Kat with a K

SRP Book 1: Into the Wilderness

Into the Wilderness by Sara Donati (691 pages)
Genre: Historical fiction
Rating: 4.2

Rachel has been raving about this series for years, and I finally managed to read the first one. I really, really liked it, but it also took me a really, really long time to read. I'm not sure why. I guess the pace just dragged at times, and the writing is much denser than you might expect from something marketed as a romance novel. (It seemed more like historical adventure fiction with some romance thrown in, actually.) But the characters were complex and interesting and I'm definitely planning to continue with the series.

One very interesting thing was Donati's incorporation of other author's characters. Into the Wilderness is sometimes called a "sequel" to The Last of the Mohicans, and apparently involves some of the same characters, but I haven't read Cooper yet so I'm not sure. (I did pick up a cheap used copy of Last of the Mohicans the other day and I'm hoping to get to it soon.) Additionally, Donati's use of Gabaldon's Clare Fraser has been well documented. But did anyone else notice the throwaway mention of Jane Bingley, an acquaintance in England? Hmmm....