First published 2016
Samuel Bolt needs to find the rex. The seventeen-year-old follows his temperamental archaeologist father into the Badlands, hunting for a massive dinosaur skeleton with bones black as ebony. Some call it the Black Beauty. Samuel calls it his chance to make history and earn his father's forgiveness after getting kicked out of school. But the Bolts face competition. Rachel Cartland arrives with her professor father, determined to prove herself in a world that expects women to stay in sitting rooms. She sees the same fossil as her path to a life of science and adventure, not marriage or spinsterhood. The hunt brings Samuel and Rachel together even as their fathers' rivalry intensifies. Both families want the same prize. Their romance blooms against the backdrop of bitter competition between the older generation. When danger emerges and secrets surface, Samuel and Rachel must choose. They can join forces to claim their quarry and build a new life together, or let old hatred and prejudice destroy both their love and their dreams of the king dinosaur.
Genres: romance, historical-fiction, adventure, coming-of-age, archaeology, young-adult
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Badlands
Period: 19th-century
368 pages · Kindle Edition · Simon & Schuster