For 17-year-old Lovisa King, Oregon holds the promise of a new life. As she leaves Missouri with three generations of her family. Lovisa is bold, eager, headstrong, and sure that none of the tragedies suffered by earlier families will befall hers. it is going to be a fantastic adventure heading to what will become Kings Valley, Oregon.
By Linda Crew

I loved this book with all my heart. Lovisa's voice rings so true, and the story is so well-written, that one is simply carried along in the wagon train. The hardships and the little beauties were lovingly delineated throughout. There was no way the King family's wagon train was going to get to Oregon intact, of course. None of them did, and this book brought the sadness home in an especially poignant way without overpowering the whole book with woe. The portrait of the native peoples was historically accurate and nothing at all like the usual scary tall tales from the trail.

Crew based all the interactions of the pioneers and the natives on actual journal entries. In her afterword, she noted wryly that one of the pioneer journals that most stuck with her was one woman's chronicle of innumerable times she was helped with food or river crossings by First Nation peoples, but her entries dwelt upon her fear of the frightful, murderous Indians she was certain were right around the next bend.

Crew has done her homework here, and nearly all the characters in this book were actual people. There is supplemental material that was also interesting- a forward by Jennifer Armstrong, an afterword by one of the King family, and an afterword by Crew, all of which add something positive to the book.

Highly recommended! ( )

Reviewed by Cat for TeensReadToo.com

Lovisa King was just seventeen in the spring of 1845 when three generations of her family loaded up the green, canvas-covered wagons to make the two-thousand-mile journey from Missouri to Oregon.

Born right in the middle of ten brothers and sisters, Lovisa begins their expedition with dauntless optimism and absolute certainty that her family's superior preparation will protect them from any hardships the Overland Trail may present. Even a last-minute reassignment to her sister Sarah and "bossy" brother-in-law Rowland Chambers' wagon can't diminish Lovisa's enthusiasm for the future that lies ahead.

But the road west is cruel and indiscriminate, leaving a trail of fallen party members in its wake. The entire wagon train faces days of unanswered thirst, weeks of trekking across the barren plains in blistering heat, and storms of prairie sand so acidic that the only remedy is axle grease rubbed into raw skin.

As death and disease ravage those she loves, with bone-deep weariness chipping away at Lovisa's soul, she begins to wonder if this expedition really has a terminus and when it does, how many Kings will be left standing when it ends.

I'm a huge history buff, especially anything pertaining to the Old West. The problem with a lot of us enamored of these tales, though, is a tendency to romanticize a time and place full of brutal and harsh realities. Linda Crew effortlessly sidesteps this trap to capture Lovisa's story as it might have been. Opening A HEART FOR ANY FATE is a general introduction to the U.S.'s great expansion, circumstances leading up to the citizen's migration, and life along the trail itself.

Lovisa and her family are the heart of this story; searching, like so many Americans at the time, for a more prosperous fate in a new land. Ms. Crew did such a wonderful job creating this young woman's voice, I had to continuously remind myself that I wasn't reading an actual account of her experience; although if the truth be told, I was moved to tears more than once during my reading.

A HEART FOR ANY FATE is a fascinating and moving depiction that immerses the reader into a defining period of American history and definitely shouldn't be missed. ( )

A Heart for Any Fate provides a fictional account of the King family's actual voyage on the Oregon Trail. Lovisa King is the 17 year old narrator. The story provides realistic and grueling details of what the voyage might have been like for them. This book will be interesting to readers young adult and older wanting to discover more about the pioneer days or Oregon history.