Lucinda Waldron’s Mosquito County recounts the tale of beautiful, adventurous Emma Kingston as she explores her new home in rustic, tropical Florida during the 1800s. Emma is an 18-year-old who has spent her entire life in high society in Boston. Her family is wealthy and Emma's life has consisted mostly of dresses and tea parties - things Emma found to be boring. Emma would rather be exploring, enjoying nature and doing other exciting things that the Boston society types found unladylike. But Emma's world changes entirely when her mother dies in a carriage accident. At first, her father becomes suffocatingly overprotective but then he suddenly decides she must go to stay with her grandfather in Mosquito County. Emma's Gramps, Russell Duvane, owns thousands of acres of territory containing orange groves, cattle, and all kinds of beauty, danger and mystery. Emma has never felt more alive with so many things to discover and explore. But with bobcats, tropical storms, secret ammunition stashes, and eerie feelings of being watched, danger lurks around every corner.

Lucinda Waldron has composed a beautiful, easy to read story in Mosquito County. Emma is instantly likable for her curious, adventurous, and fearless spirit. Her grandfather shares that spirit so they share a strong connection and mutual admiration. The book immediately draws readers in with a mysterious prologue that keeps you guessing throughout the story. Waldron's descriptions of the tropical land, wild life, and the forces of nature are beautiful and perfectly painted pictures in my mind. I did feel that the characters' thoughts and dialogue were occasionally repetitive and the conclusion to the climax was less exciting than I had hoped. Overall, this was an enjoyable read that I'd recommend for young adults and those looking for a light read.

Mosquito County by Lucinda Waldron is one of the books I would put into the category "books to comfy with", i.e. the kind of book you want to take to bed with you, or make yourself comfortable with on the couch or whatever your favourite place for reading. It is the story of eighteen-year-old Emma - not your usual young woman - who gets sent away from home by her father who seemed worried about something or someone. The story is set in the early 1800s, and uses a setting in the "wilderness", where cattle and lemon trees play more of a role than anything else. Emma, who enjoys the outdoors and is some kind of "unlady"-like heroine, not only meets cows, bulls, and lemon trees when she stays with her uncle (who is a rather charming character). Her father was right about being worried - but wrong about thinking his daughter would be safer somewhere else. Not every nice person you meet along your path truly is a nice person. And this is a very true statement in Emma's case.

When I read Mosquito County by Lucinda Waldron, I soon felt as if I was living inside the story myself. Lucinda has the talent to paint pictures without having to use a superfluous amount of descriptive words. She finds the right balance between too little and too much. I found it great that the story was not just about the main plot, but also gave you a lot of new knowledge about things like cattle, lemons, native Americans, and life in the 1800s. I found the book refreshing even though the setting was "old". It was a joy to read, and at some stage you don't want to put it down until you know whether Emma will make it safely through the whole book.