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| Daughters of the Northern Shore by Joanne Bischof |
This is book two in the Blackbird Mountain series. I loved
book one. Read my review here.
Let’s
begin with the summary:
Having fled the Norgaard orchard after trying to take Aven as his own, Haakon sails on the North Atlantic ice trade, where his soul is plagued with regrets that distance cannot heal. Not even the beautiful Norwegian woman he’s pursued can ease the torment. When the winds bear him home after four years away, Haakon finds the family on the brink of tragedy. A decades-old feud with the neighboring farm has wrenched them into the fiercest confrontation on Blackbird Mountain since the Civil War. Haakon’s cunning and strength hold the power to seal many fates, including Thor’s—which is already imperiled due to a grave illness brought to him at the first prick of warfare.
Now Haakon faces the hardest choice of his life. One that shapes a battlefield where pride must be broken enough to be restored, and where a prodigal son may finally know the healing peace of surrender and the boundless gift of forgiveness. And when it comes to the woman he left behind in Norway, he just might discover that while his heart belongs to a daughter of the north, she’s been awaiting him on shores more distant than the land he’s fighting for.
And now,
my review:
This book picks up close to where book one, Sons of Blackbird Mountain, left off. I
recommend you read book one first, though there is a lot of recap. (This slowed
the plot of book two down. That’s a tough balance, and it’s difficult to know
if readers will be confused or bored.) We get to catch up with Thor and his
brothers. Once again, the author does a great job of bringing us into a Deaf
(her capitalization preference) person’s world. I really enjoy reading about this
element in a main character’s life. It’s rare in CBA fiction.
I like Joanne’s writing voice. Her historicals are rich with
research and strong prose. She’s a wordsmith. One element I noticed this time
that I didn’t in book one is the POV is distant. With all that lovely prose, I
didn’t feel the characters’ emotions, most of the time. Their
emotions are described, but not presented in a way that helps readers feel. I
also found redundancies and stalled ruminations that didn’t advance the plot.
This story is Aven’s, definitely, but it’s also Haaken’s. We
follow this youngest brother throughout the book. He’s a wounded soul and
therefore we’re engaged in his story, but at the same time there were
believability issues. Without a redemption moment near the beginning of the
story, we see him changing. The arc wasn’t believable without that element, and
I always felt like something was missing for his characterization. Without a God-encounter
near the story’s opening, it’s hard to believe he can be a deeply changed man—from
lustful to redeemed and made new, walking in ongoing repentance (i.e. not
returning to lust) though he’s back in his target’s life.
I was a little lost at times when characters made plans
without letting the reader in on them. Without deep POV, we had the disadvantage
of distance. Keeping some secrets is fine. That may keep us reading. But
leaving us in the dark for whole chapters can be frustrating.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, which kept me returning to read
more. Once finished, I missed the setting and the characters. At the end of the
story, the author sets up book three. I can’t wait!
Disclaimer: I received
a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley.
Opinions expressed in this review are my own.
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