Glamorous Illusions - Lisa T Bergren (Grand Tour Series #1)

After reading through the main books in the River of Time series (Waterfall, Cascade and Torrent), I was excited when this book popped up for free.  I had enjoyed this author a lot and I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to get this book free.

Cora has come home to Montana, only to find her father sick from a stroke and the family farm on the verge of going under.  Here comes Wallace Kensington, claiming that he is her biological father and he is willing to take her sick father to the best of care, but he also wants to take Cora off on a grand tour of Europe with his other children.

Will is one of the tour guides and realizes that his position is to not get involved with the people, but he feels drawn to Cora right off the bat.  She thinks that he has feelings for her at first, but his erratic behavior around her leaves her confused and open to the attentions of other men.

Cora finds it hard to fit in, especially after a bad encounter in England when the owners of the house they are staying in find out about her unfortunate birth.  Will stands beside her when she feels like giving up.  Circumstances get a little dangerous and Cora shows her family that she can keep a cool head and help out.

I almost screamed when I hit the end of this book.  I should have learned a lesson from reading the River of Time series.  It was all connected and nothing is resolved at the end of the first book.  This is not a book to read if you want to find out what happens.  The next leg of the tour comes out in spring 2013 - Grave Consequences and the third comes out in the fall - Glittering Promises.

I had a feeling I would enjoy the book and I was right.  The characters were interesting and I found myself getting peeved when they would do things that I didn't agree with.  Mostly Cora, but Will was guilty of it once in a while as well.  This author is talented at making you care about the characters in her books, as if you're actually getting to know a person.

I'm not usually a fan of these types of series.  In fact, I try to avoid them as much as I can, but I'm not disappointed about this one at all.  I'm actually looking forward to the next installment in the spring.  The only problem is wondering how much I am going to pay!  Regardless, if you do not want an unresolved series (one where the entire series reads like one book), you might want to avoid this one.  I am personally glad that I picked this one up.  Good Book!