The Road to Paradise by Karen Barnett (Review)

Set in the 1920s in the beautiful Mount Rainier National Park, The Road to Paradise is a delightful read. As someone who has had the privilege of visiting this Washington State gem.

From the flowers and animals in the park surrounding the mountain to the dangers on the face of it, Karen Barnett gives her readers the inside scoop on this beauty.

While Mount Rainier is most definitely a character in this book, the hero and heroine create a story around the mountain that is a delightful read. Margie Lane, a senator’s daughter who longs to commune with nature and Chief Ranger Ford Brayden clash at first meeting. But as Margie’s excitement about her surroundings allows Ford to view the mountain in a new way, he is not only captivated by the beauty of the wilderness but by this woman.

The intrusion of a man from Margie’s past and the fight she and Ford embark on to save the park keeps the story moving at a good clip. I’m definitely looking forward to more Vintage National Park novels from this author!

 Disclosure statement:
I receive complimentary books for review from publishers, publicists, and/or authors, including NetGalley. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

An ideal sanctuary and a dream come true–that’s what Margaret Lane feels as she takes in God’s gorgeous handiwork in Mount Rainier National Park. It’s 1927 and the National Park Service is in its youth when Margie, an avid naturalist, lands a coveted position alongside the park rangers living and working in the unrivaled splendor of Mount Rainier’s long shadow.
 
But Chief Ranger Ford Brayden is still haunted by his father’s death on the mountain, and the ranger takes his work managing the park and its crowd of visitors seriously. The job of watching over an idealistic senator’s daughter with few practical survival skills seems a waste of resources.
 
When Margie’s former fiancé sets his mind on developing the Paradise Inn and its surroundings into a tourist playground, the plans might put more than the park’s pristine beauty in danger. What will Margie and Ford sacrifice to preserve the splendor and simplicity of the wilderness they both love?
 
Karen Barnett’s vintage national parks novels bring to vivid life President Theodore Roosevelt’s vision for protected lands, when he wrote in Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter: “There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canyon of the Colorado, the Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Three Tetons; and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children’s children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred.