Black Cat Book Review

Burning Sky by Lori Benton

Willa Obenchain is returning to her family’s New York farm after twelve years of living with Mohawk Indians.  She was taken by the Indians when she was fourteen.  She became Burning Sky and learned to live their way of life and to love them, she married and had two daughters.  After tragedy struck the clan she lived with leaving her a widow and childless Burning Sky decided to return to her roots and the white man’s way.

At her return she finds the farm abandoned and learns her parents were accused of being Tories and have been missing for years. The boy she loved and thought she would grow up to marry, Richard Waring, is a man changed by the horrors of the war and is determined to have the Obenchain land.  This is something Willa refuses to accept.  It is her family’s land and she will live on it and work to make it her home again.

On her journey home she stumbled upon an injured man at the edge of the farm and knows she must care for him until he is well.  This man, Neil MacGregor, recovers, and against her wishes, stays with Willa to help her with the farm.  Then her Mohawk brother comes to take her back to the People.  These two men, along with Richard, make Willa doubt her place in the white world.  But can she return to the People now that her husband and daughters are gone and she is no longer Burning Sky?

There is much that this young woman faces; an angry man who once loved her, her brother who loves her and wants her back with his clan, and a man who loves her and wants her to have the home she desires above all else.  And she faces the distrust of neighbors and townsfolk who question her loyalties after so many years with the Mohawks.

While she tries to work her farm someone is trying to chase her off.  Willa learned many things while she was away that help her but her heart is torn between two worlds and two men who love her and one who wants to destroy her.  The one thing that keeps her on course is her faith.  She will not lose courage but it will be a struggle.

This is Lori Benton’s first novel and it is a good first.  I found it easy to become involved with the characters and to follow the story line.  Though at times I did want to shake them all, especially Neil MacGregor, and tell them to get on with it.

This book was sent to me at no charge by Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.