One thing for sure, I thought the author must've done good research for this story. I may not know a lot about the Gold Rush but I felt like it was authentic enough in the story. The town and the people 'felt' real enough for me that I could imagine the situation of that particular period. However, the romance felt slightly off for me, maybe because I wasn't huge on enemies-to-lovers theme in the beginning (tricky theme for me!) and I wasn't sold on Walt's turning attracted to Edwin. It took a bit too long to make me believe in them. I was struggling a bit with the writing style/language. I saw a reviewer described it as 'formal'. I don't know if it's the right term but the story didn't feel flow smoothly for me.