The Songbird and the Surveyor

Farnsworth (The Curator’s Secret) kicks off the Twenty-Niners of the Georgia Gold Rush series with an animated romance set in a bustling 19th-century Southern town brimming with thieves and double-crossers. Genny Gillbard, known as the Songbird of Auraria, spends her days crooning at local saloons for money and dodging the advances of her guardian, Charles Martin, the wealthy mine owner to whom her father entrusted her when he died. After Genny discovers Charles is hatching a plan to steal gold from a rival mine—potentially risking Genny being kidnapped by the mine’s owners as payback—she tries to escape on horseback, but falls and breaks her leg on surveyor Jesse Holden’s land. Jesse offers to hide Genny in his cabin and temporarily marry her to change her legal status as Charles’s ward. She reluctantly agrees, and they slowly bond over their faith and emotional scars, including the death of Jesse’s wife and Genny’s unstable childhood. But Charles and his minions won’t let Genny go so easily, and Jesse ’s forced to take desperate measures to keep her safe. While the gold-stealing scheme can be tough to keep track of, tense action scenes and tender romance carry the layered plot to its satisfying conclusion. Fans of high-stakes romantic historicals will be swept up. (Nov.)