As I began Nadia Nichols’ Everything to Prove, I was struck by a sense of deja vu. The story of a young woman trying to prove what happened to her father who died in Alaska years earlier seemed strangely familiar at first. Then I remembered a Superromance from January by Bobby Hutchinson called Past Sins. In that book it was the hero trying to find out what happened to his father who disappeared in Alaska years earlier. The main difference, though, is that I couldn’t get past the first few chapters of that book, while Nichols’ tale held my attention from start to finish.

On the day he was to marry her mother, Libby Wilson’s father perished when his plane crashed into an Alaskan lake. Neither the plane nor his body were ever found. Libby was born months later, and with no body to run a blood sample against, there was no way to prove her paternity. As a result the fortune she should have inherited as his daughter went to his business partner. Libby grew up poor in her mother’s Athapaskan Indian village. Scholarships and hard work eventually enabled her to go to medical school.

Then she reads an article in Forbes magazine about Daniel Frey, the reclusive billionaire who got rich from the fortune that should have been hers. Rather than accept a residency at the Boston hospital where she interned, Libby heads back to Alaska to uncover the truth about her father’s death. She convinces Carson Dodge, the owner of a salvage company, to search the lake for the plane, hoping they might be able to find it after all these years. Carson was recently injured in an accident on another salvage mission, but Libby interests him enough to take on this task.

This is a story that really shouldn’t work. There’s no mystery. Nichols kills any possible suspense with a prologue that leaves no doubt what happened. We watch as a Native American man witnesses the crash and sees Daniel Frey assuring that the plane sinks. The only mystery is when the man is going to get around to telling the main characters what he saw. In the meantime, Libby and Carson go about their search, really having no idea where to look in the huge lake and hoping for the best. Libby doesn’t even tell Carson why she’s looking for the plane, implying there’s a treasure onboard, which is true to her, but not exactly what she’s leading him to believe. The deception goes on a little too long. The author’s writing style is heavily narrative, with lengthy paragraphs.

And yet, it does work. The author’s prose is sharp and assured, and while this may not be a rip-roaring read, it is an engaging, very well-told one. The pace is deliberate, but never slow thanks to the author’s way with words. Nichols provides her story with a very strong sense of place. As she demonstrated in her first book, Across a Thousand Miles, which took place during the Iditarod, Nichols knows the territory. Both the setting and the people who live there have a ring of truth to them, much more so than many other Alaskan set romances I’ve read.

The lack of mystery didn’t bother me because my interest was maintained by the character drama. Libby and Carson are a little on the stiff side, but they’re strong and sympathetic with intriguing backgrounds. I liked them both. It’s easy to empathize with Libby’s need to uncover the truth, especially when her mother is diagnosed with a serious illness that makes money even more of an issue. The search probably should have been boring, but wasn’t for me because I cared about the outcome and wanted the characters to be successful. The supporting characters are well-drawn, including the racist Frey who hates Native Americans and is an easy villain to hate.

As for the romance, it’s understated, to say the least. There’s little evidence of any love story, or even an attraction between the characters, for most of the book. When it does emerge, it’s fairly slight. It’s implied that they have sex, but the author keeps the door (or the tent flap, as it were) firmly closed, ending the scene as they begin to kiss. Late in the book, their relationship sinks into a bit of back-and-forth tug-of-war that grows tiresome, as Libby wavers between wanting to protect Carson from overexerting himself due to his injury and needing him to retrieve the wreckage.

I wouldn’t necessarily pick up Everything to Prove looking for a great love story. It’s best viewed as an involving character drama set in a vivid locale. In that respect, this was an enjoyable read that was worth my time. Readers looking for an interesting story with strong characters regardless of the amount of romance may feel the same.