I didn’t have any expectations when I began this book. A physical copy has been on my shelves for months now, and I’ve been trying to get my physical TBR down to a manageable level (It’s embarrassing how many unread books sit on my shelves). Since I had a lot of housework to do I decided to check out the audiobook from my library’s overdrive app.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. Last year I read Walk on Earth a Stranger, which I enjoyed quite a bit. This has a similar story—girl(s) left orphaned must go on the run by disguising themselves as boys. The books even take place around the same period of American history, the time of the gold rush and westward expansion. But while I found it difficult to connect to the characters from WOEAS, I really liked Andy and Sammy in UAPS.

This is not a perfect book. I had issues with the pacing, for one thing. I think this book could’ve been 50 pages shorter if the author cut even half of the time Sammy spent fretting about West and if he’d figured out her secret. Actually, the romantic subplot was probably the weakest part of this story—which is another similarity to WOEAS. It felt like not a chapter went by where something would happen to make Sammy wonder if they’d figured out that she was a female. It really became repetitive. Also, the ending felt rushed to me and I would’ve liked an epilogue to show a little of their lives after the fact.

Another repetitive aspect was Sammy continuously justifying others actions by relating them to their Chinese zodiac sign. I enjoyed it to a certain extent, but there are only so many times I can hear, “It makes sense since he’s a (insert sign here). After all, (insert sign here) are always (insert personality traits here)” before it gets a little old.

That being said, there were so many things I liked about this book.

1. The multitude of characters who were from diverse backgrounds. This book explored the difficulties that would come with being a racial minority in nineteenth-century America.

2. The historical aspects were well done. I don’t read many westerns, and I really enjoyed the execution of this one.

3. Sammy and Andy’s friendship. I loved that their relationship was so strong. They refer to each other as sister by the end and I absolutely love that. And while they do talk about boys, that’s not the primary focus of their discussions. They are strong and discerning young women, and they make a great team.

I am very interested in reading another book by Stacey Lee since this book surprised me so much.