The novel’s secondary characters are varied – some causing strife, while others are a voice of peace – Sion’s friend, Nate, soon claimed a special place in my heart with his tough, wiry outward appearance and his strong faith and mental fortitude. While there is more of a focus in this story on the historical details and the riveting plot, there is an exquisite romance, made even tenderer by its tentative and slow-moving progression. Sion himself has memories he’d prefer to stay buried, but the two of them can’t help but admire the other’s tenacity and determination. When Tempe is appointed as a guide for Sion’s surveying party, she must depend on both her keen insight of the Kentucke wilderness, as well as her stoic protection of precious memories and hopes of a future denied to her – memories that surface more and more as her regard for Sion grows. There is a tangible nature to the foray into dangerous territory, and, as a result, the character development and historical context take center stage. The difference here, perhaps, is the thread of atmospheric tension that hasn’t been explored to such a length and depth as it has in this story. The prose is as lyrical and compelling as I come to expect from one of her novels. In a way, A Moonbow Night is a somewhat of a departure from Frantz’s usual work. Despite his ways with the woods, surveyor Sion Morgan finds himself drawn to the inn and its inhabitants. Tempe’s family, her lame but determined brother, her mother, widowed, yet not, and a serving girl who is nearly family round out the characters in Tempe’s daily life, as well as add another layer of intrigue to the mystique that is the Moonbow Inn. This is the setting of the Moonbow Inn, Tempe Tucker’s home, and a haven for weary travelers passing along the Shawnee River. The woods hold splendor in way the sunlight dapples through the trees and the way a moonbow reflects from the waterfalls, but there is also a deceptiveness about them, when friends might turn out to be foes and past terrors might show themselves again. Frantz imbues her words with a particularly vibrancy, almost making the forest of Kentucky a character in and of itself. The descriptions of the mysterious, dangerous beauty of the wilderness had me enthralled. With A Moonbow Night, it wasn’t long before I was swept away by the richness of the setting, the fascinating historical detail and the stunning depth of characters.

I’ve yet to read a novel of hers that I haven’t loved. Intense and gripping, heartfelt and gorgeous, Laura Frantz’s latest release did not disappoint.

A Moonbow Night by Laura Frantz