Review: Chasing River by K.A. Tucker

Chasing River (Burying Water #3 ) by K.A. Tucker 

Armed with two years' worth of savings and the need to experience life outside the bubble of her Oregon small town, twenty-five-year old Amber Welles is prepared for anything. Except dying in Dublin. Had it not been for the bravery of a stranger, she might have. But he takes off before she has the chance to offer her gratitude.
Twenty-four-year-old River Delaney is rattled. No one was supposed to get hurt. But then that American tourist showed up. He couldn't let her die, but he also couldn't risk being identified at the scene—so, he ran. Back to his everyday life of running his family’s pub. Only, everyday life is getting more and more complicated, thanks to his brother, Aengus, and his criminal associations. When the American girl tracks River down, he quickly realizes how much he likes her, how wrong she is for him. And how dangerous it is to have her around. Chasing her off would be the smart move.
Maybe it's because he saved her life, or maybe it's because he's completely different from everything she's left behind, but Amber finds herself chasing after River Delaney. Amber isn’t the kind of girl to chase after anyone.
And River isn't the kind of guy she'd want to catch.

Publishes in US: July 7th 2015 by Atria Books
Genre: NA contemp
Source: netgalley
Series? Yes, Burying Water #3
 Expected publication: October 13th 2015 by Atria Books


my review of #1 Burying Water
my review of #2 Becoming Rain 

Surviving Ice (Burying Water, #4) Expected publication: October 13th 2015 by Atria Books

Tucker, K.A. *

Buy it:  Amazon US | Amazon Canada | Amazon UK
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Author stalk away: site 

 

     I wanted to read Chasing River because I enjoyed the first two books in the series, and her other NA series. She writes perfectly flawed characters that are easy to love, and an addictive plot.

   I love the premise of River saving Amber and that being the catalyst for their romance. He dove in front of a bomb to knock her down and shelter her and then he ran because it was his brother who planted the bomb. The beginning for me was a little slow while in the POV of River, maybe it was the accent and word choices that aren't familiar, or maybe another factor, but soon enough I liked hearing his thoughts.

    Amber is Jesse's sister from the previous series. She is a nurse and known by a lot of the town as the sheriff's daughter, so she felt a lot of pressure growing up to not let down her dad, his image, or the one she percieves as herself. But she is traveling around for a few months because she has dreamt of it for years. Ireland surely wasn't what she'd planned though, from the bomb, the gorgeous guy who saved her from dying or much worse injuries, to making a new friend of a girl she went to high school with but they both had animosity towards the other for misunderstandings as they came to realize once they talked about it.

    River helps run his family's pub, and he loves the culture, the closeness with his younger brother who works day to day with him, and his parents who run the business end. But he has the black sheep of the family, his older brother, who is a part of the IRA, what was once a resistance group fighting for a better Ireland, but now terrorists just using the prestige of the name. River loves Aegnus, his brother, but can't get him free of the trouble that he's wrapped up in. But he's family so River tries to protect him as much as he can, because of all of the things that Aegnus is not, he is loyal.

    Amber can't get the handsome guy out of her head that saved her and then ran, and a few chance encounters with a local to their pub leads her to him. The intensity of what they experienced together and the closeness and attraction they felt in the moment where River saved her causes an intense bond and neither can shake the memory of the other. So when she walks in it sets off the series of events that lead them even closer together and finding their time focused on the other.

   Though it is insta-love pretty much, explained a bit by the circumstances that they met. Amber tries to hold on to her rational mind. At first, she thought maybe he would be a perfect candidate for the first item on her travel bucket list-- have a torrid affair with a foreigner. But the more time they end up spending together, the more they want to stay together longer.

   Through a series of events that left me pretty speechless, but can't talk about much here without spoiling, violence didn't end with that first bomb, and both River and Amber have to make some hard choices when their run ins with the garda, the law enforcement, won't leave them alone about the bomb and subsequent violence, because Amber is protecting River, and River is trying to protect Aegnus.

   When Amber learns some truths about her dad, some that she would never expect in regards to her brother, it helps her understand more about what River was feeling with his brother, but also gave her insight on when its okay to bend or break the law to protect people you love and when you have to let natural consequences be the guide.

    Though Amber does miss one of the countries that she intended to visit, I did like that she took her dad's advice about some space before making big decisions about her future with River and if Ireland could be her new home someday. She got a lot of perspective and I really like the decisions she made.

   I loved that this was set in another country and that Tucker made it natural that River and Amber would have conversations about the rich history, and how much Amber and many who aren't natives don't know about the history and background. That there is so much more to the country than accents, the blarney stone, and tourist hot spots.

   The ending was perfect and the epilogue made it even better because we got to see how time changed their relationship and places Amber was putting down roots, and that for some that would have been the end of a relationship, the distance, time apart, and such, but for others it only reveals how much they love and want to be with.

Bottom Line: Nice love story, liked the foreign setting and history involved.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Have you ever been friends with or dated someone you thought was in a different league?