Tuesday, August 6, 2013

BURNING SKY, by Lori Benton


 "I am the place where two rivers meet, silted with upheaval and loss."

These lines from the opening epigraph grabbed me and drew me into Burning Sky. The story didn't let me go until the last satisfying paragraph. "Burning Sky" is the Mohawk name given to Willa Obenchain when she was abducted at the age of fourteen. Tragedy returns her to her family's homestead after twelve years of building a life with the Mohawk people.
 Upon reaching the boundary of her father's property, Willa discovers an injured Scotsman. She feels obligated to nurse him back to health and in so doing finds him to be a kind and caring man. Where many of her former neighbors turn their backs on her because of the years she spent with the Mohawks, the Scotsman displays no such condemnation.
 Her life takes another twist upon the arrival of the Mohawk who was her tribal brother during her captivity. Willa is truly at the place "where two rivers meet."
 Burning Sky swept me into the world of our country's earliest days as an independent nation. With Burning Sky, Benton has penned one of the best books I've read in many months. This novel will go on my "keeper" shelf to be re-read again and again.
 I thoroughly recommend Burning Sky. Two thumbs way up!

 My thanks to the author and Waterbrook Press for my review copy.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

ON DISTANT SHORES, by Sarah Sundin


Lt. Georgie Taylor has some great things going for her: a loving family back home, a waiting fiancé, and supportive friends among the flight nurses in her group. But Georgie struggles with doubts about her ability to perform in a crisis. Part of her wants to give up the whole nursing thing and return to her family in the states.
 Sgt. John Hutchinson is a pharmacist by trade. He chose to enlist as such rather than accepting the officer's commission to which his college education entitled him. Pharmacists were regarded as "pill pushers" by the brass, and as his enlistment continues the disrespect for his profession turns him bitter.
 When he and Georgie meet in Italy, it's on the basis that both of them are happily engaged to someone back home. However, soon they find themselves attracted to each other, a situation that raises more problems in their lives. Officers (Georgie) are not allowed to fraternize with enlisted men (Hutch), not to mention that each is already committed to another.
 On Distant Shores, the second book in Sundin's Wings of the Nightingale series, continues the heart-pounding suspense of World War II action, coupled with intriguing romantic situations between the nurses and the men in their lives. Sundin is a master at writing both types of fiction.
 On Distant Shores is a novel to be savored slowly, but it’s hard to resist hurrying along to see what happens next. I loved this story, and know you will, too.

 My thanks to the author and Revell for my review copy.
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