Under A Blackberry Moon

Title: UNDER A BLACKBERRY MOON

Author: Selena Miller

Publisher: Revell

October 2013

ISBN: 978-0800721183

Genre: Historical

Which wilderness is more treacherous--the one she must cross to find her home . . . or the one she must traverse to find love?

Just a few days after she gave birth alone in the north woods, a recently widowed young Chippewa woman stumbled into a nearby lumber camp in search of refuge from the winter snows. Come summer, it is clear that Moon Song cannot stay among the rough-and-tumble world of white lumbermen, and so the camp owner sends Skypilot, his most trusted friend, to accompany her on the long and treacherous journey back to her people.

But when tragedy strikes off the shore of Lake Superior, Moon Song and Skypilot must depend on each other for survival. With every step they take into the forbidding woods, they are drawn closer together, until it seems the unanswerable questions must be asked. Can she leave her culture to enter his? Can he leave his world to enter hers? Or will they simply walk away from a love that seems too complicated to last?

Get swept into a wild realm where beauty masks danger and only the truly courageous survive in a story that will grip your heart and your imagination.

UNDER A BLACKBERRY MOON is the sequel to The Measure of Katie Halloway, but it easily stands alone. I enjoyed getting reacquainted with Skypilot, the preacher-turned-logger, and Moon Song. At first, Moon Song is out of place in Bay City, Michigan, but when she and Skylark ended up stranded in the wilderness she was the strong one with the skills to survive.

I enjoyed seeing Moon Song find herself, and appreciated that Skypilot was able to remain strong and courageous while clearly out of his league. I wondered how these two would work everything out.

The storytelling is not as good in this book as it was in Ms. Miller’s previous books set in Michigan. It is stiff, and doesn’t allow us to get into Skypilot’s head as much as I would’ve liked. Moon Song was very well developed.  However, it is still a book I enjoyed, full of Michigan history, and vivid descriptions. Recommended. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5. $14.99. 341 pages.