Everlasting ~ Angie Frazier

What to do when a handsome, charming, wealthy man leaves you cold? If you’re the seventeen-year-old daughter of a shipping magnate, you fall back on your first love – sailing – and the ship’s attractive first mate, whose company is both comforting and desirous.

Having agreed to wed Randall Jackson, Camille Rowen is allowed one last sail with her father aboard his ship, the Christina, before her role becomes that of a dutiful, land-locked wife. The prospect of being at sea is almost as thrilling as the opportunity to be in the company of her father’s first mate, Oscar Kildare. Not long into their voyage, Camille’s life takes to turbulent waters, and in a fatal series of events, she discovers that her father has lied to her about his fortune, her mother, and the course the Christina has charted. When a storm tears her away from all she’s ever known, Camille must rely on her adventurous spirit and Oscar’s willing devotion in order to learn the truth and find a cursed stone that is rumored to bring a lost loved one back to life.

Set during the mid 1800’s, Camille is a spirited, resilient young woman who strains at the leash of society’s standards of behavior. She realizes that her love of sailing marks her as peculiar, but, being my type of girl, she can’t honestly bring herself to care. Not when it brings her so much pleasure. So why then does a strong, stubborn young woman capitulate to a marriage she does not believe in? Because it is the proper thing for a lady of her class to do. I love when period sensibilities tangle with a modern attitude in my heroines. The character feels authentic, but still challenges the world around her, which allows for plausible conflict. And the conflict? Let me introduce you to one of them: His name is Oscar, an Irish orphan turned first mate, and he loves Camille with every gorgeous,* protective inch of his humble heart and soul.

Part of the novel finds Camille wrestling with desire; what does she want from love? Stability or passion? Wealth and status or a partnership born out of trust and friendship? That’s the internal conflict. The external one takes the reader on a non-stop treasure-tracking journey across an expanse of Australian territory in search of a legendary stone and the power it grants its owner. Along the way danger finds Camille and Oscar, oh, yes it does, but so does Ira, an irrepressibly charming conman who acts as their guide. As soon as these three hook up, you should know there’s no turning back.

Everlasting is an adventure story peppered with likable, and in some cases downright lovable characters, at once fun, romantic, and thoroughly enjoyable.

*In my mind, I see this (this and, okay, this) whenever I think of Oscar. Which constituted a lot of time while reading this book. It’s rare for me to have someone so specifically and forcefully in mind while reading, but I definitely did and he was definitely it for me.

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I received an ARC of Everlasting from the publisher.

I do realize I recently said that a review on this one wouldn’t be coming for awhile, not until its release date was a bit closer. Well, on occasion, I’m impatient. This is one of those times. But I will be posting a reminder – or something – around the time it’s going to be released.

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