Be Specific About About Books Dawn on a Distant Shore (Wilderness #2)
| Title | : | Dawn on a Distant Shore (Wilderness #2) |
| Author | : | Sara Donati |
| Book Format | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 647 pages |
| Published | : | May 29th 2001 by Bantam (first published January 1st 2000) |
| Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Romance. Fiction. Historical Romance |
Sara Donati
Mass Market Paperback | Pages: 647 pages Rating: 4.21 | 15604 Users | 600 Reviews
Narration Supposing Books Dawn on a Distant Shore (Wilderness #2)
He thought anger would cripple her, that grief would rob her of purpose. How little men knew of women; how little this one knew of anything at all.I wasn't supposed to finish this epic in one day. I wasn't supposed to skip meals. I wasn't supposed to lose an entire day on a distant shore (or two). I wasn't supposed to be swallowed up by the unpredictability of a series with the purity of the wilderness at its heart. I wasn't supposed to outpace my buddy.. but thankfully she is kind and forgiving and knows me enough to expect such things (cue up her good-natured ribbing in three, two, one..).
"Promise me you'll still blush like that when you're seventy."
"If you'll promise to give me reason, why then, sir, I'll promise to oblige you."
DAWN ON A DISTANT SHORE was.. so many things. In some ways I think I liked book one better but it cannot be denied that Donati weaves a masterful, twisty, complicated, brilliant, tale. And maybe I'm rounding up a bit on this one but I don't feel bad because it's just so.. lush. Well researched. Compelling. Thrilling. Though, at times, I did kind of lose myself amongst some of the politics of this one. Nonetheless, things came to a major head in book two of this series -- like, for real, how is this only book two? I am fucking exhausted and there's so much more story to be told. I honestly don't know how I'm going to survive. This is not a series to binge. This is a series to savour. To indulge in after some time has passed since you've closed the book on the last one. It is too easy to be swept up by it.. as seen by the fact that I devoured this.
After more than a year with Nathaniel she was still sometimes taken by surprise by his faith in things she would have once dismissed summarily : unseen worlds; dreams that evoked truth beyond the ones that could be dissected by reason; a sky that opened itself to offer faith and speculation.
Reuniting with Elizabeth and Nathaniel was just like coming home. Their extended family, eclectic as it is, is perfect. The wisdom of their various cultures and beliefs, the differences, the complications, the loss, the struggles, the triumphs.. they experience it all. This book broke my heart, only to make the pieces all but pound out of my chest. It turned friends into enemies, enemies into reluctant allies.. and went in directions I never saw coming.
"Ah, I know you're feeling yourself when you start quoting."
"You once appreciated my quotes."
"I still do, Boots."
Through Donati's words we navigate the wilds of a small village in New York State, up north to lower Canada, across the seas to Scotland, only to circle back for home. To Paradise. Boots and Nathaniel face much apart and even more when together. Accused of treason, reluctant heirs to a name and legacy they don't want, embroiled in feuding clans set apart by religion, caught up by pirates.. and so much more.
"What have I done to bring this on so suddenly?"
"I like it when you bare your teeth and get ready to fight. And then of course you're breathing. That always does the trick, too."
Their marriage is never easy, nor is what they face, but always they are honest and true, even if it means facing things one of them doesn't want to, and their relationship is just so wonderful to witness -- but nor are they infallible. They make mistakes, trust the wrong people, they are human.. with all the jealousies, doubts, frailties, and worries the rest of us have. And the buck doesn't stop there. The whole gang is back for this adventure -- Curiosity, Hannah, Robbie, just to name a few -- and some play bigger roles than they did before.. and some less, though no less meaningful.
In polite society older ladies might speak their mind, but the young ones were not to discuss anything of importance, to ask a substantive question, or to express a real opinion. If a young woman was so brash as to turn her attention to anything but the affairs of the neighbourhood, music, or needlework, it was taken as a sign of excessive reading, a naturally intractable disposition, or an indulgent upbringing. Clearly [they] were convinced she was a product of all three.
Yet in all this adventure, still we are given a sharp, expansive, and no-holds-barred experience of the times. Where women were lesser, everyone was judged by the colour of their skin, and one would go to outrageous lengths for their family, for good or for ill, no matter who was hurt in the process. But that is ultimately what this whole story is about. Family; whether you're born into one, adopted, whether your skin reflects your heritage or not, and all the ways one might go to survive and hide the truth of who you are.
It's intense, it's brilliant, it's sexy, it's heartwarming, it's crazy hard on my nerves, and I can't wait to see what's next for the Bonners.. and where they'll go.
4.75 "Boots, the bed's no good to me without you in it" stars
Itemize Books As Dawn on a Distant Shore (Wilderness #2)
| Original Title: | Dawn on a Distant Shore |
| ISBN: | 0553578553 (ISBN13: 9780553578553) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Wilderness #2 |
| Characters: | Elizabeth Middleton, Nathaniel Bonner, Dan'l Bonner, Hannah Bonner, Runs-from-Bears, Robbie MacLachlan, Angus Moncrieff, Daniel Bonner, Lily Bonner, Curiosity Freeman, Luke Scott Bonner, Jennet Scott, Liam Kirby |
Rating About Books Dawn on a Distant Shore (Wilderness #2)
Ratings: 4.21 From 15604 Users | 600 ReviewsWrite Up About Books Dawn on a Distant Shore (Wilderness #2)
GR has lost my review once and I can't find the words a second time to review this book. I kind of put my soul into the review and I'm over it. This was a great second in the series, I love the main characters in an unrelenting way and I look forward to the rest of the series. #grsucksRating: 4 out of 5 Stars This book is the sequel to Into the Wilderness, which I read late last year and really enjoyed. The story picks up right where it left off with a gripping series of scenes in which Elizabeth gives birth to twins at home on Hidden Wolf with only the help of her ten-year-old step-daughter. Meanwhile Nathaniel is trapped in the village by a blizzard, desperate to get home to his wife, whom he thinks is only having one baby. A good way to draw the reader into the story and
Perhaps my expectations going into this novel were a little too high. After all, I absolutely LOVED Donati's first in this series, Into The Wilderness. I found this novel to be boring and lacking. It took them 400 pages to get to the titular "distant shore". Very little happened in the lead up to Elizabeth and Nathaniel's arrival in Scotland- we were introduced to some new characters, Nathaniel and his father got tossed in jail. They escaped, Elizabeth and her entourage (Curiosity, Hannah, and
So good! Loved the dynamics at the end!!
He thought anger would cripple her, that grief would rob her of purpose. How little men knew of women; how little this one knew of anything at all.I wasn't supposed to finish this epic in one day. I wasn't supposed to skip meals. I wasn't supposed to lose an entire day on a distant shore (or two). I wasn't supposed to be swallowed up by the unpredictability of a series with the purity of the wilderness at its heart. I wasn't supposed to outpace my buddy.. but thankfully she is kind and forgiving
I had hopes that this second novel would have been filled with corrections of the past sins of it's predecessor, only to find that it had plenty of sins on it's own.The plot was enjoyable enough- it had twists and turns that weren't quite believable but I was able to swallow them well enough. The problem I had with it was while the first novel in the series had moments of laughable satirical drama, the drama in this sequel was lacking in any realistic solutions. If you have the upper hand, the
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