for the privilege to have an advanced Digital Audio Copy, in exchange for an honest review..All opinions are my own. #AnswerCreek, #AshleySweeney