“Fire Along the Sky” by Sara Donati

Title: “Fire Along the Sky”
Author: Sara Donati
Publisher: Bantam
Year: 2004
Genre(s): historical fiction, historical romance
Part of a Series: Yes, 4th book
Rating: 

Why I Read It: Because I am hooked.

Summary: The year is 1812 and war is looming. Hannah returns from the West—without her husband or the child she had born since she left Paradise. She doesn’t say much and her family doesn’t prod. They have other issues to deal with. Daniel is determined to go to war.Lily wants to study art. Gabriel is a handful. And their cousin Jennet, newly widowed, has arrived from Scotland and is determined to find Luke to marry him. At the same time, change comes to Paradise and not all of it good.

Review: After a shaky third book, I was hooked again with the fourth. It was nice to see Jennet again and her relationship with Luke was a change of pace for the series. With this book, I realized Sara Donati writes the same romance: spirited woman who resists the quiet man. Quiet man is persistent and patient, ultimately winning over the woman. Jennet is a spirited woman and Luke is a quiet man but Jennet does the pursuing until Luke acknowledges the truth. However, Lily falls into the typical romance with Simon, one of Luke’s friends. But she is in a bit of a triangle with someone back in Paradise serving as the hypotenuse. It’s still intriguing. And Simon is an interesting addition to Donati’s cast of characters. Especially in the romantic line of Nathaniel Bonner. (I still don’t count Hannah’s husband).

Jemima Southern, now Kuick, still has a role in the story. And she is still the antagonist. At least for the first half, that is. But she makes a good mess for the first half and leaves problems for Paradise to sort out in the second half. The antagonist Donati brings in later isn’t as good as Jemima. I believe the readers were supposed to dislike him because he called out two main characters for doing some questionable things. The problem was, as a minister, he is going to call them out and he was partially right to do so. Especially in the day and age the story is set in. Once again, it’s a way the story can sometimes be too modern.

But it’s a problem toward the end, when everything is else is getting good. Luke, Jennet and Hannah get caught up in the War of 1812 as does Daniel. Donati does well with action scenes and the war gives her a chance to show her skills off. She creates tension well and captivates the reader’s attention. I could not put my Kindle down.

Bottom line: Another great installment.

Sex: A few scenes, particularly whenever with Simon and Lily.

Moonlight Musing

When an author repeats certain things, do you find it symbolic or them not leaving their safety zone?