By Lori Benton

Where has this book been all my life?

Clare Inglesby’s husband is determined that the wilds of Kentucky will finally provide the prosperity and contentment he has been unable to grasp. Heedless of Clare’s advanced pregnancy, the hardship of the journey, and the danger of the volatile Natives, he takes Clare, their young son, Jacob, and their meager possessions, and heads west. It doesn’t take long for disaster to strike, and Clare is left alone and in labor in the middle of the wilderness. When frontiersman Jeremiah Ring comes to her aid, she refuses to be left at the nearest settlement. She has to find her son, and Jeremiah is the only person who can help her. But Jeremiah Ring is a complicated man, and as they travel deeper into the beautiful and deadly Kentucky frontier, she begins to question his loyalties. In the growing conflict, who will he side with? His white heritage or his adopted Shawnee family? And will he truly do whatever it takes to get her son back?

Pros: At last, I have found another author who writes early American frontier stories – and writes them well! Lori Benton skillfully writes down the middle of the complicated frontier politics of the 1700s. Her characters are complex, the research seems solid (I learned a few things), and the tension runs high throughout the book. The opening few chapters had all the intensity of a thriller before settling down into a deep character journey fraught with emotions. I can see why her novels have such high review ratings! I immediately ordered more of her books from the library!

Cons: Clare is a complex heroine. I honestly don’t think we would get along. As a relatively sheltered young woman who ends up living with the Shawnee, she has a lot to learn about life, culture, and frontier politics – which was a painful process to read (at least for me). Coupled with her obsession to rescue her son, no matter the cost, there were many moments where I wanted to pull her from the book, talk some common sense into her, and then send her back in the story with the admonition to get over herself and do better. To be fair, I am not a mother, so I can’t completely understand the Mama Bear syndrome, but regardless, while she wasn’t an anti-heroine, she certainly wasn’t a heroine to emulate. Towards the end, she did come around, but even in the last pages, I was still hollering at her. Kudos to the author for writing a non-perfect heroine, but I hope her other books have some slightly wiser heroines, otherwise it’s going to be hard to read.

The Bottom Line: Dances with Wolves meets The Last of the Mohicans with some Light in the Forest thrown in for good measure.