Into The Wild-Beth Ciotta

Into The Wild
Beth Ciotta
Harlequin HQN, Sep 1 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780373774678

In Maple Grove, Indiana photographer River Kane has no time to mope over her fiancé jilting her at the altar for being conventional. Her father’s journal arrives from South America with a strange cover note in which he enigmatically says he sacrificed his life for the accompanying gold amulet.

She quickly heads to South America to find her father. An obsessed cleanliness neurotic with a phobia of germs, River remains resolute in finding her father though he will not expect her as he assumes she is a sissy. Her trek leads her to Cajamarca, Peru where the brother of her friend Kylie (see Out of Eden), TV commentator Spenser McGraw, who hosts the show Into the Wild, learns his latest venture was cancelled. He seems to prefer thwarting her efforts, which enhance her doubts about him as she needs stealth and prudence while he needs PR. She tries to keep him from accidentally deploying an alleged Inca curse that targets those who go after ancient treasure; her fear being he will trigger locals and treasure hunters.

Modernizing Romancing the Stone, this sequel to Out of Eden is a fun romantic adventure thriller starring two apparent opposites who fall in love while traveling Into the Wild. Fast-paced though a bit over the top of the Andes, fans will want to join the trek of River and Spenser as they fall in love while trying to find her missing father.

Harriet Klausner