Review: A Moonbow Night by Laura Frantz

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About:

In the Kentucky frontier of the 1770s, Temperance Tucker has learned to be fleet of foot, accurate with her bow, and silent about the past. But her family secrets complicate her growing attraction to a handsome Virginia land surveyor.

My Review:

A Moonbow Night by Laura Frantz is her latest historical saga.  Starting in 1777 in the wilds of Kentucky, we are witness to life in the wilderness as we meet Tempe Tucker and her family as they run the Moonbow Inn.  We are also treated to the adventures of Sion Morgan and his surveying team as they travel through the dangerous wilderness mapping and scouting.  Laura, to me has always seemed to have a poetic way with her writing.  This is definitely an adventure story as the characters are caught up in this very dangerous land of Kentucky, not to mention the angry Native American tribes who wish to protect their land and way of life, and the British forces that are trying to hem in the colonies that are busting at the seams to become a new nation with freedom.

I can always count on Laura for a good ending, however the twists and turns to get there is usually heartrending.  This tale is no less and in my opinion I think her most harrowing story yet.  I tend to like more focus on romance in my reading and though this book has a love story, the main obstacle between the two lovers is the dangerous life of just living and being in Kentucky.   And that is where I think this story shines the most.  Ms. Frantz has made Kentucky a character itself.  At times whimsical, as if I was expecting a wood nymph to pop out here and there in the almost fantastical descriptions of the country’s beauty.  However, this was a dangerous Kentucky, a land that was beautiful but demanded a healthy respect of fear as well.  There was a bit more violence in this book than in her others and that just gave witness of how dangerous the land and the tensions between different groups of people were when our nation was very new. 

I highly recommend this book for a taste of a time in our history when men and women were cutting their way across this great nation and to remember where our roots truly spring up from.

I received a copy of this book for free from the publisher.  I was not required to give a positive review and the views expressed are my own.