Aimee Reynolds’ life is pretty good. A college student with a loving family and enough money to fund her ever increasing collection of antiques, she really cannot complain. Even having her little sister tagging along on her latest shopping expedition can’t bring her down, especially when she spies the most beautiful locket on display. As soon as she sets eyes on it, she has to have it and luckily for her, the sales person agrees. In fact, if Aimee hadn’t been so blinded by her love of the locket, she may have noticed the sales person was a little too enthusiastic to sell. When she woke up that morning, it had been just another normal day in the life of Aimee Reynolds. When she went to bed that night, she was lonely, dirty and scared out of her mind, missing her family and stuck with a man who mistook her for a whore as her only company.

The year is 1847 and all Aimee has to show of her life in modern day Seattle are the clothes on her back, the contents of her purse and the mysterious locket. Jake Marshall has never seen such a beautiful woman behaving in such a strange manner and is intrigued. He knew he should have steered clear; it was only a matter of time before that smart mouth got her into trouble. So why is it he’s right there, defending her from lowlife idiots who can’t seem to keep their hands to themselves? Jake is soon learning that Aimee is no ordinary woman. Her insistence on going with him on the wagon train to find her family and the lengths at which she is willing to go to persuade him this is a good idea both shocks and excites him. Before he even realizes it, Jake has his hands full providing for the both of them on their long journey. It seems that both Jake and Aimee are guilty of acting before thinking things through though. If they aren’t careful they are going to end up hurting themselves and each other before they journey’s over.

Both of them saw their journey as a means to get where they are going. Neither of them realized that it was the journey itself that would finally provide them with the answers they’ve been looking for and this is what really made Aimee’s Locket an enjoyable read. The development of the characters during their long journey was well done. That Aimee had to go back to a time before everything and everyone she had ever known existed to mature as a woman and to find her purpose of life, away from family and friends was poignant and thought provoking. I must admit to finding Aimee’s initial characterization to be more than a little annoying but in hindsight this just emphasized the maturing that occurs. Indeed, Aimee was put through an amazing amount of drama and her strength during the difficult times was admiral. Jake was a very good character and I felt for him on more than one occasion when he was on the receiving end of Aimee’s bouts of childishness and stubbornness. There is also a large, very strong supporting cast.

 I must mention that there were some timing issues that tended to interrupt the flow at times; the arduous journey took a large portion of the book, rightly so, but the ending felt a little rushed in comparison. There is a lot going on throughout the book and personally I feel the story would have benefited by the omission of certain plot developments as it was all a little much at times. However, on the whole the trial and tribulations of Aimee and Jake’s time together was a thrilling read.