I think this is the first Young Adult story I’ve read since I was a teen – many, many, many years ago – and I have to say that I really enjoyed reading it. The Outlaw Trail is book 5 in the Repeating History series but it can be read as a standalone. There’s a prologue that tells you the history behind what Ash and Grant have done in the past and what they need to do now.

This isn’t a romance story but there are a few romantic bits in it. It seems like these two are still adjusting to their budding feelings for each other. (I’m not sure how their relationship has been up to this point since I haven’t read the other books, but there is only some chaste kissing in this book, which makes sense for a YA novel.) The way I interpreted what I read it seems like they will be having many more adventures together retrieving artifacts for Merlin, and presumably, more time for their feelings to develop.

The story was witty and humorous at times, serious at others and had me anxiously waiting for something to happen at least a time or two.

One passage had me cracking up. Ash and Grant are having dinner at the boarding house they are staying in and are commenting on the dinner they’ve been served:

“Sure is good, Molly.” Ash helped himself to a second piece of chicken. “Colonel Sanders has nothing on you.”

“Colonel who? Did he fight for the north or the south?” Red wanted to know.

Ash blinked, then realized Red was talking about the Civil War. “Uh, I don’t know. He just made really good chicken.”

“But not as good as Molly’s,” Grant added. He shot Ash a warning look, as if to tell Ash to watch the pop culture references before they had to start explaining what country Burger was king of.

Ash and Grant find out that living in the Old West isn’t nearly as much fun as it looks on TV or in movies. Things are really smelly and they miss indoor plumbing along with many other modern conveniences they are used to.

Since I’m not a history buff, I can’t speak to the accuracy of some of the historical things that happened in the story but it all made for good reading and it is, after all, fiction. I wouldn’t have a problem if it’s not really accurate but I’m betting that the author did her research and tried to be as accurate as the story would allow.

I’ve actually owned a copy of book one in this series, The Eye of Ra, for a couple of years; now I want to go back and read it and the other books in this series.

Reviews for Dakota Chase

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Repeating History Series

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