Dawn on a Distant Shore - Sara Donati [May/06]

This is actually the second novel in Donati's series about Elizabeth and Nathanial Bonner, but since I had just bought it the day I read it and was in my car, I decided to just go along with it and read the first one after. It seemed a fitting novel to read while I was discovering Gabaldon and my like for her, as Donati's novel have reviews done by Gabaldon on them, as well as other reviewers comparing Donati to Gabaldon. From the back of the book:

Elizabeth and Nathanial Bonner have settled into their life together at the edge of the New-York wilderness in the winter of 1794. But soon after Elizabeth gives birth to healthy twins, Nathanial learns that his father has been arrested in British Canada. Forced to leave Hidden Wolf Mountain to help his father in Montreal, Nathanial himself is imprisioned and in danger of being hanged as a spy. In a desperate bid to save her husband, Elizabeth bundles her infants and sets out through the snowy wilderness and across treacherous waterways on the dangerous trek to Canada. But she soon discovers that freeing her husband will take every ounce of her courage and inventiveness - and will threaten her with the loss of what she loves most: her children. Torn apart, the Bonners must embark on yet another perilous voyage, this time all the way across the ocean to the heart of Scotland, where a destiny they could never have imagined awaits them...

It is the late 18th-century, and with Donati as our guide, the reader is offered the chance to experience life in the United States and Canada at this time, as well as a later trip to Scotland later in the novel. It is marketed as a romance novel, but while Elizabeth and Nathanial have some hot scenes, there is much more going than just some good bed scenes. Recommended to me by another reader , this is a very worthwhile series. Elizabeth may be living in the 18th-century, but when her husband finds himself in trouble she wastes no time going to his rescue, even if that means bringing two young children along with her. She is a modern woman in a 18th-century world. Born to a life of priviledge, she turned it all aside for a life with the man that she loves.

Elizabeth finds herself facing a lot in this novel. She has just had her first children, twins, and life is a new experience for her. Then, in the blink of an eye everything that she knows has been taken from her and she finds herself fighting for what she knows is hers. Nathanial has found the perfect woman, hardly ever letting fear rule her, Elizabeth has helped this family accomplish much. This is a novel of love, adventure, but also one of acceptance. It seems that Nathanial's father is the descendant of a powerful man in Scotland, a man that will do anything to have an heir. Even if it means taking everything of importance from Nathanial and Elizabeth, be believes that his needs outdo their's. It takes strong will for them to get through this situation and get their family back together and on their way back home. This novel will have you cheering for the Bonner family.

4/5