Dawn on a Distant Shore
After reading ‘Into the Wilderness’ I picked up the second book of this very memorable series ‘Dawn on a Distant Shore’, from Rosina Lippi (aka Sara Donati). In addition to being an avid reading buff, I am a born animal lover (with a special affinity for canine companions). My heart strings were pulled with the arrival of Treenie, an independent but faithful dog that attached herself to Elizabeth and later Robbie in the first book. Her abrupt and heartless demise left me b More...

The 2nd book in the series, after Into the Wilderness, and a great read. This one didn't keep me up at night like the first one did but I really enjoyed it very much.

It was filled with the same characters I had grown to love and surprises that make me speak out loud in a crowded room with exclamation.

This one is definitely one that flows so well that you realize the book is almost ending but you have yet to get to the end of the story. I am looking forward to reading the sequel.

I would definit More...

Despite changing the setting not only to a different country but also a different continent and introducing a whole new cast of supporting characters, Donati never loses sight of what made Into the Wilderness so special in her followup novel Dawn on a Distant Shore. After the Bonners learn of their connection to an heirless Scottish Earl, forces seem to conspire against them, taking the family across the Atlantic Ocean to confront their long lost relative. During their adventures, they face jail More...

Well! The best thing I like about a good romance novel is - DETAIL! I like McNaught's for the same reason. All the characters are portrayed so thoroughly, emotions are whipped, situations are usually explained in such great detail and BAM..one of the lead characters makes a major decision and the plot takes a twist. Donati's are different here. Its an almost predictable plot, with not too wavering characters, steadfast in decisions and all of that. Its usually the situations that play a major ro More...

I admit that I didn't particularly like the first book of this series, so I mostly blame masochism and a broken computer for continuing with book 2. In short, the main protagonists act like ninnies for most of the book bogged down by the quadruple threat of marriage, childbirth and rearing, dumb-character-syndrome, and a thorough lack of interesting plot. The main character becomes a rather too perfect ten-year old girl which if I were interested in children as main characters and narrators I wo More...

I wasn't as taken with this book as I was the first one. While it promised to have a lot of action; kidnappings, rescues, etc., it was actually kind of boring. As a recap (and possible spoiler) the first book covered Elizabeth, a teacher who came to America and fell in love with outdoors man Nathaniel Bonner. Together they secretly elope so they can restore a piece of land to its rightful owners.

We are first taken to Canada where Nathaniel has gone to rescue his father and a Native American frie More...

Following up on my "rejoice, fans of Diana Gabaldon" review, I now urge you all to sit down with a proper cup of strong tea. Chai, if you have it. It's time for a reality check.

My previous whole-hearted "two thumbs up" for Sara Donati's "Into the Wilderness" -- the precursor to this book -- still stands. I was thrilled to find the second novel in my local Half Price Books for a measley $3.50. "Dawn on a Distant Shore" (terrible title) follows our Claire-esque heroine traipsing across the sea to More...

the second book of the "wilderness" series, Donati continues to hold our attention as we watch what's going to happen to Elizabeth and Nathaniel Bonner next...First there's twin children born, then Nathaniel has to go rescue his father from British Canada, where's been imprisoned..we find that they Nathaniel and his father (and the twins) are the heirs to a Scottish earldom and the earl wants them in Scotland..so we have several kidnappings, battles at sea, arrival in Scotland, and decisions mad More...

In this second book of the Wilderness series, the whole Bonner family (as well as Robbie and Curiousity) end up traveling to Scotland, to answer to the Earl of Carryck.

I didn't like this book quite as much as I liked the first one - mainly because I hated that most of it takes place away from Lake-in-the-Clouds. I had really come to like the place and the Kenyen'kehaka people there. As much as I like Scottish people and history, it just wasn't really doing it for me here - and Donati isn't very More...

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

This book is the sequel to Into the Wilderness, which I read late last year and really enjoyed. The story picks up right where it left off with a gripping series of scenes in which Elizabeth gives birth to twins at home on Hidden Wolf with only the help of her ten-year-old step-daughter. Meanwhile Nathaniel is trapped in the village by a blizzard, desperate to get home to his wife, whom he thinks is only having one baby. A good way to draw the reader into the story and w More...

It took me a while to get through this second installment in the "Into the Wilderness" series, but that is not because it isn't a really good book. It is an amazing book, full of great adventure, interesting and well developed characters and fascinating history. We follow the lives of Elizabeth and Nathaniel Bonner (son of Hawkeye from Last of the Mohicans) during the politically turbulent time between the American Revolution and the War of 1812, when the world is unsettled by news of the unfold More...

I've seen many negative reviews about this book on this site... I'm surprised! Yes, there are elements in the book that Outlander fans could say, "been there, done that", but "Dawn on a Distant Shore" doesn't mimic nor imitate Outlander.

Admittedly, it took a bit for me to become captivated, but I enjoyed the ride. The main characters reveal more of themselves and their past lives... all in character. Newer characters to the story take on deeper nuances.

Suspending belief is part of what fiction More...

I picked up this series because I read The Outlander Series by Diana Gabaldon and LOVED it. I heard that Clair/Jamie, from Outlander, made an appearance in these books so I had to read it.

It wasn't as good as Outlander but I did enjoy the story and the characters very much. It's much along the same lines as Outlander (without the time travel) and very well written. You get invested in the characters and want to follow them though life.

I've read the entire series and LOVE how it matures with the More...

If you read this, read Into the Wilderness first. I think a reader who likes the Outlander series and doesn't mind some action taking place in the 1790's in frontier New York State would like this book. For me it was 645 pages of the Bonner's attempts to solve their problems and the thwarting of their attempts at each turn. No sooner did I think something would be solved when a twist in the plot made things worse for the characters. Even though they finally were able to do what they wished, I go More...

I should preface this review by saying that I haven't finished the book. I blew through book one "Into the Wilderness" in a week and gave it a five-star review. This book reads slowly - so slowly, I've lost interest and read four books in the two weeks since I put this down for a break. It is clear that the author has laid out a very methodical storyline, but the piecing of it together is tough with this one. I might come back after I've finished and bump it to a four star, but I can't give a fi More...

Not quite as good as the first in this series. I did enjoy the general premise, but the writing wasn't as smooth as the first. It felt like details were missing, and some sections were not as well thought out as others, etc. Without giving anything away, it felt like it took WAY too long to get to the main point of this part of the story. I'll read another, since these books get such high reviews. It seems that most authors who write a series, always have one or two that don't do much for the re More...

I don't really know what made me pick up this book. I'd never read any of her work before. I enjoyed the adventuresome quality of this author's reading. Most of the book is taken from a narrators point of view with a few 1st person perspectives.

There are a few descriptive areas in the book, but not as bad as a true romance novel would be. The characters are those you would picture in a Davy Crocket time setting and dress. If you enjoy some bushwack country adventure with a little romance thrown More...

This is the second book in Sara Donati's Wilderness series. Like the first, it's filled with twists and turns and plenty of adventure, this time on a chase across the ocean to Scotland. Through it all, we have the constant love of the Bonner family, larger by 2 (or 3) this time around. I was sucked in again by this book as I was the first - Nathaniel and Elizabeth continue to captivate me as do all of the secondary characters. Looking forward to the next book...so glad my friends here on GR reco More...

Second book in Donati's series about Elizabeth Middleton Bonner and her husband, Nathaniel Bonner, son of Daniel Bonner a.k.a. Hawkeye from Last of the Mohicans.

In this installment, Nathaniel goes to rescue Hawkeye from a prison in Canada, and becomes imprisoned himself. It falls to Elizabeth to try to free them both, and she sets off with her twin infants and some companions, including her step-daughter Hannah.

Much is revealed about Daniel and Nathaniel's heritage in this book, and everyone en More...

Since I enjoyed the first book in this series, Into the Wilderness, I'm not sure why it took me so long to pick up the second book. However, now that I've read it, I don't think I missed much by waiting. This novel just misses some vital spark for me. I also felt a lack of connection to the characters. The fact that I plowed my way through most of this book and then decided to bring other reading material with me on my vacation says it all. I didn't dislike the book, but it was just OK and I wan More...

Dawn on a Distant Shore is a fast paced adventure where the plot turns up surprises right until the end. This is the second book in the Wilderness series (the first is Into the Wilderness--another must read)and the reader leaves the New York fronter with the Bonners after their children are kidnapped, set sailed on a boat to Scotland. There waits Carrack, who is desperate enought for an heir he'll steal children to get his cousins, Hawkeye and Nathaniel Bonner, to Scotland. Great adventure story More...

So I should definitely explain why I'm only giving this book a 3. I loved Into the Wilderness because it fit precisely into the very narrow window of my kind of book - which involves a historical love story of two people meeting and falling in love. Obviously Dawn on a Distant Shore could never fit into that window, for the simple reason that that part of the story already happened in ITW. I knew this going into DOADS, but I periodically try to break out of my narrow window and, given how much I More...

I will admit it, I wasn’t jumping at the chance to read this book. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the first one “Into the Wilderness”, just the opposite. But to me, the first book ended very well - I was satisfied and didn’t feel the need to carry on the story-line. Well, there I was at the library, in between books, and I happen to see “Dawn on a Distant Shore” . . . so I pick it up.

Exactly, what I was afraid would happen did. The book was too much! Everything seemed to happen to the Bonner More...

I finally read this one, ordered right after I finished the first in the series, and not sure will have the patience for more. While Into the Wilderness was eye opening, different and exciting, this one was more of the same. Same themes were repeated over and over - cuteness of babies, waves of homesickness, untimely deaths due to incurable sicknesses. What seemed like Elizabeth's strengths in the first novel, turned to predictability in the second. There were some neat insights, such as Hanna's More...

Read this book for the third time. Love the Bonner Family.
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Read this book for the second time and still cried. I don't know what it is about the characters in Sara Donati's books but I get so emotionally tied to them. June 2010
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Dawn On A Distant Shore is the second book in the series by Sara Donasi.

The story takes up again in Paradise, New York where Nathaniel and
Elizabeth await the birth th More...

For the life of me, I simply can not come up with a good enough reason, as to why it took me so bloody long to pick up the second in Sara Donati's 'Wilderness Series'.

Having read the first book, a year ago, and loving it, I have no excuse for taking over 365 days, and eve's to pick up on the series again..(especially, considering I have owned the entire series for said amount of days aswell...oops)

LOVED the second installment, as much as the first... possibly even more so. Nathanial is a god i More...

As a fan of this series, I must say that I am biased toward the skills that Ms. Donati has, enabling her to write credible historic fiction that allows the characters to breathe, to become human, and to relate to modern emotions of fear, love, hope and despair. The first in this series is where a new reader of the set might start, although each one can stand on it's own, I believe it is more enjoyable if one were to begin, as it were, at the beginning, and grow with the maturing of the character More...