I am, thankfully, unaware of the terrors of abuse. The closest I get is reading about it. Serena Miller wrote the most spellbinding opening to The Measure of Katie Calloway that I have ever read. The book opens with Katie getting up one morning terrified and finding her husband, thankfully gone. She goes out to milk the cow and discovers that he has set a trap to kill her. She immediately takes her brother and flees for her life.
So determined to not leave a trace behind, she does not go to her family but instead ends up in mid-Michigan — Bay City — in a logging camp as the cook. She begins to fall in love with the kind man who employs her and runs into one of her ex-slaves in camp. Through him, though not intentionally, her husband discovers where she is and tries to kill her. Ultimately, he meets his maker and Katie is free.
I love so many things about this book. The local history was interesting (especially since I live in Michigan) and the introduction was simply spellbinding. I loved how she led the reader to feel that God was answering prayers without making it seem farfetched. The fact that her husband was killed without anyone’s hand in it and her reaction to it were VERY honorable. Katie’s character was impeccable and I loved the surprise redemption at the end. Could another related book be in the works?
Overall, I thought this was a fabulous book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical romances, especially those that are cleaner than standard.
Available October 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for a review.
[…] does feature some minor characters from another book of Serena B. Miller’s that I reviewed, The Measure of Kate Calloway (link goes to my review). Under a Blackberry Moon is a story of a widowed young Chippewa woman […]