Colorado Gold

Although editorial reviews refer to this as the beginning of the series, and for all I know, it and its immediate sequel, _Out of the Crucible_, may have been published first, it is chronologically the second book, following _The Silver Highway_ in the Treasure Quest quartet. This book opens in the late 1850's, as Amy Randolph, her preacher father, and the aunt who has looked after them since Amy lost her mother, arrive in Colorado. Amy meets many new people in Denver: A young miner named Daniel who immediately likes her but soon disappears for a while and returns with a new career; a friendly woman whom readers will eventually recognize from the prequel, who runs a dance hall but doesn't fit the tired stereotype of the madame predatorily seeking new girls to work for her, but who instead encourages Amy to stay in the life she has been raised in; Crystal, whose unresolved story from _The Silver Highway_ is continued very marginally as foreshadowing for the next book; a girl Amy's age named Maggie, who offers Amy the gift of music, in defiance of the disapproval of instrumental music with which Amy has been raised; and Lucas Tristram, whom readers of _The Silver Highway_ will recognize as a source of trouble. Within two years of reaching Colorado, Amy goes through several life changes, both chosen and unchosen, as she seeks to understand what she truly wants most. At times I found her longing to reshape Daniel's plans a little hard to identify with, but not so much that I didn't care so much about what happened to her or her route to happiness and several important reconciliations that I devoured the book in long reading gulps. The ending was worth reading all the way to.