Review: Touching the Clouds

Touching the Clouds (Alaskan Skies series - Book 1) by Bonnie Leon

(For review from Revell)

Synopsis:

Kate Evans is an adventurous and independent young woman with a pioneering spirit. She pilots a mail-delivery plane in the forbidding Alaskan wilderness, the lone woman in a male profession. But even that seems easy compared to finding true love. She likes a fellow pilot and would even consider marrying him—if it weren't for Paul, a mysterious man on her mail route with a gentle spirit and a past to hide. Can Kate break through the walls Paul has put up around his heart? And will her quest for adventure be her demise?

Book 1 in the Alaskan Skies series, Touching the Clouds will draw readers in with raw emotion and suspense, all against the stunning backdrop of the Alaskan wilds.

Thoughts:

Touching the Clouds is the first book in the new, Alaskan Skies series by Bonnie Leon. Leon has had great success with her Sydney Cove series and I was very excited to see something new and exciting from her. The setting for this book is the Alaskan bush, before statehood and before Emelia Earhart's famous flight across the Atlantic in 1937.

Pilot, Kate Evans is a spunky little gal who has a dream. She wants to become an Alaskan bush pilot, but isn't as easy as she thought it would be. She faces opposition in this male dominated profession as well as doubts within herself. Kate leaves her childhood friend at the altar to travel to Alaska to live her dream. She finally bags a mail route job and she begins to prove herself. She is independent and head strong and full of love. But, finding someone to give that love to proves difficult. Kate was such a wonderful character. I found her courageous and insightful. This book is so much about self discovery and recovering from past mistakes. When Kate meets Paul Anderson a lonely man on one of her wilderness runs she is drawn to him. It becomes apparent that they have something in common, a dark secret.

This book is filled with adventure and the backdrop of Alaska is a wonderful setting. Leon's descriptions are spot on, as she takes us back in time to a wild and free territory where the characters had to live with the unexpected. I was enthralled by the landscapes and intrigued by the secrets that Paul and Kate kept. This is a great opener to a new series.

Available July 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

I am giving this 4 out of 5 apples from my book bag.

Here is some more information about Bonnie Leon.

Storytelling has always been an integral part of Bonnie Leon’s life. From childhood, she cherished the legends and family history handed down through her Aleut ancestors.

Throughout the ensuing years, Bonnie dabbled at writing but didn’t seriously consider becoming a professional author. Instead, as a young woman, she happily stepped into the full-time profession of homemaker and mother. Pollywog hunting, finger-painting, blackberry picking, and creating fun messes in the kitchen with her children are some of her most precious and irreplaceable memories.

When her youngest child was nine years old, Bonnie decided it was time to return to the working world. She took a position in her hometown of Glide, Oregon, working with the elderly and handicapped.

Then on June 11, 1991, her world was shattered when a log truck hit the van she was driving. The accident left her unable to work, and after months of rehabilitation she was told by physicians that she would never return to a normal life. Facing a daunting fight to reclaim her life and feeling as if she had nothing to offer the world, she asked God to give her something to do that mattered.

His answer came when she received a scholarship to attend the Oregon Christian Writer’s Summer Conference. That conference ignited Bonnie’s passion for literature and for writing, and she has been writing ever since.

Her first book, The Journey of Eleven Moons was released by Thomas Nelson in 1994 and made the CBA bestsellers list.

Since that time, she has written and published sixteen historical novels. Two of her series, The Sydney Cove Series, and The Queensland Chronicles, published by Revell, were published in Dutch-language editions by Ultgeverij De Banier bv, an organization based in The Netherlands. Her books are truly being read across the globe!

And with each book she writes, her love for the craft and the challenges of writing grows. “The learning never ends,” she says, “But I relish the challenge of becoming a writer known for quality storytelling.”

In addition to her work as a writer, Bonnie has a passion for teaching of all kinds, especially on the art and intricacies of storytelling. She teaches at conferences and workshops and says, “There’s nothing more thrilling than to see a student’s eyes light up with understanding as she grasps the concepts of the writing craft and begins to believe she can tell stories someone else will want to read.”

Bonnie is also a regular speaker at women’s church groups, writing groups, and business organizations.